Orioles Designate Dietrich Enns For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they have recalled left-hander Nick Raquet from Triple-A Norfolk, a move that was reported by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com earlier. In a corresponding move, the O’s designated fellow lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment.
Enns, now 35, had an intriguing comeback season in 2025. He had made his major league debut a few years prior but wound up pitching overseas from 2022 to 2024. He was back in North America last year and logged 46 1/3 innings between the Tigers and Orioles. He allowed 4.08 earned runs per nine. His 24.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate were both a bit better than average. He may have even had better results without a .338 batting average on balls in play, which is why his 3.54 SIERA was a bit lower than his ERA.
The O’s signed Enns for the 2026 season, a one-year deal with a $2.625MM guarantee and a club option for 2027. Here in 2026, a left foot infection put him on the IL for about a month, from early April to early May. Around that IL stint, he has given Baltimore 16 innings with a 3.94 ERA but with worse numbers under the hood. His 18.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate are both subpar figures. His BABIP and strand rate are now to the lucky side, so his 5.24 SIERA suggests he’s been worse than last year, even though he ERA is slightly better.
The Rays and Orioles went to 13 innings last night. Baltimore ultimately came out on top but it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory, as they had to use six relievers in the process. One of them was Enns, who was pitching for a second straight day. It’s likely that Baltimore’s decision to cut Enns came from a combination of the pitching staff being taxed, him being unavailable, and his uninspiring results this year. He is out of options and needed to be bumped off the 40-man entirely to open an active roster spot.
Enns now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Orioles could take five days to explore trade interest. Given this year’s results and salary, they may not find much interest. If Enns were to clear waivers, he would likely stick around as non-roster depth. He has a previous career outright and would technically have the right to elect free agency in that scenario. But since he has less than five years of big league service time, he would have to walk away from the money he is still owed on his current deal.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Orioles Designate Albert Suarez For Assignment
The Orioles announced that right-hander Albert Suarez has been designated for assignment. Prior to today’s doubleheader with the Tigers, Baltimore activated left-hander Grant Wolfram from the 15-day IL to use him as the 27th man, and Wolfram will now stay on the 26-man roster in Suarez’s place.
These transactions are becoming routine for Suarez, who has now been DFA’ed three times by the Orioles in under a month. The first designation saw Suarez clear waivers and then elect free agency, as a previous outright on his resume allowed him to decline the Orioles’ outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. However, Suarez quickly re-signed with the O’s on a minor league contract, then was selected back to the active roster, and DFA’ed and outrighted again within the span of five days.
This time, Suarez chose to just accept the outright assignment, and spent a couple of weeks in Norfolk before the Orioles selected his contract again last Tuesday. Unless Suarez is claimed off waivers, it seems probable that Suarez will end up staying with the O’s in some fashion, either via accepting the outright assignment or another free agent trip that results in another fresh minor league deal.
Suarez is out of minor league options, so the O’s have to designate him and expose him to the waiver wire whenever the club wants to shift him off the active roster. Suarez has some leverage in this back-and-forth situation given his ability to reject outright assignments, but it could be that he is content to stick it out in a familiar environment with the knowledge that he’ll probably get another look in the majors pretty soon.
Amidst all this roster shuffling, Suarez has a 2.75 ERA over 19 2/3 big league innings this season, including four shutout frames in Game 2 of today’s doubleheader (a 4-1 Orioles loss). Suarez’s ability to eat innings has made the former swingman and starter into a useful long man for Baltimore, though he has barely more strikeouts (10) than walks (nine) and he benefited greatly from a minuscule .186 BABIP.
Orioles Outright Jose Espada
The Orioles announced that right-hander Jose Espada has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment earlier this week when the O’s claimed outfielder Michael Siani. This is Espada’s first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, so he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He’ll provide the Orioles with some non-roster depth for the time being.
