Los Angeles Dodgers Acquire George Sherrill From Baltimore Orioles

Adam BernacchioJul 30, 2009

The Los Angeles Dodgers, while still pursuing a trade for Roy Halladay, switched their attention for a second to the back-end of their bullpen. This afternoon they acquired Baltimore Orioles’ closer George Sherrill for minor-leaguers Josh Bell and Steve Johnson.

With Jonathan Broxton already firmly entrenched as the Dodgers’ closer, Sherrill becomes the Dodgers’ primary eighth-inning guy. Sherrill thrived in a middle-relief role with the Mariners in 2007 (2.36 ERA in 73 games), so I don’t think going from a closer to an eighth-inning guy will affect him like it did Eric Gagne and JJ Putz when they made the move.

Sherrill came to the Orioles in the extremely lopsided Erik Bedard trade last year and in a year-and-a-half was sensational for the Orioles. If you really think about it, Sherrill was just an extra in that trade and all he has done is save 51 games in 94.2 innings for the Orioles. He also was an All Star in 2008.

Despite Sherrill’s 20 saves and 2.40 ERA in 2009, it made sense for the Orioles to trade him. Sherrill is 32-years-old and the Orioles were out of the race this year. Not to mention next year figures to be a rebuilding year as well. Sherrill is under team control until 2011, so his value was at its highest now.

In return, the Orioles get the Dodgers eighth-best prospect in third baseman Josh Bell, according to Baseball America. Bell is a slugging third baseman who is hitting .296 with 11 HR’s, 52 RBI, and had a .386 OBP for Double-A Chattanooga. With current third baseman Melvin Mora becoming a free agent after the season, it’s possible Bell will compete for the starting job in 2010.

The Orioles also received RHP Steve Johnson. Johnson was drafted in the 13th round of the 2005 draft. In five years in the minors, Johnson was 29-26 with a 4.25 ERA and had 397 K’s in 408.2 IP. Johnson projects to be reliever in the majors.

The Erik Bedard trade is looking better for the Orioles by the day. Adam Jones is already becoming a star in this league, top pitching prospect Chris Tillman made his major-league debut last night and after two very productive seasons from Sherrill, the Orioles flip him for two prospects.