As Dominguez made that long walk in the Camden Yards catacombs earlier, the Orioles dealing him for a decently regarded Class AA pitching prospect, the usual doubts entered his mind.
How many guys did he know in that Blue Jays clubhouse? How will they utilize the set-up reliever with the 98 mph fastball and a splitter that’s made him dominant this season?
Hours later, though, that stroll through the hall was far more pleasant.
Dominguez already had his first scoreless inning as a Blue Jay under his belt — and his two young sons, Saimon and Sander, sprinted toward him and leaped into his arms.
Yep, getting traded but not having to pack your bags has its fringe benefits.
Dominguez endured one of the longest and strangest days a ballplayer can have, but when it comes to the trading deadline, there are far worse fates than leaping four spots in the standings and sleeping in your own bed the night you’re dealt.
Hey, he can worry about apartments in Toronto another day. For now, he has one more night to sleep in his bed, one game left in this Blue Jays-Orioles four-game set — the latter two coming as Toronto’s badly needed and much-coveted set-up man.
“It’s been kind of crazy,” says Dominguez after pitching a scoreless seventh inning in his Toronto debut, a 3-2 loss to his old Baltimore teammates. “I wake up today and come to play for the Orioles and after the first game, I’m sitting there and hanging out with the guys and they call me and tell me, ‘Hey, we got you traded. Go to the next dugout.’
“But I am happy for the opportunity to be here. And I’m so happy because the Orioles gave me the opportunity. So grateful to the Orioles — they gave me the opportunity to get to do what I love to do.”
It was a quick turnaround and a long, hot strange day for all involved.
The clubs played a day-night doubleheader that offered little relief from the elements — game time temperatures, 97 and 93 degrees — nor from the unyielding fact both clubs were going to be significant players in big deals before the July 31 trade deadline.
And in exactly one hour, the clubs managed to swap Dominguez for Class AA right-hander Juaron Watts-Brown, Blue Jays manager John Schneider learning from GM Ross Atkins that he’d have a new reliever about 90 minutes before first pitch of the second game.
The flip side: The Blue Jays designated right-hander Chad Green for assignment, his three years as a Blue Jay ending with a one-inning, four-run outing in the opener that left him with a 5.56 ERA.
But the Blue Jays are leading the American League East by four games over the New York Yankees. And purely in next-man-up mode.
“That’s a crazy day for him. That’s a whirlwind day,” Schneider said of Dominguez, who struck out 54 batters in 41 2/3 innings this season for Baltimore. “He probably got in a little more than an hour before the game. He said ‘hi’ real quick. And he was ready to go.
“First domino fell. Had to have a tough conversation with Chad Green. He’s the definition of a professional. He’s tight with a lot of guys in the clubhouse. On the flip side, everyone understands the business part of the game.”
While it’s not hard to sell a veteran clubhouse on upgrades at the deadline, Schneider nonetheless made sure to touch base with many of them, with Green, 34, moving on.
“It’s just an awkward situation between two games of a doubleheader, right? You want to make sure it lands well with the room,” says Schneider. “We pride ourselves on having a tight-knit group. You want to make sure the temperature in the room was in the right spot, and it was.
“They all get it. and Chad was about as professional as you could be in that conversation.”
And Dominguez hardly had time to drop his bags and move his personal coffee roaster from one clubhouse to another before he was in the ballgame.
But not without a little hazing.
With the visitor’s bullpen at Camden Yards perched just above the home ‘pen, Dominguez had to jog by his old relief pals to get to his new perch. And Andrew Kittredge did not let him slip by unnoticed.
“He was yelling at me a little bit — ‘What are you doing? Where are you going?’” Dominguez said of Kittredge. “It made me laugh but made me sad at the same time, too, because you have relationships with the people you’re around and they’re really good people and I wish them the best.”
That ribbing aside, Dominguez grazed Dylan Carlson with a pitch but then picked him off of second, completing a scoreless inning that included a strikeout of Colton Cowser.
Later, he expressed the disappointment felt by numerous Orioles about their collective failings this season. Their 50-58 record — even after three wins over the 63-46 Blue Jays — stamped all their tickets out of town.
At least Dominguez will get a moment to rest, to collect both his thoughts and his belongings, a strange upside to a most unusual day.
“I knew I was probably going to be traded. I don’t know where,” he says. “But I just try to come to the park and do my best to help the Orioles win.
“Now, I’m going to do the same with the Blue Jays.”