Cuban shortstop Yolbert Sanchez will formally be eligible to sign with teams beginning tomorrow, and Joe Trezza of MLB.com looks at the Orioles’ chances of signing the soon-to-be 22-year-old. While Baltimore’s level of interest in Sanchez isn’t fully clear to this point, they still have to be considered the favorite to add Sanchez given that their near-$6MM international pool is more than four times larger than the next-largest pool: the Dodgers’ $1.4MM. Trezza spoke to one non-Orioles exec who likened Sanchez to a second- or third-round pick in terms of overall talent, given his limited offensive potential but quality glove and speed. Still, while he may not be an elite prospect, Sanchez looks like the best international talent on the board at the moment, and the O’s have the spending capacity to trounce any offer made during the current signing period. Sanchez could, alternatively, wait until July 2 to sign, which would open the field up considerably.
Elsewhere in the division…
- Right-hander Danny Farquhar discussed his remarkable comeback in an appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM (Twitter link, with audio). Farquhar, who recently inked a minor league contract with the Yankees, was fighting for his life 10 months ago after suffering a brain aneurysm in the White Sox’ dugout. Soon to turn 32, Farquhar acknowledged that he’s lucky to be alive but also put a positive spin on his harrowing medical status, noting that in the time since recovering, he’s been able to dedicate himself solely to training. While this time of year brings about frequent “best shape of his life” stories, Farquhar’s is certainly of more note than most others given a recent near-death experience. While the Yankees’ bullpen will be a tough one to crack, Farquhar can either head to Triple-A as a depth option if he doesn’t make the roster or, potentially, attract the interest of another team with a strong spring showing for the Yankees.
- Outfielder Tommy Pham’s arbitration hearing with the Rays is set to take place today, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman. Pham logged a ridiculous .333/.448/.622 slash with seven homers, seven doubles and six triples in 174 plate appearances with Tampa Bay following last summer’s trade from the Cardinals organization. He’d struggled previously in St. Louis, though his combined .275/.367/.464 slash between the two teams was still quite strong. Pham filed for a $4.1MM salary, while the Rays countered at $3.5MM — as can be seen in MLBTR’s 2019 Arbitration Tracker.
The O’s need to sign the player, even if he’s only a poor man’s Hechiavera. The Public Relations for Birdland this winter has been just awful; they can’t even put a coaching staff together. This is a proud franchise that annually drew 2.5M fans, and now they’re down to 1.5M, with every expectation that it will decrease. With zero movement on the MLB roster front, at least they can give the faithful SOMETHING to cheer about.
With one of the most generous stadium deals in MLB history, there’s no excuse for the dumpster fire in Baltimore. I realize they’re in a tough spot; not rich enough to spend lavishly, not poor enough to steal Revenue Sharing. And they’re waiting for the inevitable beating they’re going to get from the courts (MASN). But none of that excuses their inactivity this winter.
Would it not have been surprising if the O’s had a busy offseason? I don’t see them as an important trade partner for anyone,(although if I’m missing someone there I’d be interested in hearing) and it seems obvious that a team in their spot isn’t going to be pointlessly adding expensive free agents, especially were it to involve giving up picks. I anticipate them taking the same free agent course as Toronto – signing pitchers who can be moved for prospects at the deadline, as well as being active on the international front.
But they don’t have to sign expensive veterans.
Look at Neil Walker? He could have been the starting 2B for the O’s, rotating through DH, and been a possible trade chip at the deadline.
The team has multiple holes to fill. 3B, SS/2B (depending on where Villar lines up), OF, pitching staff.
There’s plenty of cheap veterans out there.
Michael Givens is the only player that I can think of with any trade value maybe Bundy? The roster is pretty bad
Have you ever been to Camden yards? Gorgeous ballpark. There’s plenty of reason to go, even if the O’s aren’t in contention!
Word from the wise, happy hour long islands at the Cheesecake Factory nearby for $5 ^_^ it’s literally cheaper for me to fly down from Boston for a day and see the game there than at Fenway
You come to Baltimore and hit the Cheesecake Factory? We don’t have a ton of spots close to the stadium but you can do better than the Cheesecake Factory.
