The Orioles have struck a deal with southpaw Josh Edgin, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). It’s a minor-league contract, per the report.
Edgin, who’ll soon turn 31, had spent five seasons working out of the Mets’ bullpen. But he lost his 40-man roster spot late in the 2017 season and also underwent knee surgery at season’s end, so he’ll certainly come into camp with something to prove.
Though he produced 37 innings of 3.65 ERA pitching for New York, there was a reason Edgin was designated by a struggling Mets team. He had managed only 27 strikeouts against 18 walks, had allowed a .280/.374/.400 slash to opposing lefties, and was operating with about 1.5 mph less on his average fastball than he had before undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2015.
Still, Edgin has had a fair bit of success in the past, particularly in a strong 2014 campaign in which he allowed just 1.32 earned runs per nine, carried 9.2 K/9 against 2.0 BB/9, and sported a 50.7% groundball rate through 27 1/3 innings over 47 appearances. And there’s some real opportunity in the Orioles’ pen. Baltimore’s top two southpaws at present are Richard Bleier and Donnie Hart. The club also recently added Ryan O’Rourke on a minors pact to join the competition in Spring Training.
And the pitching is fixed
Needs to be a #sarcasm emoji or something.
I think he is being serious friend. great move orioles, I posted below that I rated a guy similar to elgin a 60/70 for his arm. I said great movement!
60/70…is that like school grades, so somewhere between a C- to D-
It was sarcasm, every team picks from other teams scrap heaps right now.
Hard to argue with the ongoing quality of the O’s pen. (Last season injuries didn’t help.) They have both developed, traded and signed very well.
Probably makes the O’s pen, especially after Britton is traded. More dumpster diving for pitching by Duke. Come on Angelos, let him spend on pitching, not just hitting.
Agree with you friend. I think elgin will be a good asset for them. Really put the birdy’s over the top. I’ll head to camden for some boogs!
I saw a guy similar to Elgin pitch one time. He was really solid. Rated his arm 60/70, good movement friends, very good movement.
That was Elgin Baylor who chose Basketball. This is Josh Edgin we’re talking about.
I saw Elgin play back in 1956. great player back in the day
I would have liked to see a game in 1956. You’ve probably seen a lot of changes in the game over the years. Kudos to you, sir.
Jeffrey, the link for Edgin goes to the Twitter post, rather than Baseball Reference. Please correct this so I don’t have to open a new browser window and type in his name to view his stats. Thanks in advance!
That hard to type in 5 letters huh. Acting like you are his boss.
took longer to type all that than to just do it.
The orioles don’t need no more hitters, they need pitching period.
Of course, most fans will probably shake their heads in disappointment, since the Orioles didn’t announce signing a higher level target. Even so, Edgin, is a good candidate to have a solid, bounce-back 2018 campaign, especially with Roger McDowell as his pitching coach. McDowell, has revitalized several careers, like Edgin’s similar path, and for whatever reason, McDowell can especially work with LH’s out of the pen. Anyways, as a Braves fan, I’ve seen quite a bit of Edgin, throughout the last roughly 5 years, and when Edgin is healthy and on his game, he can be a productive member of a bullpen…
After missing the whole 2015 season, due to his TJ surgery, he actually rebounded pretty well in 2016. Last year, throughout the course of the season, he had to endure through a couple minor, yet nagging injuries. These injuries are what most likely led to the trouble Edgin was having trying to consistently repeat his delivery and landing spot.
Now that Edgin has successfully gone through his knee surgery, he should be able to come into camp primed and ready. Now, I’m not saying Edgin is going to be a world-beater for the Orioles, nor even their number one or number two main set-up man; HOWEVER, I am saying that Edgin will definitely provide the Orioles with alot of surplus value in his contract, and that he will perform at a level that rates at least slightly above league average.
Sometime midway through the next season, MLBTR will do their yearly series of minor league contract bargains, and if healthy, I have little to no doubt that Edgin will be one of the names on that list.
Overall, I think it’s a very solid, under the radar move by the Orioles. Edgin still has something left in his tank, he is now healthy, and he’s definitely coming into camp motivated and with something to prove.
This is a highly exaggerated portrait of Edgin who was largely a disappointment in his Mets career. He arrived in the majors with a dominant arm that didn’t last long and overall has a lengthy injury history and inability to throw strikes. His best season was 2014 which he’s been unable to replicate – or come close.
A new team may help revitalize his career, but at this time, he’s more of an out of shape 25th man/AAA shuttle type, unreliable situational lefty until proven otherwise. This is my experience of him as a Mets fan whose seen him as a disappointment for some time. He came to the majors with the raw talent of a dominant lefty reliever with a live fastball he no longer has. Injury has sapped him of that.
I think he has higher ceiling than he’s shown the past few seasons, but I wouldn’t count on him. He can break your heart over and over in big spots, and get himself into trouble when none exists.
Edgin is good, has a lot of upside at the minimum. Signings like this on the aggregate tend to pay off more than signings like Tony Sipp, who was the top free agent lefty a couple of years ago, got $18m guaranteed from the Astros then went on to post negative wins each of the past two seasons and not throw a single pitch in the playoffs for a World Series team.
Players are so volatile that big contracts tend to be a bad idea; this is especially true for relievers.
And The Orioles keeps looking thru The Mets garbage bin
Most minor league signings are worth the dice roll, including this one. The same could have been yawned last year when the Dodgers added Brandon Morrow.
Teams bring in a dozen of these guys, hoping three produce, to some extent.
In related news, Kris Benson finally named as the PTBNL following the Mets blockbuster trade of Anna Benson to the O’s for..um…cash considerations?
Thank God he’s gone! Now cut ties with Smokey Smoker, Salas, Mr. Homerun himself Robles, Goeddel and a few others! What a disaster of a pen!!!