With the Orioles looking to add an inexpensive veteran arm to their rotation, Andrew Cashner is “one of the free agents under consideration,” MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko writes. GM Mike Elias said on Saturday that the O’s would be more likely to acquire a Major League starter through free agency than through the trade market, and Kubatko recently reported that the Orioles were looking at adding a starter on a one-year contract.
There is no shortage of familiarity between Cashner and the O’s, as the right-hander pitched for the team in both 2018 and 2019 before being traded to the Red Sox last July. Cashner originally signed a two-year, $16MM deal in the 2017-18 offseason and posted a 4.73 ERA, 1.76 K/BB rate, 6.0 K/9 over his 249 1/3 innings in the orange-and-black. Those numbers line up with Cashner’s overall inconsistent performance over the last five seasons, as his low-strikeout, grounder-heavy (except in his aberration of a 2018 season that saw him post a career-worst 40.4% ground ball rate) arsenal leads to a lot of variance.
Cashner was pitching pretty well for Baltimore in 2019, however, posting a 3.83 ERA over 96 1/3 innings after largely removing his sinker from his mix of pitches. After being dealt to Boston, however, Cashner posted an 8.01 ERA over six starts before being moved to the bullpen for his first extended dose of relief work since 2012. Between the start of the 2013 season and the end of that six-start stint for the Red Sox, Cashner started 182 of 188 games pitched.
As expected, the Red Sox declined their $10MM club option on Cashner for the 2020 season, and the righty’s trip into free agency hasn’t resulted in much buzz. It could be that any interested teams are perhaps waiting until later in the offseason or during Spring Training to fully access their rotation options before signing a pitcher that projects best as a depth option at this point in his career.
The 33-year-old Cashner does offer a fair amount of durability at the back of a rotation, as he has averaged 157 IP over the last five seasons. There isn’t much certainty within a projected Orioles rotation that consists of John Means, Alex Cobb, Asher Wojciechowski, and several younger options vying for the final two slots, so bringing a veteran innings-eater like Cashner could help matters. There’s also a chance that returning to Camden Yards could help Cashner regain his form from early 2019, and perhaps make him a candidate for another deadline trade this summer.
Of course they have interest in Andrew Cashner.
*Shaking head*
*shaking beard*
Meh. Nothing surprising here…
Yeah it’s tough to understand why the Orioles always seem to have such a hard-on for this bust of a pitcher.
I’ve never seen an Oriole hard on. I always assumed since they lay eggs that they didn’t have that type of equipment. Learning every day! Go birds go!
Yeah, “of course” they do–because they’re near the beginning of a huge rebuild and he’s a cheap innings-eater with a non-zero chance of fetching a low-end prospect at the deadline. What are you not getting?
Near the beginning? lol.
The O’s front office has done so little this off-season, sad to see the loyal fans have to endure another poor ballclub that has a good chance to lose 110 games.
its called a rebulid. how exactly were they going to lose any less than, say, 90 games? (and that is very generous)
The O’s are in a tough spot because they neglected the IFA market for sooo long. Their core either aged, or moved on. Their farm was left almost barren. If they hit on everything, maybe they come out of it in another 2-3 seasons. It’s going to be a long road, for sure. It is awful for the fans. They’re too far away to buy their way into contention though, so what do you do?
They’ve been a joke since 83
Most wins in the AL from 2012-2016 qualifies as a joke?
How many times they made the postseason in that time span?
3, making it as far as the ALCS in 2014. They stink right now (for reasons stated above), but they have certainly been relevant more recently than several teams in the sport.
And ANGELOS again fails to keep Cruz, Machado and Showalter!!! FAIL!!!
Iglesias!
Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. This team sucks. Prepare to die.
How many articles could begin with “With the Orioles looking to add an inexpensive…..”
Having the Os want you is like going to the prom with your cousin. Sure you are going to participate, but you know you aren’t going to get lucky.
(in most parts of the country anyway)
The O’s are what’s born after someone gets lucky with their cousin.
…says the cousin f’er
Cashner looks likes he’s from that part of the country…just throw on the hunting gear and a six pack of beer…
Who doesn’t have a hot cousin? The forbidden fruit. Only a few have been lucky enough to taste and get away with.
Until the Orioles build an all-offense again, wont win in Camden.
Thought he only wanted to play for teams that he’s not good enough to play for
Well that covers every MLB team, and half of Japan at this point, because Cashner is pretty much terrible. So he has options.
It’s going to be a loooong rebuild in Baltimore. John Middleton on Sominex.
Come back in five years and see if they have a couple of hot prospects ready to come up.
You sound pretty uneducated. We had a top 10 farm per BA at the end of last season. Already have prospects coming up and more to come this year. We are no doubt horrible now, but a lot of you should start looking up good marinades/recipe for Crow, cause you’ll be eating a lot in a couple seasons.
As a RS fan I loved it when all teams were at the top of their game, Evil Empire, the Os, Jays, and D Rays. It makes for great competition, and a lot more fun for the fans.
Maybe Crush Davis renews his adult ADHD meds and starts hitting like an MVP again. “It could happen.” What every frustrated teen boy says while looking at his hot cousin.
He never stopped taking them. Just took different ones.
Love all the hate comments. Cashner makes sense on a 1 year deal. As far as 3-5 years before they start winning is laughable. If you study this team you would see the massive improvement in the farm system. They may not be winning a hundred in 2023 but will be a winning ball club by then.