Just go to Boogs!
For a way overpriced sandwich and drink? Outside the stadium you can do much better.
Dude, go like 5 blocks down the road and hit Attman’s deli and get a deli sandwich the size of your head. Then mosey two blocks over to little Italy and get a cannoli that tastes like angels singing. Baltimore is awesome.
Why do my posts show up three times?
Agreed. Eutaw street is one of baseballs coolest spots.
Also to those of us that baseball history still matters the Orioles have a very proud one I hope they’re good again soon
I have been and it is very nice- too bad it is in a really bad neighborhood and you have to worry as you walk to the park about muggers.
The orioles stadium isn’t in a really bad neighborhood. You don’t walk towards the inner city and everything is perfectly fine. You stay to close to the water in Baltimore and you’ll have a no issues whatsoever.
It’s all about the Long Island Ice Tea!
My kinda guy!
@Bobtillman the PR has been more than fine, even good. The new head of baseball ops was really moved by the lines out the door at their Fan Fest. Lots of fans showed up, expressed support for the direction of things. Players expressed it too, not frustration, but optimism. Additionally the off-season has been very busy, with a whole lot of coaching jobs filled, as well as organizational restructuring. The front office has been very clear that this will take time and it will not be done in an impulsive fashion. The fans (whom I am in contact with regularly) seem generally very much on board with this.
They seem to have always been behind when it comes to International free agents?? At least recently if not all time
If Sanchez would be happy to play in Baltimore then I can’t think of a reason for the O’s to not sign him. They haven’t exactly got much to lose.
Sure they do. They could lose millions on a prospect who doesn’t pan out. They have wisely said they will not just spend pool money just to spend it. They’ll do their due diligence. They got two guys in Rule 5 (one was of course the top pick) who potentially bring defensive prowess but offensive questions.
Is that what the orioles have been doing for the last 20 years??? Their due diligence so they don’t spend their pool money just to spend it….hardee har har. Of course we cannot argue with the wisdom they have shown. How was Harvard when you were there?
Your last question really made me laugh. Didn’t know whether to tell you “It was good but a little too easy,” or “Better than the high school you dropped out of.”
At this point, the Orioles should sign anyone that wants anything to do with them. They’re so far beyond a dumpster fire that there isn’t even a term for it.
Sadly they’ve become the new third rail; the A’s, the Rays, the O’s. And at least the other two have some semblance of an excuse. And those teams haven’t done poorly at all recently.
And I’d agree that most of their roster is un-moveable, and it makes more sense just to hang onto Cobb, Cashner et al and see if they can rebuild some value. But they COULD have spent the winter claiming any warm body who crossed the waiver wire; signing lower tier Free Agents to flip in July; and they have the financial flexibility to eat bad contracts in return for prospect capital. Just about any move would have been a plus.
Permeating the whole discussion is seeing them a dumpster fire; this is a team with a GREAT ballpark, a loyal fan base, and a rich tradition of excellent play. Now they’re a holy mess.
We should and still could be active on the FA market. I think it’s unlikely that we are but the players we should target are still out there. I’m all for signing moose to play 3rd assuming his market is as depressed as I believe it is. I’d like to sign a bunch of reclamation project pitchers too but those kind of guys don’t like coming to Baltimore so that may be a struggle. Our outfield is full as is 1B and DH so really the only positional players we could look at play on the dirt. I wish we did something but I can see why we haven’t.
They will sign some players as the players begin to panic and drop their ridiculous asking prices.
Sounds like a good philosophy for all GM’s to follow.
Tommy Pham at $4.1M is a freaking steal. Pay the man, you cheap azz Rays.
Salary negotiations in baseball is give and take. If the Rays pony up more now? will Pham extend them a year? Will he potentially take a bit less to lock in his arb years?
Cards offered Pham a arb buyout package. He turned it down, then ran his mouth to SI. Pham is a talented guy, but cant seem to sustain any career momentum.
They will. He wasn’t as bad as he played before the trade and he isn’t as good as he was after the trade. A sold in the middle. Worth every penny of $4 mil.
