In a fascinating and unexpected follow-up to an earlier story, outfielder Eric Byrnes (pictured above as a member of the Oakland A’s) has engineered his own trade once again, this time from the Colorado Rockies to the Baltimore Orioles. Outfielder Larry Bigbie is headed to Colorado on the other end of the deal, which was completed on July 29. This was Byrnes’ second trade in less than three weeks.

“It turned out that Colorado wasn’t the best fit for me”, says Byrnes via telephone. “I expected my hitting stats to skyrocket due to the Coors Field effect, but I was only hitting .180 for the Rockies. I figured I’d be better off playing somewhere else.” Byrnes also admits that his first trade, from Oakland to Colorado, was ill-timed. “I missed out on all the trade deadline excitement. The reaction to my first trade was disappointing, whereas a lot more people are paying attention this time. It’s great to finally be part of all the trade hype.”

Orioles GM Jim Beattie praises Byrnes’ professionalism in putting the deal together. “This was one of the most relaxing trade negotiations I’ve ever been a part of”, says Beattie from his office in Camden Yards. “He was very easy to work with and I think he could have a great career in an MLB front office once his playing days are over.”

Byrnes originally requested to be dealt for Sammy Sosa, pointing out that it would be a perfectly fair trade on the basis of their batting numbers for the 2005 season. In addition, “not many guys can say they were traded for a future Hall of Famer” states Byrnes. “Getting traded for Sosa would have been wickedly cool, but Jim pushed for Bigbie instead. It’s all good, though. Jim is a great guy and I think this trade will work out well for both ballclubs.”

Adds Beattie, “Our whole conversation was an honest-to-goodness ‘bro-down’, as he put it. I’m inclined to agree with that assessment.”

Colorado GM Dan O’Dowd could not be reached for comment, but the Rockies issued a press release on his behalf, stating, in part, that “[our] entire organization is very pleased with this trade. We want to thank Eric Byrnes for his time in Colorado and wish him the very best in his future endeavors.”

Although he can barely contain his excitement at being in the thick of the AL East pennant race, Byrnes states that his overall experience in Colorado was a positive one. “I’ve got nothing but love for the players and fans in Denver”, he says. “This was business, not personal. But I’m stoked to be in Baltimore. They’ve got a great team here and I feel that I can help them make the playoffs. Plus, I can eat fresh crab for dinner after every home game. Who could pass up all this?”

In his ongoing spirit of “do-it-yourself”, can we expect to see him catching his dinner out on the open water?

“Nah”, laughs Byrnes. “I think I’ll leave that to the professionals.”

Susan Slusser writes for the San Francisco Chronicle.