Luke Scott isn't untouchable

One of the most annoying things to overhear at a baseball game is any kind of conversation by people who don't know what they're talking about. At an Orioles-Nationals game about a week back, I sat in front of a confused Nationals fan who, oddly enough, took credit for a Nick Johnson trade to the Red Sox that never happened and then tried to explain a balk call to a woman friend who had no idea what he was talking about. So, yeah, that was interesting.

You've also probably overheard fans discussing trading various players even though they probably overvalued them because of a few good performances or perhaps some unreached potential. This is obviously common in other sports as well, such as when, say, Wizards fans use ESPN's NBA Trade Machine and include the likes of Oleksiy Pecherov and Darius Songalia, among others, in some possible package for a star like Chris Bosh -- not that I've ever tried that.

I've already seen a few comments on message boards pining for the Orioles to hurry up and deal Luke Scott for whatever the O's can get. While it's true that the Orioles have a tough decision to make regarding Scott and that it's unlikely the team could get a king's ransom for him, he could still bring in some good talent.

Scott has been on fire since coming off of the disabled list, including being named the AL's Player of the Week. Scott had back-to-back two-homer games, and he hit six home runs in a recent four-game stretch. In a relatively small sample size this season, Scott, in 117 at bats, has posted a great .325/.406/.658 split with 11 home runs. He's also walked 15 times while striking out 22 times, which is pretty good. And as the Orioles play the Mariners tonight in Seattle, Scott just laced a single to right field.

Unfortunately, while he's hitting extremely well at the moment, he's good, but not that good. If he was a little younger, it would be a little more likely that he was developing into that kind of a player, but Scott turns 31 later this month. In his career, Scott is a .272/.358/.512 hitter, which is still very solid.

So, again, I'm not trying to be that annoying guy at the ballpark who talks about trading everyone away, but it would seem to make sense for the Orioles to explore the possibility of trading Scott for a few pieces, especially since the Orioles are still not one or two players away from being a top team. They're getting much better, and a big reason for that is Andy MacPhail's willingness to pull the trigger on a few key trades. That's how the Orioles acquired Scott in the first place, so if MacPhail feels that dealing Scott can help the organization, I'd be all for it.

When a team like the Orioles is trying to become relevant again, not many players can be considered untouchable.