Espada, 29, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in July of 2025. He was added to the 40-man in August and then optioned to the minors, suggesting he probably had some kind of opt-out in that deal. He was called up in September and made one appearance before getting optioned back to Norfolk. He’s had a similar experience so far this year, spending most of it in the minors. He was recalled three times but only made one appearance.
He also made one appearance with the Padres in 2023, so he has three big league appearances on his ledger. He has thrown five scoreless innings in total. A career earned run average of 0.00 is nice but it’s obviously a very small sample. His larger body of work at Triple-A is less impressive. In 65 innings at that level, he has a 4.57 ERA. He has a strong 27.5% strikeout rate in that sample but a worrisome 15.5% walk rate. He mostly throws a mid-90s fastball and mid-80s slider, with a 90ish splitter being his third pitch in terms of usage.
After the 2023 season, the Padres non-tendered Espada, sending him to free agency without needing to put him on waivers. He spent 2024 in Japan, throwing 27 innings for the Yakult Swallows with an ERA of 5.00. He re-signed with the Friars on a minor league deal ahead of 2025 but eventually was released from that pact and signed with the Orioles. Since this is his first time clearing waivers and his service time count is under three years, he has to accept the outright assignment. He will try to improve his control and earn his way back to the majors.
Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images
Braves Claim Maverick Handley
The Braves on Thursday claimed catcher Maverick Handley off waivers from the Orioles, per a team announcement. Righty Hurston Waldrep moves from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL in a corresponding move. Handley was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Handley, 28, was the Orioles’ sixth-round pick in 2019. He’s spent his entire career in the organization. Over the past year, he’s been on and off Baltimore’s 40-man roster and up and down between Baltimore and the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk. Handley has only 48 big league plate appearances and has gone just 3-for-42 in that time. It’s not a good big league track record, clearly, but Handley logged a .258/.373/.367 slash in Triple-A last year. He’s regularly posted lofty walk rates in the minors, and he’s regarded as a quality defender.
Handley isn’t going to jump right onto the big league roster, but he gives an injury-decimated Atlanta catching corps some depth. The Braves recently put star backstop Drake Baldwin on the injured list due to an oblique strain. He’s likely looking at a weekslong absence. Veteran complement Sean Murphy isn’t an option at the moment. After spending the early portion of the season rehabbing from hip surgery, he suffered a broken middle finger and is sidelined for another two months or so.
That’s left the Braves with a light-hitting catching tandem of Sandy León and Chadwick Tromp. Both are decent defenders who can’t be expected to hit in the majors. That’s true of Handley as well, to an extent, though he at least has quality on-base numbers in the minors thanks to his penchant for drawing walks. León and Tromp both regularly post on-base percentages in the .250 range.
Waldrep’s move to the 60-day IL is purely procedural. It does nothing to impact his timetable to return. The talented young righty underwent spring surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow. Since his IL placement was retroactive to three days prior to Opening Day — the maximum allowed — he’s already effectively spent 60 days on the IL. Moving from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL doesn’t reset the required minimum, but it does open a 40-man spot. Waldrep isn’t on a minor league rehab assignment yet anyhow, so he’s not especially close to returning, but this won’t change anything when he’s finally ready to be activated.
Orioles Select Albert Suarez, Designate Maverick Handley
The Orioles on Tuesday selected the contract of righty Albert Suarez from Triple-A Norfolk and designated catcher Maverick Handley for assignment, per a team announcement. Handley’s DFA opens a 40-man spot for Suarez. Baltimore optioned righty Cameron Foster to Norfolk to make room on the active roster.
Suarez, 36, has been a heavily used swingman for the Orioles since making a 2024 return from the Korea Baseball Organization. He started 24 games and made another eight relief outings in ’24 and has appeared in 11 games over the past two seasons, mostly out of the ‘pen, while also missing time with injuries.
