The Orioles announced that they signed right-hander Pat Neshek and catcher Ronny Paulino to minor league contracts. The team also signed Korean left-hander Seong-Min Kim to a minor league deal.
Neshek, 31, pitched 24 2/3 innings for the Padres in 2011. The sidearmer posted a 4.01 ERA with 7.3 K/9 and 8.0 BB/9 and was granted free agency after the season. The Mets non-tendered Paulino in December after he posted a .268/.312/.351 line in 248 plate appearances last year. The seven-year veteran stopped 20% of stolen base attempts against him in 2011. He'll provide depth behind Matt Wieters and Taylor Teagarden.
Kim, who turns 18 in April, stands 5'11" and throws a fastball, curveball, change-up and slider, according to the team. “We are glad to sign a player that our scouts feel is one of the top amateur left-handed pitchers in South Korea,” Orioles executive VP of daseball operations Dan Duquette said in a statement. “Kim has an excellent curveball and very good control.”
The Orioles also signed former Braves right-hander Oscar Villarreal, former D'Backs catcher John Hester and former Athletics utility player Steven Tolleson to minor league deals.
“The O’s could have signed Fielder and Darvish this offseason”
I think this one statement is the whole problem. This is absolutely delusional. I could point out that you aren’t the only long-suffering fan this team has, but if you are really all torqued up about not signing Fielder and/or Darvish, when there was not even a semi-realistic chance that either one of them would sign here without the O’s paying twice what the Tigers/Rangers did, then you just want to be mad at the O’s. I’m ok with that. I don’t feel the need to do that myself, but you’re entitled. I’m just not going to try to argue with you.
Agreed. What exactly does signing Darvish and Fielder do for us? Push us out of the top 10 for the draft? Whoopee!
The Rays don’t have the hundred million and they’re a playoff team…
Paulino is a decent sign as a depth move. Stick him at Rochester (still their AAA team think?) and call ’em up if someone gets hurt, a better emergency guy than most teams have.
Really nice to see The Duke going back to the Asian market also.. This should pay some dividends if not with these lower tier players, but when hotter guys look to jump.
Norfolk. Rochester hasn’t been an Orioles affiliate in 15 years or so.
What is daseball?
I’m a few months away from being a lawyer. As a lawyer, and someone who is financially responsible for yourself and others, you should be able to understand why the O’s could not have paid 100 million + for Darvish and 200 million + for Fielder.
Is the Legal World Ready for you Rabbitov? :p
Also, as an Oriole Fan I wanted neither Darvish, nor Fielder!
As foa comment on these signings.
Depth should never be under-rated, it’s drives me crazy that the Orioles are heading straight to 5th place again. Does Angelos have any appreciation that this will be the 15th straight year of losing?
all that just to tell us you’re a lawyer
You’re out of your mind if you think Brian Roberts is ever making a comeback.
I have no idea how Ronny Paulino’s play has been since he left the Pirates, but his then-nickname of Joggin’ Ronny was well earned. maybe getting non-tendered and competing for the third-string catching job in Baltimore will light a fire under his posterior and ignite some hustle, but I wouldn’t count on it.
Well, I guess the only way the Orioles win the AL east is when I play them in MLB the show franchise mode.. again.. like every year…