The Orioles have reached agreement on a new minors deal with veteran outfielder Michael Bourn, according to ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). He’ll report to extended spring training, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets.
Bourn, 34, seemed likely to make the O’s roster when he signed on over the winter, but a broken finger intervened. In the meantime, Baltimore has opened the season with fellow minor-league signee Craig Gentry functioning as a defensively-minded reserve outfielder.
Once Bourn is back to health, then, he’ll be working to unseat Gentry. If and when he returns to the majors, he’ll look to pick up where he left off last year, when he slashed .283/.358/.435 in a 55 plate appearance stint with the O’s. That’s a tiny sample, of course, and Bourn has not been nearly so productive otherwise in recent campaigns.
another fast outfielder, he could replace gentry in the lineup
If you pay attention to the way Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette run things down in Baltimore you wouldn’t suggest Bourn is going to present a challenge to Gentry’s roster spot. Buck loves to play the numbers and Gentry as a righty batter is not in any danger from Bourn who is a lefty batter. The only people directly in line to a challenge from Bourn would be Seth Smith or Hyun Soo Kim — not Gentry.
It’s about roster spots. Kim and Smith aren’t at risk of losing theirs. Mancini and Gentry could be. I think they’ll want to keep at least one glove-first OF around who can play center, hence Gentry v Bourn.
One thing i never understood as a Yankee fan is why we allow any free agents to sing with our division rival’s. I have a feeling this move with hurt the yankees and cost them a game. What they ought to do even if they dont need the player is make wn agreement on the side with the player to pay a little more then Baltimore did if the player just stood home and did not sing with the rival. These things happen in college baskets and i would like to see the yankees get a bit more creative and try it.
There are many flaws with that reasoning. First, Minor league salaries are peanuts. If Bourne wanted to get paid he’d still sign with Baltimore because them he has a real shot at a roster spot. Second, New York has a deep farm system and need to give their prospects ABs. Giving Bourne any significant time would hurt these prospects and he wouldn’t sign a minor league deal to ride the bench. That would be career suicide. Third, Bourne is already familiar and comfortable after experiencing some success in Baltimore. With the aforementioned increased chance at a roster spot he is a human and if he was happy there he may prefer being there. Fourth, colleges recruit prospects not established players at a games highest level. You can’t simply stiff arm other teams away. Players have rights thanks to the powerful union and they will play where they think suits them best. Okay sorry, rant over.
“i never understood as a Yankee fan is why we allow any free agents to sing with our division rival’s.”
This guy’s got life figured out.
All baseball players who sing have to know the classic song, um,
“Daddy Played Base, Mama Played Center”…..
Behold, the O’s roster is Bourn Again….
While I’m also a Yankees fan, this is an absolutely inane and uninformed proposal. Pay him pittance to stay at home? Huh? And are we really concerned about an aging part time player? I’m intruigued by just how uniquely crazy and weird this idea is. Why would any player ever agree to something like this? Players want to, ya know, play.
Some, like that 1, long poster do not sit back and figure things out how AAA rosters work the last 25 years. More than ever before, they are emergency depth rosters for the MLB team and AA is the last major learning level for prospects..
Not a knock on the member above, just pointing out that took a quick peak at NY’s AAA roster, realy 1st time this season since haven’t watched any of their milb games this year and it’s loaded with retreads also.
Frieri, Jason Gurka, Wilkin Castillo, Eddy Rodriquez, Donovan Solano, Ruben Tejada,
Every team will have 5-maybe 10 or more at AAA as emergency depth, also depends of course on how well stocked some teams are on how teams have kids real close to mlb and those can get near mlb pitching at AAA level.
Do have another querry.. Bourn is a possible mlb ready depth piece. how much of a prospect is Mason Williams any longer?
Bourn is at least a month away from being an MLB-ready depth piece. He didn’t even complete a week of Spring Training and hasn’t played in a single game this season. The cast/splint is still on his hand and rehab is at least a week or two away for Bourn. He definitely can be a depth piece for an MLB club, but I don’t think it happens before the second week of May as things stand now.
Past two years with a merry-go-round outfield just because DD would not pay Markakis