Overall, since Suarez joined the Orioles on a minor league deal in the 2023-24 offseason, he’s given them 161 innings of 3.58 ERA ball split between 25 starts and 18 relief outings. This will be his second big league stint of the season. The O’s already passed him through waivers once. He’s made two starts in Norfolk, totaling nine innings and allowing four runs with a 7-to-2 K/BB ratio.
An ugly start from Trevor Rogers yesterday led to both Foster and Dietrich Enns throwing 35-plus pitches. Suarez will give the bullpen a fresh arm in the event that the O’s need some more length in today’s game. Since he’s been starting in Norfolk, he’s stretched out for multiple innings if need be.
The 28-year-old Handley has been up-and-down between Norfolk and Baltimore and on-and-off the Orioles’ 40-man roster over the past calendar year. He’s totaled only 48 major league plate appearances and gone 3-for-42 with a trio of singles and a 39.6% strikeout rate. Handley posted decent numbers in Triple-A last year (.258/.373/.367) and has steadily posted big walk rates throughout his time in the minors. He’s a glove-first backup who can work counts but has a sub-par hit tool and well below-average power.
Baltimore will have five days to trade Handley or place him on waivers. If he clears waivers, he’ll have the option to reject an outright assignment and become a free agent, which hasn’t been available to him in the past. However, he’s spent his whole career in the Orioles organization since being selected in the sixth round of the 2019 draft, so he may opt to stick with the only club he’s known.
Orioles Claim Michael Siani, Designate Jose Espada
The Orioles claimed outfielder Michael Siani off waivers from the Dodgers and designated righty Jose Espada for assignment to clear space on the 40-man roster. Siani has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.
Siani was designated for assignment by the Dodgers last week when they acquired fellow outfielder Alek Thomas in a trade with the D-backs. The 26-year-old Siani has spent the entire 2026 season with the Dodgers’ Triple-A club after coming over from the Yankees in a February waiver claim. That capped off a busy winter for Siani, who bounced from the Cardinals, to the Braves, to the Dodgers, to the Yankees and back to the Dodgers in a series of DFAs and waiver claims.
In 107 plate appearances with the Dodgers’ top affiliate, Siani has slashed just .225/.355/.303. He’s walked at a huge 15.9% clip but has also fanned in 28% of his plate appearances and has yet to hit a home run. Siani has picked up five doubles and a triple in addition to a 5-for-7 showing in stolen base attempts.
An over-slot fourth-rounder with the Reds back in 2018, Siani has spent all of his major league time in the National League Central between Cincinnati and St. Louis. He briefly debuted with the Reds in 2022 but made only 25 major league plate appearances before being claimed by the Cardinals in September of 2023. He was a frequently used, defensive-minded fourth outfielder with the 2024 Cards when he logged a career-high 334 plate appearances.
In parts of four major league seasons, Siani owns an anemic .221/.277/.270 batting line (58 wRC+) but good grades for his defense and baserunning. He’s played 1014 major league innings in the outfield — primarily in center but with fleeting corner appearances mixed in — and been credited with overwhelmingly positive marks from Statcast’s Outs Above Average (16) and from Defensive Runs Saved (7). He’s also gone 21-for-26 in stolen base attempts, giving him a success rate of nearly 81%.
The Orioles lost Dylan Beavers to an oblique strain last week. Heston Kjerstad hasn’t played at all this season due to a hamstring injury and is on the 60-day IL. Siani adds some depth to an outfield group that has gotten good production from Taylor Ward and Leody Taveras but has seen former top prospect Colton Cowser and relatively high-priced slugger Tyler O’Neill (who signed a three-year, $49.5MM contract prior to the ’25 season) both struggle tremendously at the plate.
Espada, 29, is the cousin of Astros skipper Joe Espada. He’s pitched one scoreless inning with the O’s this year and another three shutout frames with them in 2025. The 2015 fifth-rounder (Blue Jays) has only five big league frames to his credit. Espada carries a 4.57 ERA and 27.5% strikeout rate in parts of three Triple-A seasons, but he’s also walked 15.5% of his opponents at the top minor league level. Beyond his work in North American ball, Espada tossed 27 innings with the Yakult Swallows of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball back in 2024.
