The Baltimore Orioles have a way of being among the last teams to create offseason headlines. Apparently they weren’t in the mood to continue that trend this offseason though, as they made their first major move of the offseason on Sunday afternoon.

Don’t go too crazy though Birds fans, because they probably shouldn’t have.

Baltimore dealt the New York Yankees 23-year-old reliever Chris Britton in exchange for teh services of right-handed starter Jarret Wright. Wright, 30, battled through injuries throughout much of last season en route to finishing the season 11-7.

Britton, a husky right-hander who made the leap to the big leauges from Double-A Bowie last season, was among the few bright spots in Baltimore’s bullpen in 2006. He made 52 appearances and pitched to an impressive 3.35 era, and may well have been the team’s most reliable middle-reliever at season’s end.

In addition to adding Wright, who will go into spring training expected to win a job in Baltimore’s rotation this spring, the Orioles received $4 million in the inter-divisional trade.

Acquring Wright’s right arm and some money is fine and good, but the most glaring of Baltimore’s many areas of concern is the team’s bullpen. Dealing a home-grown youngster who proved his legitimacy last season makes me tilt my head to the side and scratch my head.

I get that this team needed a veteran starter, and I understand that Wright had a career-year under Orioles pitching coach Leo Mazzone in Atlanta. Wright had a solid second half, going 6-0 after the all-star break, an didn’t lose a game in the the final two months of the season.

But aside from dominant closer Chris Ray, this team’s bullpen was already suspect, and with this trade it got worse.