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Orioles and Cubs both trying to fix an organizational surplus traded Ryan Freel, utilityman, to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for outfielder Joey Gathright.

Andy MacPhail, Baltimore’s president of baseball operations said,  “I think it’s the same thing on both sides of the equation,” he said. “Since we acquired Ryan, we ended up acquiring [Ty] Wigginton, who can play third base and bats right-handed. And we acquired [Robert] Andino, who can play shortstop and second base. So we didn’t get the at-bats there that we originally anticipated. It’s just one of those things that sort of evolved. I think the Cubs had the same thing on the Gathright side. [Kosuke] Fukudome got off to such a hot start that how much they envisioned using Joey initially didn’t pan out either.”

Freel had nearly $4 million remaining on his contract when he was originally traded, and Gathright was owed less than $1 million. The Baltimore Orioles apparently kicked in more than $1 million to even out the scales, which is why the trade required approval from the Commissioner’s Office before it could be approved and announced.

The Orioles gain another veteran outfield for injury insurance at Triple-A Norfolk.  This 28 year old is hitting .214 this season and .262 for his career, very defensive-minded and a speedster.