Espada has sat 93.6 mph on his four-seamer in the majors, coupling it with a slider that sits just under 93 mph. In the minors, he’s frequently used a splitter that averages just under 90 mph, but he hasn’t used the pitch heavily in his tiny sample of MLB work.
The O’s will have five days to trade Espada or place him on outright waivers. That’d be another 48-hour process, meaning his DFA will be resolved within a week’s time. Espada doesn’t have three years of big league service and hasn’t been outrighted at any point in his career, so he won’t have the right to elect free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed. In that scenario, he’d head to Triple-A Norfolk and stick around as non-roster depth.
Cubs Claim Christian Roa
The Cubs have claimed right-hander Christian Roa, the Orioles announced. Baltimore designated Roa for assignment on Friday after acquiring fellow righty Eduarniel Núñez in a trade with the Athletics. MLBTR has learned that left-hander Riley Martin was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Roa. Martin hit the IL in late April with a flexor strain that was expected to cost him about eight weeks.
The 27-year-old Roa is no stranger to the waiver wire. He broke camp with the Astros, but was sent down after the first series of the season. Roa was designated for assignment after a second brief stint with the club in April. It set off a series of transactions that saw him bounce to multiple organizations. Roa was claimed, then DFAed by the Twins and Orioles in the span of a few weeks. He’s now landed in Chicago.
Roa permitted five earned runs over 8 2/3 innings with Houston. He had more walks (7) than strikeouts (6) across seven appearances. Roa’s time as an Astro represents his longest MLB look so far. He tossed three innings for the Marlins in 2025, his only other stretch in the big leagues.
Cincinnati took Roa in the second round of the 2020 draft. The righty put up solid numbers in the minors, but also struggled with walks, especially at the higher levels of the minors. Roa delivered a 31.0% strikeout rate across Double-A and Triple-A in 2023. Those swing-and-miss numbers, particularly for a pitcher who was already 24 years old, could’ve led to a call-up, except they came with an ugly 16.6% walk rate. Roa worked mostly as a reliever for the first time in 2024. He scuffled to a 5.55 ERA with Louisville and was DFAed at the end of the season.
Miami took a shot on Roa off the waiver wire. He was excellent as a full-time reliever with Jacksonville, posting a 2.83 ERA with more than a strikeout per inning in 50 appearances. Roa trimmed the free passes to 11.4%, which was an improvement. He debuted with the Marlins in September. Roa walked three but only permitted one hit. He tested free agency at the end of the year, landing with Houston on a minor league deal.
Photo courtesy of Ron Chenoy, Imagn Images
Orioles Sign Tommy Pham To Minor League Contract
The Orioles have signed veteran outfielder Tommy Pham to a minor league deal, according to ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez (multiple links). The contract contains an opt-out clause for Pham in early June if he hasn’t already been added to Baltimore’s active roster. Pham is represented by Republik Sports.
If Pham’s contract is selected and he appears in a game for the O’s, he would become the 24th player (and ninth position player) to suit up for 11 different MLB teams over the course of his career. Historical noteworthiness aside, Pham’s first priority is just to get his 2026 season on track, as he went hitless over 14 plate appearances and nine games for the Mets earlier this season.
Pham went almost the entire offseason without being signed, as he didn’t land his previous minors deal with the Mets until March 26. After working out at extended Spring Training and then playing in four A-ball games, New York selected Pham’s contract on April 12, but his lack of production led to a DFA in late April. Pham then chose to become a free agent after clearing waivers, rather than accepting an outright assignment to the Mets’ Triple-A club.
While reading too much into his 14 PA this season is unfair, Pham has hit only .240/.321/.382 over 2730 PA since Opening Day 2020, which translates to a 96 wRC+. His only full seasons of above-average offense in that stretch were 2021 (103 wRC+) and 2023 (109 wRC+), and his splits against left-handed pitching are nothing special.