The Rays are waiting for 2021, when the Red Sox core begins to fade, and their abundance of talent on the lower levels begins to bubble up. Whatever Pham signs for, he’s probably gone in July, along with others; Duffy, KK if they can get somebody to eat that somewhat out-of-whack contract. And by then they’ll either have a new stadium in the works, or a new owner; MLB is just sick of the excuses.
MLB’s next move is to take away their Revenue Sharing, like they did in Oakland. Stuie had his fun, made his money….now it’s time to move on.
sorry, contending teams don’t trade away players in July. They acquire them. KK’s contract is fine, if he’s healthy. ( a big if)
Contending teams don’t trade away players in July. You are correct. They also tend to spend more than 59 million on their vaseball roster as well but that’s what the Rays are spending. Plenty of people around here seem to love the Rays for whatever reason which I do not understand. This team is pretty good but they refuse to spend to actually make it a legitimate contender. Cutting Cron and Bauer’s and replacing them w Avi Garcia and Yandy Diaz is just laughable. When they easily could’ve had a legitimate player at either position in EE or Santana or Nelson Cruz that would’ve cost nothing but some dollars. It’s a shame they’re ran that way. This was a 90 win team that really could’ve used some additions to put them up with the Sox and yanks but instead you get Avi garcia and Yandy Diaz.
I don’t think it’s a love as much of a respect at least from my angle personally I don’t like the Rays but the wind 90 games on his little money as they spend it’s hard not to appreciate plus they are innovators the shift openers they’ve been at the Forefront of a lot of trends probably out necessity since they won’t spend any money they did get Charlie Morton though given them a good Big 3
They don’t fill their park, i fact they will be closing off sections this year. That is not going to pay for top flight talent. They legitimately need to find a new home.
The Rays are not saving money by choosing Garcia and Diaz over Cron and Bauers. The players have similar salaries this year and moving forward, but when you add in the money the Rays sent in trade to acquire Díaz, the Garcia/Diaz pair will cost the Rays about $4-$6mm more than the Cron/Bauers pair. Garcia hits the ball harder, is younger, and has shown a higher ceiling than Cron. Diaz is also someone the Rays targeted and obviously value higher the Bauers since they were traded for each other.
As for the Santana/Cruz/EE grouping each player has seen their wRC+, ISO, and fWAR worsen each of the past 3 seasons and are all past their primes. As we’re seeing across baseball, teams are generally not putting a lot of valuie on bat only players. Especially those that are well into their 30’s. As a Rays fan I wouldn’t have minded signing Cruz, but have little interest in the other 2 players at this point of their careers.
Exactly. Management does amazing work and they will again be as good as any other third place team.
They won’t be in contention. Arguably the 4th best team in their own division
Redsoxs, Yankees Toronto/Rays interchangeable at this point. 83 win team
Are these your projections? Looking at multiple sources, everything I’ve seen have the Rays pegged as an 84-86 win team that will compete with the A’s, Twins, and Angels for the 2nd WC. The Blue Jays are projected as a 74-78 win team and solidly in 4th place in the ALE.
Agreed. While Toronto’s rookies might be the best tandem since Lynn and Rice (the Yankees’ pair last year “weren’t too shabby” either), the rest of their lineup only has a clutch 1bman, whereas Boston in 75 had a deep lineup (Yaz, Fisk, Evans, Petrocelli, etc.).
Jays? Jays are going to battle the Orioles for last place.
No no. The jays are significantly better than us. We have below average starters at nearly every position. If you asked me what our strength is I’d say it’s our bullpen. Only because the rest of the team is horrific. This is a very bad Orioles team. We’ll be battling KC and Miami for worst overall.
Danny Farquhar Good Luck with your remarkable comeback suffering a brain aneurysm in the White Sox Dugout. I don’t think he will make the club. But I hope he had a strong spring. So someone can use him. Yankees’ bullpen will be a tough one to crack, you can do it.
Sign him. Maybe he develops his hitting, maybe not. Speed and defense is never bad though, especially as a SS