Jim Thome Trade Sends Orioles’ Prospects To Phillies

Now that the Baltimore Orioles and Philadelphia Phillies have finished their Saturday games, it appears the trade that will bring Jim Thome and his 609 career home runs to the Baltimore Orioles — likely to fill their hole at designated hitter — is official. The Orioles will send catcher prospect Gabriel Lino and right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Simon to the Phillies, according to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi. The trade had been reported during the game but couldn't be finalized until the teams were finished playing.

#Phillies get Nos. 18 (Kyle Simon) and 21 (Gabriel Lino) on the #Orioles prospect list, per BA.

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) June 30, 2012

The Orioles have been playing phenomenally in the first three months of the season, but have fallen off a tad of late, losing seven of their last 10. That hasn't been helped by the placement of three hitters — Nick Johnson, Endy Chavez and Nick Markakis — on the disabled list in the past week alone. Chris Davis and Mark Reynolds have manned the corners for the O's but, despite Davis' impressive numbers, they have both been inconsistent. Thome, though, figures to bring some pop, and clutch pop at that. After recently being offered $5,000 by Jonathan Papelbon to hit a walk-off homer, and coming through on the bet, Thome became Major League Baseball's all-time leader in walk-off homers.