The frequent changes of uniform could be one reason for this inconsistent performance, and Pham has had a habit of streaky play over his entire career. The 2025 season saw Pham actually stay with one team for the entire season, and he hit .245/.330/.370 over 449 PA for the Pirates.
What Pham still has in the tank at age 38 remains to be seen, but there’s no risk for the Orioles in taking a flier on a minor league signing. Making New York’s roster guaranteed a $2.25MM salary for Pham in 2026, so the O’s would owe him only the prorated portion of the roughly $1.65MM remaining for any time Pham spends on Baltimore’s 26-man roster (with the Mets on the hook for the rest).
Taylor Ward and Tyler O’Neill are the Orioles’ primary corner outfielders, and like Pham, both are right-handed hitters. This means that Pham’s paths to his usual positions are pretty much blocked, though O’Neill is struggling badly at the plate, and Pham could be a depth option for the O’s in a broader sense given their other injury woes.
Ryan Mountcastle is on the 60-day IL and Jordan Westburg is gone for the season, leaving Baltimore short two right-handed bats. In the outfield, Dylan Beavers and Heston Kjerstad (both left-handed hitters) are on the IL though Kjerstad is making progress on a minor league rehab assignment. The O’s would prefer to keep Samuel Basallo as the regular designated hitter whenever he isn’t spelling Adley Rutschman behind the plate, but since Basallo is a lefty hitter, Pham might be viewed as a possible fill-in DH if the Orioles are facing a left-handed opponent.
Jordan Westburg Undergoes Tommy John Surgery
TODAY: Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias confirmed that Westburg underwent Tommy John surgery on Wednesday (video from Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun). The goal is to have Westburg return as a full-time infielder “in the early part of 2027,” though Elias acknowledged the timeline is pretty vague at this point.
May 15: Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg will undergo elbow surgery and miss the rest of the season, reports Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner. Westburg is already on the 60-day injured list and will stay there for the rest of the campaign.
It’s a disappointing but unsurprising result. Westburg was diagnosed with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament back in February. He and the O’s initially tried for a non-surgical approach, as he was given a platelet-rich plasma injection at that time. Earlier this month, some continued discomfort in his elbow led to him being shut down from throwing. Now it seems the surgical path could no longer be avoided.
Some observers may wonder why he didn’t just undergo surgery in the first place. Generally speaking, surgeries require long recovery timelines, so players and teams usually try to explore the alternatives first. The player often ends up going under the knife in the long run, but there are some cases where the alternate possibilities are effective, allowing the player to return sooner. In this case, perhaps Westburg had a path to helping the Orioles late in 2026 if all went well.
That best-case scenario won’t happen but the O’s likely haven’t lost anything by trying. UCL surgeries for pitchers often take a year or so to recover but position players can come back sooner than that. It’s possible Westburg could return for the start of 2027, which would have been the outcome if he had surgery back in February anyway.
Though the outcome isn’t shocking, it’s likely deflating for Westburg and the Orioles regardless, as injuries have become a big storyline in his career and the team’s season. For Westburg personally, he had a breakout season in 2024, though that was limited to 107 games by a hand fracture which put him on the shelf for over a month. In 2025, he made trips to the IL for a hamstring strain and an ankle sprain, only appearing in 85 games. Now he’s going to miss the entire 2026 campaign. While spending this year on the 60-day IL, Westburg will cross three years of service time and qualify for arbitration. He can be retained through 2029.
For the O’s, Westburg is one of 13 players currently on the IL. That includes five position players. In addition to Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Dylan Beavers, Ryan Mountcastle and Heston Kjerstad are on the shelf.
With no Westburg and no Holliday so far this year, Baltimore has had to go to backup plans on the infield. Gunnar Henderson has been at shortstop and Pete Alonso at first base but Westburg was the planned third baseman and Holliday supposed to be the second baseman. Coby Mayo has been the main guy at the hot corner this year but he has produced a dismal .174/.242/.321 line. Jeremiah Jackson has mostly covered second. His .238/.259/.400 line is better than Mayo’s but still subpar. Blaze Alexander has contributed at both spots but has hit just .244/.299/.289.
