The Orioles are entering a brave new world, and it’s one full of hope

The Baltimore Orioles made a trade with the New York Yankees for the first time in three decades, and that bodes well for the future of the franchise.

The last time the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees completed a trade, I was two months away from being born, gas was $1.00 a gallon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sat 22,000 points below its current levels, MLB’s average salary was under $500,000 and the most expensive ticket at the House that Ruth Built was $12. The year was 1989. What a time to be alive.

It has been quite some time since the Orioles and Yankees, bitter rivals, made a deal with each other. In the same time span, the Yanks have actually made three trades with their even bigger rivals up in Boston. Since taking ownership of the Orioles, Peter Angelos simply refused to entertain the idea of trading to his mortal enemies.

That changed last night, with All-Star closer Zach Britton packing his bags and heading to the Bronx in exchange for former fourth-overall pick Dillon Tate and two other pitchers. The trade will certainly have a much greater impact for both sides than the last time they consummated a swap.

It is without a doubt an interesting time to be an Orioles fan. The trade of MVP candidate Manny Machado to the Los Angeles Dodgers last week signaled a rebuild was coming, but just how deep said rebuild would be was unclear. With the trade of Britton to a hated division rival, the writing is on the wall.

The Orioles are about to get serious about this whole starting over thing.

For the Orioles, the last six-plus years have been an incredible ride, but it’s over. Three trips to the playoffs and one run to the ALCS for a previously down-trodden franchise are more than anyone could have hoped for when the current core finally materialized around Machado and Adam Jones. A small-market team like Baltimore must measure their wins and losses differently than a New York, Boston or Los Angeles. The fact that the Orioles were able to supplant the Red Sox and Yankees at the top of the division and carry the best record in the American League for over half a decade is a sweet reward for nearly 20 years of losing.

And, if the early moves of the rebuild are any indication, it won’t take nearly as long this time around to turn the Orioles back into a winner.

Peter Angelos appears to have handed the reins off to his sons, and things are finally being done differently in Baltimore. The 89-year-old has never hidden his desire to win, but has been a thorn in the side of multiple general managers. For years, Angelos had the last word on virtually every major decision, and he hurt the Orioles more often than not. For example, getting Tate for Britton is a strong return, but the Houston Astros were willing to pay much more last year at the trade deadline. Machado fetched a single top-100 prospect from the Dodgers. The Cleveland Indians gave up the best catching prospect in baseball for reliever Brand Hand, who isn’t even as good as Britton at his best.

In many ways, it’s a wonder the Orioles were ever able to contend at all. The international market has been ignored almost entirely, while first-round picks were spent on the likes of Billy Rowell, Matt Hobgood and Brian Matusz. Spending on starting pitching was kept in check, even as the rest of the league began coming to grips with the idea of spending over $30 million for the best arms. Advanced metrics and analytics were embraced lightly, if at all. Teams are not supposed to be able to win this way in the modern MLB environment, but somehow the Orioles found a way with a scrap-heap rotation, dominant bullpen and plenty of cheap home runs (and not nearly enough walks).

The Angelos sons are clearly calling the shots now and are showing a willingness to make the best deals possible, optics be damned. The truth of the matter is that it should not matter to a team like the Orioles whether or not they are aiding a rival at the trade deadline. Getting the best prospects is the heart of the matter, and the Orioles were able to do that in the Britton trade. It is highly unlikely the elder Angelos would have signed off on a blockbuster trade with the Yankees.

Teams like the Philadelphia Phillies, Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs and defending World Series champion Astros have laid out the blueprints for going from worst to first in a timely fashion. It’s all right there for any team willing to endure the pain of a few losing seasons. Invest heavily in the draft and international prospects, take the best trades possible and don’t rush things. It’s a blueprint that has worked for years, but one the Orioles were never quite willing to commit to during their years in the MLB wilderness.

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This time, though, it feels different. As painful as it has been to watch a team trend towards 120 losses, the Orioles are finally moving into the 21st Century as an organization and leaving their old ways behind.