The two hot relievers on the market were Heath Bell and Mike Adams of the San Diego Padres. However, there was one reliever flying under the radar that is having a very good season in Baltimore. Koji Euhara was having a career year for the Orioles and now the Texas Rangers hope he continues his hot pitching for the rest of the season.
The Rangers acquired Uehara from the Orioles for RHP Tommy Hunter and 1B/DH Chris Davis. The Rangers will also get $2MM from the Orioles to cover half of Euhara's salary according to Jon Heyman.
Uehara will become the primary setup man to closer Neftali Feliz in Texas. He has a 1.72 ERA, 2.52 FIP, 1.5 BB/9, and 11.9 K/9 in 47 innings. His stats have been helped by a ridiculous 97 percent Left on Base Percentage.
The Rangers will have Uehara under team control 2015.
For the Orioles, they get two players that will certainly figure into their rebuilding process.
Hunter was a first-round pick of the Rangers back in 2007 and while he has been pitching out of the bullpen in 2011, he will be a starting pitcher for the Orioles. In his two and a half full seasons with the Rangers, Hunter has a 3.84 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and 5.0 K/9 in 255.1 innings.
With Vladimir Guerrero and Derrek Lee free agents at the end of the year, Davis can be the Orioles' DH or 1B in 2012. Davis was everyone's fantasy mancrush after the 2008 season when he hit 17 HR's in 80 games, but has really fallen off since then. Maybe a change of scenery will do Davis some good.