Two trades were completed in Major League Baseball since Orioles manager Buck Showalter last met with reporters. The Rockies sent shortstop Troy Tulowitzki to the Blue Jays and the Athletics sent infielder/outfielder Ben Zobrist to the Royals.
Showalter keeps track of every deal and he has special interest in the Blue Jays transactions due to their status as a division rival. He's also a big fan of Zobrist.
"He's a good player. I like him a lot," Showalter said.
"They're giving up some really good players for these guys. The people Toronto gave up to Colorado, that's a good trade - for both teams. But Toronto's got a lot of players that are attractive down below."
Does it bother Showalter to see other teams make these moves?
"Not at all," he replied. "I spent 10 minutes talking to Steve Pearce. How far away is he? Stevie can impact us like that. He's done it before.
"We're kicking around a lot of things. Sometimes, the best moves are the ones you don't make. I could tell you about three or four that we decided not to do in the last two or three years that if we have made them we would have really regretted. Of course, I won't tell you about the other ones I wish we had made.
"You do one thing, it keeps you from doing something else. You can sign this guy but that means you can't do this and you can't do that. We have repercussions for things like that.
"I wish sometimes the liar, liar day that people have, I'd love to say, 'Here's what they (wanted). Would you do that?' A student of baseball goes, 'No, of course not, you wouldn't do that.' Dan (Duquette) doesn't bring everything to me and I hope not, but they identify the right guys for the most part. There's no secrets."
Showalter warns against, as he puts it, coveting other teams' players.
"There's not a 26- 27-man roster," he said. "If you take somebody, somebody goes away, and that's the last thing I want players to be thinking about.
"I think it's a real false deadline. It is. They use the word 'deadline,' it's not a real one.
"The problem is when people are asking for people who are part of what you're trying to do this year. That's tough. And if they go away, then who?"
Matt Wieters has hit a walk-off home run in each of the last three seasons. According to Elias Sports Bureau, the only other Orioles to hit at least one walk-off home run in three or more consecutive seasons are Frank Robinson (1968-71), Brooks Robinson (1969-72) and Larry Sheets (1986-88).
For the Braves
Nick Markakis RF
Cameron Maybin CF
Freddie Freeman 1B
Adonis Garcia 3B
A.J. Pierzynski C
Jonny Gomes LF
Jace Peterson 2B
Chris Johnson DH
Andrelton Simmons SS
Julio Teheran RHP
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