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| New York Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton smiles while he stands on third base in the 5th inning against the Kansas City Royals on Sunday at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
By Larry Fleisher, The Sports Xchange
NEW YORK
In games played in New York, the Baltimore Orioles are 5-1. Everywhere else, the Orioles are 27-73.
Owning the worst record in baseball are among the reasons why the Orioles are the biggest sellers leading into the non-waiver trade deadline.
Manny Machado departed for the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 18, Zach Britton went to the New York Yankees six days later and Brad Brach was dealt to the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.
Others could become former Orioles when the deadline is reached at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday, but one not expected to depart is longtime center fielder Adam Jones.
[post_ads]"Adam is a 10-and-5 man, so he would have to consent to any assignment. So you should talk to Adam about that," Baltimore general manager Dan Duquette told reporters. "As far as the club's concerned, we would expect that Adam would be with us after the trade deadline."
About three hours after the deadline passes, Jones and the Orioles open a two-game series with the New York Yankees on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
Jones figured to be an attractive option for teams like the Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies. He also owns 10 and 5 rights, meaning Jones has 10 years of service and five with the same team.
Jones is a free agent after this season and has been an Oriole for 11 seasons, spanning 1,568 games since being acquired from the Seattle Mariners after the 2007 season. He is 10th in team history in games played, fifth in team history with 1,735 hits and fifth in team history with 259 homers.
"We haven't been this situation in a long time here," Baltimore manager Buck Showalter told reporters. "I've had experience at it before, but when you have such a long relationship with guys that you've been around so long, you try not to dwell on it. It's, I don't want to say 'painful' in today's world, but it's kind of sobering."
As for his future beyond Tuesday, Jones was not ready to expound on his thoughts, merely telling reporters: "We shall see."
Baltimore took three of four in Yankee Stadium on April 5-8 and then swept the New York Mets in Queens in June. The Orioles are proving to be pesky against the Yankees, whom they are 5-5 against so far.
Baltimore also enters Tuesday on its second three-game winning streak of the season after Jones went 3-for-4 and Chris Davis hit two homers in an 11-5 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Yankees have made two significant trades in the last week by adding Britton and J.A. Happ from Toronto. They also could complete more deals by possibly acquiring a starting pitcher and an outfielder to help ease the absence of Aaron Judge, who injured a wrist Thursday.
New York also will be attempting to win three straight games for the first time since June 18-21. Since then, the Yankees are 17-15 and the Boston Red Sox are 24-7 to widen the gap between the teams from two games to 5 1/2 games.
The Yankees took three of four from the Kansas City Royals by getting six solid innings from Happ and a two-run homer from Aaron Hicks in a 6-3 victory on Sunday.
"He knew exactly what he was doing," Yankees first baseman Greg Bird said. "He executed and went after guys, and that's exactly what we need. He's going to be a big part."
The Yankees are hoping Masahiro Tanaka will be a big part down the stretch, especially after the right-hander pitched a three-hitter in a 105-pitch complete game in last Tuesday's 4-0 win at Tampa Bay.
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Tanaka also is 6-0 with a 3.47 ERA in his last 12 starts, though it includes a shaky outing in Baltimore on July 10. In his return from missing a month with two hamstring injuries, Tanaka labored through 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision as the Orioles eventually won on a ninth-inning single by Jonathan Schoop.
Tanaka is 3-2 with a 4.04 ERA in 11 starts against the Orioles, who beat him 5-2 on April 5 in New York.
Jones hit a two-run homer off Tanaka in that game and is 11-for-30 (.367) against the right-hander.
Yefry Ramirez will make his sixth start for the Orioles. He is 1-3 with a 3.49 ERA in six appearances so far and will be pitching exactly one year after the Orioles purchased his contract from the Yankees.
Ramirez endured the worst outing of his brief career in the second game of the July 9 doubleheader when he allowed four runs and nine hits in four innings of a 10-2 loss to the Yankees. He last pitched a week ago and picked up the win by allowing three runs and four hits in five innings of a 7-6 win over the Boston Red Sox.
Before joining the Orioles, Ramirez was 10-3 with a 3.41 ERA in 18 starts for Double-A Trenton last season. After acquiring Ramirez, he was 5-0 for Bowie and was 3-5 with a 3.88 ERA for Triple-A Norfolk before joining the Orioles.
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