Orioles trade reliever Bryan Baker to Rays

BALTIMORE–The Orioles have sent right-handed reliever Bryan Baker to the Tampa Bay Rays. The return is the Rays’ draft pick in Sunday’s competitive balance round, the 37th overall.

Baker, 30, was 3-2 with a 3.52 ERA and two saves in 42 games this season. On Tuesday night, he allowed four runs on a pair of two-run home runs and did not retire a batter in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the New York Mets.

In four seasons with the Orioles, Baker was 12-9 with a 3.73 ERA and three saves.

He found out about the deal a few minutes before the media was allowed into the Orioles’ clubhouse on Thursday.

“Shock for sure,” said Baker, who expressed gratitude for his time with the Orioles. “It’s been everything. They gave me an opportunity to get established in the big leagues. Developing on the field and off the field. It’s been four of the best years of my life.”

Baker was getting ready to leave for Boston to join the Rays. The Orioles will see Baker after the All-Star break when they’re in Tampa.

“It’s always been a good staff, top to bottom,” Baker said of the Rays. “They really know what they’re doing in terms of developing arms and figuring out how to get guys out at the big league level. I’m excited to learn over there for sure.”

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias explained the rationale for the trade before Thursday’s first game of a split doubleheader.

“Very proud of what Bryan did here,” he said. “This is a guy who was a waiver claim and kind of fought his way onto the major league team. Underwent a lot of great development with our pitching department, using our analytics tools and the work that our pitching coaches did and made himself into a premium reliever.

“And Tampa had their eye on him and made what we felt was a very direct and aggressive offer, and we viewed it as an opportunity. We’re sad to see Bryan go. This guy was a warrior here and had some big, big moments. A lot of passion. I wish him very well going forward, but it’s a move that we felt like was in the best interest of the organization overall.”

Elias acknowledged that Baker’s trade could signal more moves with the July 31st trade deadline approaching.

“I think it’s a step in that direction,” he said. “I mean, there’s no way around that. The timing of the draft and when you have draft picks involved in the trades kind of frontloads these decisions, and it’s earlier than my comfort level. But we thought it was a really good return and a good trade for everyone, so we did it.

“This team is playing much, much better since the beginning of the season, and I think we’ve been playing at a playoff clip for a while and the team’s looking more and more like it should and like itself, and I think they’re going to continue to play well really well. We’re not relenting or taking our foot off the gas pedal. I think this team’s moving in a good direction out on the field, and we’re going to have guys getting healthy and coming up to help the team. But right now this is the trade that we wanted to make, and sometimes this job, it’s a balancing act and you’ve got to do things that aren’t perfectly in one direction or another.”