Duquette on today's trades (O's lose 6-3)

NEW YORK - The newer version of the Orioles is losing to the Yankees tonight 6-0, with Miguel Andújar breaking open the game in the fifth inning with a three-run homer off Yefry Ramírez after Greg Bird's sacrifice fly.

Ramírez allowed a two-out RBI single to Gleyber Torres in the first inning and Didi Gregorius' run-scoring single in the third after Tim Beckham's error.

Making his first start at Yankee Stadium, Ramírez allowed six runs and six hits in five innings. He walked three batters, struck out four and hit one.

What he did on the mound was secondary to the activity that unfolded earlier in the day and continued to reshape the organization.

Executive vice president Dan Duquette said he didn't begin the day intending to trade pitcher Kevin Gausman to the Braves and second baseman Jonathan Schoop to the Brewers for a total of seven players and $2.5 million in international signing bonus slot money. But talks heated up and past work proved fruitful.

"It's a lot like building a house," Duquette said in a conference call. "I think it's easier if you demolish the house and build it with a good foundation from the ground up rather than renovating it one room at a time.

"I think it helps in terms of the overall progress you can make. That's what we're going with the ballclub. We're trying to rebuild the ballclub as quickly as we can and when we project our current roster and the contributions that the players can make, we know that we have to add to our talent base with some more young ballplayers. That's why we made the trades today."

Deals that could have been reported on HGTV were emotional for the organization. Duquette mentioned how he was sad to see Gausman go, "but on a professional note, I knew that was something the club needed to continue to rebuild the roster." He described Schoop as "a terrific kid, a hard-working kid."

"We watched him come up through the farm system and improve every year and become an All-Star," Duquette said. "Personally, it was difficult, but we thought it was the right thing to do for the ballclub to continue to rebuild the roster."

The Orioles received right-hander Evan Phillips, infielder Jean Carlos Encarnacion, catcher Brett Cumberland and left-hander Bruce Zimmermann from the Braves for Gausman and reliever Darren O'Day. Atlanta took on the remainder of O'Day's salary, which includes $9 million next season, and also kicked in $2.5 million in international signing bonus slot money to push the club's total past $8 million. Zimmerman is a graduate of Loyola Blakefield and also pitched at Towson University.

O'Day had to give his approval because he held 10-5 rights.

Schoop was sent to the Brewers for infielders Jonathan Villar and Jean Carmona and right-hander Luis Ortiz. Villar will join the club Thursday in Texas.

Villar was batting .261/.315/.377 with the Brewers this year and led the National League with 62 steals in 2016.

"We've been talking to Milwaukee for a long time," Duquette said. "They had interest in several other players early on in the discussions. So we've been talking to them for a long time and we had a pretty good idea of what their needs were and how our people evaluated their players. So that came together at the last minute, but we've been talking to Milwaukee for a long time, been talking with David Stearns and our people have been working on that for a while.

"I don't know that we were determined to move these players, but when we got some players back that we like ... Ortiz is one of their top prospects. He pitched in the Futures Game. Villar is a very capable major league infielder who had a great year in 2016. That was an opportunity to add an infielder and then also some young talent, a young pitcher in Ortiz. And we really like the switch-hitting shortstop, Carmona, who's in the Pioneer League. So that was an opportunity to add some good talent to the ballclub and reshape the roster for the future.

"And the Braves deal, obviously we like the Braves players. On Kevin Gausman, we looked at the Sonny Gray deal last year that the A's did and they got three good prospects from the Yankees. Now, the prospects we got from the Braves aren't going to be ranked as high in their farm system because they have serious depth and some really good prospects in their Top 10, but they'll come into our farm system and they'll be ranked high.

"Overall, we're going to be able to add to our talent base significantly through this trade. We picked up a pitcher in Phillips who's a capable big leaguer. We like his stuff. He's young. We also got a catcher we like from the Braves and Encarnacion is a young prospect. He has all the tools to be an everyday player in the big leagues. And Zimmermann is a local kid from Towson University, a left-handed pitcher who's a potential major league starter.

"So the overall talent that we got, we think we got some big leaguers from that group and we'll continue to add to our talent base to develop our future teams here."

These deals and the three the proceeded them were intended to bring back young talent but also to reduce payroll and allow the funds to be redirected, with an eye pointed at the international market. A decision was made to not build around Gausman or Schoop.

"It was important to move that down the track," Duquette said.

"Sometimes when you rebuild your house, you've also got to rebuild the operations in the back and that's really what we did. We restructured our club so we have some financial flexibility to continue to build the roster. Obviously, there was a lot of discussion. I think there's a natural tension to want to keep good players your team and these are tough decisions for the Orioles organization, but when you take a step in a big direction you might as well take off running because it's going to be a long time to get to the finish line on the other side. That's kind of what we decided we were going to do today."

The money was a driving force in the trades, which saved about $29 million in payroll obligations through 2019.

"I think that's an important part of it," Duquette said. "Like I said, when you start the teardown, you have to reinvest your resources to build it back up. Today, we freed up some major league payroll and also acquired some international bonus slots, so that allows us to reinvest that in the infrastructure, the people, the technology, the recruiting players and making the team competitive doing the things we need to do to compete with these tough teams in the East."

The Orioles' renewed commitment to the international market came to light again today.

"Not only did we pick up four players that we liked from the Braves, we also acquired the international bonus money and we're going to start reinvesting that money this week," Duquette said. "We're going to announce the signings of some young Dominican and Venezuelan players that we like. And there are a lot of clubs that have already committed their resources in the international market, so this will give us a good position to go out and sign some talent this year to help the major league club.

"So in addition to the players we got, we also picked up the resources to reinvest in the international market. And, as you know, you can also trade these slots to acquire other players to help the major league team, which we've done in the past. So, it's a valuable piece in building a good operation, building a good team."

Adam Jones declined to waive his 10-5 rights and remains with the club. The Orioles had a deal worked out with the Phillies, but Jones wouldn't budge.

"We talked to Adam Jones about that earlier in the week and Adam would like to stay with the Orioles," Duquette said. "He made his choice to stay with the Orioles. He's going to be with the club."

The Orioles may choose to let Jones walk as a free agent instead of negotiating a new deal. Duquette wouldn't say whether the door has closed on the five-time All-Star.

"I don't know the answer to that question, but what I do know is that the club is going to start auditioning some young players for full-time jobs for the future," Duquette said.

"We'll have to address those questions in the offseason."

You can read more about the players obtained in today's trade here.

Update: The Orioles scored three runs in the eighth, all of them charged to A.J. Cole, but the Yankees held on for a 6-3 victory in the Bronx.

One of the runs was unearned after a passed ball and error.

Jace Peterson doubled to score Austin Wynns and Tim Beckham.

The Orioles are 32-75 overall and 12-40 on the road.