With all the injuries, the O’s have started slow, currently sporting a 20-24 record. Their season is still salvageable since so many other teams in the American League are also scuffling. That losing record is good enough for the club to be just a game and a half out of a playoff spot at the moment. They will try to stay in the race in the coming months but Westburg won’t be a part of the solution, so other guys will have to step up. The Orioles could look for infield help ahead of the trade deadline if the incumbent guys aren’t delivering.
Photo courtesy of John Jones, Imagn Images
Orioles Acquire Eduarniel Núñez, Designate Christian Roa
The Orioles acquired right-hander Eduarniel Núñez from the A’s in exchange for cash, the clubs announced Friday. He’d previously been designated for assignment and has now been optioned to Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk. To open space on the 40-man roster, the O’s designated another right-handed reliever, Christian Roa, for assignment.
The 26-year-old Núñez was one of four players the A’s received from the Padres in exchange for Mason Miller and JP Sears. Shortstop Leo De Vries headlined the return, with rotation prospects Braden Nett and Henry Baez standing as enticing secondary pieces. Núñez was the “fourth” prospect in the deal but also the most major league-ready of the bunch. He’d already made a very brief MLB debut with San Diego and jumped right onto the Athletics’ roster following the trade.
Last summer, Núñez pitched eight innings with the Athletics and was tagged for eight runs on nine hits, seven walks and a pair of hit batters. He did fan nine batters, but when accounting for all the walks and the pair of batters he plunked, those nine punchouts only represented 23% of the opponents he faced — just barely north of the league average.
Lackluster debut notwithstanding, the A’s surely had some hope that Núñez could turn things around in 2026. That hasn’t happened. Núñez has a respectable 4.61 ERA through 13 2/3 innings (2 1/3 in Double-A, 11 1/3 in Triple-A), but he’s walked 11 of his 67 opponents (16.4%) and plunked another two batters (3%). Since coming to the A’s organization last summer, Núñez has faced 155 batters between the majors and minors. A whopping 19.3% of them have reached base without putting a ball in play, whether by walk or hit-by-pitch. He’s also tossed six wild pitches in a total of 33 1/3 innings.
Beyond that poor command, Núñez has experienced an alarming velocity drop this season. His four-seamer averaged 98.1 mph last year but is at an even 95 mph so far in 2026. Last year’s slider sat 88.5 mph. This year, it’s at 87 mph. Perhaps the Orioles have some mechanical tweaks in mind to get him back on track, but it’s not an encouraging trend. Núñez doesn’t have a full year of service under his belt and is in the second of three minor league option years, however, so the O’s have some time to get him trending in the right direction if they’re willing to keep him on the 40-man roster.
Roa, 27, was with the Marlins last year and signed with the Astros as a minor league free agent after being outrighted by Miami. He was briefly called to Houston’s big league roster but was quickly designated for assignment and claimed by the Twins. Minnesota optioned Roa to Triple-A and wound up designating him for assignment themselves not long after. The Orioles claimed him earlier this week, but it’ll be another potentially abbreviated stay in a new organization for Roa.
The No. 48 overall pick out of Texas A&M back in 2020, Roa is a hard-throwing righty who’s yet to break through and establish himself in the majors. He’s drawn praise for a plus slider and average or better fastball and changeup over the years, but he’s regularly received 30 and 40 grades (on the 20-80 scale) for his command along the way. Roa has pitched to a 4.56 ERA in parts of four Triple-A seasons, fanning 25.5% of his opponents there but also issuing walks at a dismal 14% clip.
This is already his third DFA of the season. The Orioles will either trade Roa, place him on outright waivers or release him in the days ahead. His DFA will be resolved within a maximum of one week.