Saturday night was a night of wheeling and dealing for Dan Duquette. Following the Orioles' victory over the Twins, they announced another trade, this time with the Boston Red Sox. The Orioles received a pair of infielders, Kelly Johnson and Michael Almanzar, in exchange for a pair of infielders, Jemile Weeks and Ivan DeJesus Jr.
That follows on the heels of the trade announced during Saturday's game, where the Orioles got outfielder Alejandro De Aza from the White Sox for a pair of minor league pitchers of no probable consequence.
Johnson, a veteran infielder, has now been on 60% of the AL East this season and 100% of it over the last three seasons. A lefty batter, Johnson has a .212/.290/.354 slash line over 87 games this season. Over his career, he hasn't displayed much of a platoon split, although he's actually hitting lefties better this year than righties. Also, even that bad batting line is better than Ryan Flaherty has done this year. It's another move of tinkering on the margins for Duquette.
Since he has been acquired before September 1, Johnson will be eligible for the Orioles postseason roster, should they make it into the postseason.
Almanzar was selected by the Orioles over the winter in the Rule 5 draft. He spent a couple of months on the disabled list with a knee injury, but the Orioles had to return him to the Red Sox when they activated him and didn't have room for him on the 25-man roster.
Weeks made it into three games for the Orioles but spent most of his time in Norfolk after being traded for Jim Johnson over the offseason. We'll always remember that triple. As Weeks was on the 40-man roster, this is a 40-man neutral move, but the Orioles will need to send someone off the 25-man roster for a couple of days if Kelly Johnson is active for Sunday's game.
DeJesus Jr. played shortstop for Norfolk and you probably have no reason to think about him unless you are related to him.