The Orioles are interested in a reunion with free-agenty righty Miguel Gonzalez and are one of at least three clubs to show interest in the 33-year-old thus far in the offseason, reports Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun. Gonzalez, who’ll turn 34 next May, made 27 starts between the White Sox and Rangers last year, logging a rather pedestrian 4.62 ERA with 5.8 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 36.7 percent ground-ball rate over the life of 156 innings. Gonzalez spent the first four seasons of his career, 2012-15, as a member of the Orioles’ rotation and has enjoyed the most success of his career wearing an O’s uniform. He’s hardly a high-upside option, but the O’s are looking to add as many as three starters to the rotation this offseason, and Gonzalez could likely be had on a one-year deal, so he could conceivably step into the fifth slot in the Baltimore rotation next year.
A bit more on the O’s…
- The latest column from Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com runs down a number of Orioles topics, including whether left-hander Chris Lee should be viewed as a starter or reliever heading into 2018 and how much time Mark Trumbo should be expected to see in right field (as opposed to at designated hitter). On the topic of the team’s utility infielder, Kubatko cites recently non-tendered Ryan Goins as an option in Baltimore. The Orioles have seen Goins up close with the Blue Jays for years, and while he’s just a career .228/.275/.335 hitter in nearly 1400 plate appearances, he comes with a sterling defensive reputation (despite a season of abnormally poor marks at shortstop in 2017).
- Kubatko also examines whether the Orioles will carry switch-hitting outfielder Anthony Santander on their roster to open the season. The 23-year-old Santander was Baltimore’s pick in the 2016 Rule 5 Draft, but a forearm injury kept him on the disabled list for most of the 2017 campaign. Santander was activated in mid August but still needs another 44 days on the active roster before his Rule 5 status expires, per Kubatko, who notes that the Indians would take Santander back if offered the opportunity. Baltimore plucked Santander out of the Cleveland system despite the fact that he’d never played above Class-A Advanced, but he tore through a 15-game rehab assignment in Double-A last year (.380/.458/.780 with five homers) and is considered one of the better prospects in the Orioles’ system. It seems likely that the O’s will want to hang onto him, and in a worst-case scenario they could simply option him to the minors after the season’s first 44 days, should he prove in need of more development.
- Following the Orioles’ announcement of a new minor league deal with Ruben Tejada, Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reported (on Twitter) that the infielder’s deal comes with a $1.35MM base salary and another $600K of available incentives if he makes the Major League roster. Tejada, who turned 28 in October, will be in camp vying for a bench spot after hitting .230/.293/.283 in 124 PAs with the Orioles and .280/.357/.440 in 197 PAs at the Triple-A level in 2017. Luis Sardinas and Steve Wilkerson could be his primary competition right now, though as Kubatko suggests, the O’s could very well add further infield depth in the months to come.
Why in the world would we give ruben tejada a guaranteed 1.35 mil? You could find sardinas or any other waiver wire claim to do what he can for the league minimum. Chris Lee is nothing. He’s certainly not coming in and filling up a rotation spot, he can’t strike anyone out in AAA and he was a walk machine. Maybe you can turn him into a Bleier but we’ll see how long Bleier’s success can last. Interested in Miggy coming back but we were too cheap to keep him on the roster a couple years back and cut him after a bad spring. Sound plan.
Tejada didn’t get guaranteed 1.35 mil. he only makes that if he makes the major league club.
“…the infielder’s deal comes with a $1.35MM base salary and another $600K of available incentives if he makes the Major League roster.“
It certainly reads as if the base salary of $1.35MM would be guaranteed whether he’s promoted to the major league roster or not.
They wrote it poorly. Heyman said in his tweet – “ruben tejada will receive $1.35M (plus 600K incentives0 if in majors on orioles deal”
It’s a minor league deal so it’s not guaranteed. He will make $200k in the minors and he has an opt-out date that is not specified. For some players that is opening day, for others it is in May or even June. What that means is he can become a FA if the O’s don’t add him to the 25 man roster by that time.
I appreciate you clearing that up. Thank you.
Makes a lot more sense if it’s not guaranteed. Couldn’t really tell from the way it was written, I didn’t do any extra investigation there. Flash made 2 mil last year I figured we chose Tejada for 1.2 instead.
It seems Mark Trumbo is one of the most underrated players with how much offense he provides.
“How much offense he provides” Yea, that 234/289/397 slash line, and 23 home runs for a guy who’s supposed to be the power guy in the line-up is really carrying them.
Davis is the O’s power hitter. Trumbo is supposed to also provide power. In the Kubatko article it talks about how effective Trumbo is at the plate when he also is playing in the field. .331/.368/.508 when he played RF last year and .279/.336/.521 career. If you have watched many O’s games, you know that Trumbo seems to get bored during games. That may account for why he is such a terrible DH.
Are you joking? He’s a bad hitter who cashed in on a career year, and that career year still wasn’t very good. He provided almost no value despite hitting 47 homers
Really should be a DH/1B. He shouldn’t play RF. Trumbo is built like Schwarber.
Read Kubatko’s article. If the O’s want Trumbo to hit, they are going to have to play him in RF. In 2016 he played 95 games in RF and just 59 at DH and you saw the results with the bat.
Would love to get Santander back.
Miggy has always been my favorite Oriole. Terrible decision a couple offseasons ago to save 3 or so million. I’ll never forget 2012 ALDS Game 3 as a rookie, 7 Inn/ 1 er/ 8ks/ 0BB in New York, left with a 2-1 lead from home runs by rookies Flaherty and Machado. Unfortunately that was the “Raul Ibanez” game.
2012 was magic for us! That’s was our first time back to the playoffs in about 15 years. Gonzales was really effective that year. He just kind of fell off after that. We have to sign better starters than that though. If we don’t then it will just be another disaster of a season.
As much as I totally agree, what bothers me the most is when we continue to trot out pitchers with an ERA north of 6. There should have been no reason why Ubaldo, Miley, Tillman, and Hellickson should have had 86 starts and a 6.62 combined ERA. I would have gladly taken MIggy’s Career 3.90 ERA for 30 starts last year. Who knows we might have won an additional 3 games.
That’s a good assessment! I completely agree with that. You couldn’t have gotten any worse than than Tillman, Jimenez, and Miley. I wouldn’t even be surprised if nobody signs Miley or Jimenez. Tillman still gets a bounce back shot with somebody after an injury plagued season. A 3.90 ERA is gold for Baltimore. And yes we probably would have won about 3 more games with Gonzales last year. That’s hilarious!
Where the hell did miggy put up a 3.9 era? He was over 4 in Chicago and over 6 in his 5 start stint in Texas. Let’s leave that one in the past.
Where in the heck have you been? Gonzales pitched under 3.90 in 12, 13, and 14. His career year was 2012 with a 3.25!
It’s 2018 now. Talking about last season. Matt Cain used to have an ERA in the 2’s but it’s 2018 now. Gonzo’s situation in Texas is closer to what he’d be facing in Baltimore competition wise and ball park wise and that short stint didn’t go so well. Like I said leave that in the past.
Our original point was Miggy put up a 3 to 4 ERA multiple times. You asked where he put up a 3.90 ERA. I answered you with facts and now you’re trying to fray from the original subject. I don’t disagree with you about Miggy pitching like crap.
DIdnt post the last part of my comment. I misread originally but it’s a little odd to put someone’s career ERA and say it would’ve be nice to have last year.
Loved him as a rookie then grew to dislike him as time went on. The O’s need better pitchers than him if they are going to have any hope of contending. I really thought that Chatwood would have been a great fit. Duke is going t have to go after Cobb, Lynn or someone with that level of talent and sign at least two.
Chatwood got paid for what he could be.i wouldn’t want him for that price tag.itll be interesting to see how much a guy like Cobb goes for.
I knew the O’s would aim low when attempting to fill out their rotation, but I didn’t think they’d consider Miguel Gonzalez until much later in the offseason. If he’s at the top of their list I shudder to think who’s further down that list.
As an Orioles fan this is exactly the garbage i didnt want to read this week. May God have mercy on our soul’s!
Tejada is terrible. He should be in Japan