The farm system has improved, yes. Other than Mountcastle though, their best prospects are all really young. They probably won’t see many of those guys until ’22 or ’23, and every single one of them won’t have it all figured out on day 1. I mean the optimism is great, but I can’t see how they win before ’24 or ’25.
Don’t forget about Austin Hayes. The dude is going to be a stud this year paired with Mancini.
They have a lot of decent pitching in AA. Akin, Zimmermann, Lowther, Wells, Kremer, Baumann, and Sedlock should all be here in a couple years.
Cashner pitched well for the Orioles so it makes sense for them to want him back and for him to want to go back, especially after his horrendous run in Boston.
Exactly! Everybody is forgetting or just doesn’t know that Cashner did not want to be traded away from Baltimore. He was having an outstanding season for the Birds so I think this makes a lot of sense and probably will happen.
Cashner’s ERA in Baltimore was 4.73. That’s NOT good. Oriole fans live in an alternate reality where every prospect is going to be a star and every former player generates warm, fuzzy feelings, regardless of their ACTUAL results.
Average starter ERA something north of 4.5 these days. It’s not 1968 anymore.
The AL-wide ERA was 4.60, so he wasn’t that much worse than league average.
Cashner hates the Yankees because they would never want him
He would hate the Yankees for their facial hair policy. After getting traded to Miami, he was pretty unhappy about having to shave his manbeard.
When he joined the Orioles in was in his contract that he didn’t want to get rid of his beard because the Orioles have a facial hair policy. Thought that was pretty cool by the organization letting him keep his beard and at the same time, Cashner wasn’t going to sign without keeping his beard. Lol!
Was a shame we never got to see Kakes beard in full glory
He’s such a nice guy though.
Other MLB owners should be furious at teams like the O’s, who degenerate the brand by under-spending on payroll. The projected number of 80M, against revenues of 250M, and considering there should be no debt and they occupy Camden essentially rent-free, is a sacrilege.
No, there isn’t any cocktail of Free Agents that would give the O’s a 100 win season. But there were a variety that could have prevented what looks to be a 100 loss season. The O’s are going to make gobs of money during their “rebuild”. The other owners, who are the real victims here, have every right to demand some compensation.
MLB is both a competitive and cooperative enterprise. The sport is only as strong as its weakest link. That the weakest link is in a market as favorable as Baltimore is a tragedy. And really shouldn’t be allowed.
Oh, give me a break. Couple of years? Please! I can safely say that the O’s will suck for the next decade. They are so far behind ALL the other teams in the division, it’s mind-boggling. Oh, you know how you have some prospects coming up, well, you know the other teams have had their prospects come up who have turned into studs. If that happens with the O’s prospects remains to be seen. The other teams still have more prospects coming up as well, and the O’s farm isn’t anything special either, especially compared to the Rays farm.
To be fair, nobody has a special farm compared to Tampa. The Orioles have arguably the second best farm system in the division, especially now that Toronto has graduated several of their top prospects. It’s no guarantee they’ll be competitive in 3-5 years, but it wouldn’t be at all surprising, either.
New management has undertaken successful rebuilds before and is ahead of the competition on analytics.Sox are deteriorating, and when rebuilding clubs are competitive again, they won’t let the Yanks buy everyone up for their latest drive.
I’m sure Cash has no interest in them
Oh Cashner has interest in the Orioles for sure
He never wanted to be traded from Baltimore last season even when their season was over so that’s an inaccurate statement about him not wanting to play for the O’s. He was having a great season. Why would the Red Sox have interest in the guy if not for that reason? Lol!
Nick Pivetta
Enyel de los Santos
Adonis Medina
Nick Williams
Jan Hernandez
For
Austin Hays
Michael Givens
Value for wood, hm no.
If I am the Orioles I am taking that deal in a heartbeat.
Pivetta De Los Santos and Williams have talent but a change of scenery could help.. Instead of Jan Hernandez, Id ask for Mickey Moniak (another change of scenery) and Franklin Morales.
No way Elias trades Hays
You’re not getting Hayes. Lol!
Or we take Cobb of their hands for DRob. That will save Baltimore 15mil next season as Robertson’s contract expires.
A. Cobb
M. Givens
A. Hays
For
E. De los Santos
A. Medina
R. Rosso
A. Gamboa
J. Hernandez
N. Williams
D. Robertson
Hays stays.
There’s absolutely no reason for the Orioles to get rid of Hays. The payroll is minuscule as it is. There’s no incentive to purge talent for cash savings. It’s a rebuild.
Orioles have 6 years of control for Austin Hays.
He’s not going anywhere…Givens and Cobb will be eventually. I would go for Cobb, while he is still cheap, he will have a post injury bounce back.
With the Padres, he was fun as a guy who seemed to love the game and wanted to pinch hit or pinch run whenever he could.
Other than that, he was a huge disappointment.
Could have been something more had Padres made him a relief pitcher sooner. Could of been an elite set up guy or closer with his stuff. Least they were able to get a usable piece in Naylor for him.
Cashner may well wind up with the other orange and black team. The Giants are signing as many similar pitchers as they can right now and Cashner doesn’t seem to mind playing for bad teams.
At this point in the offseason it’s kind of annoying to hear a team “has interest” in a player. It’s January. Get it done.
Agent haggling?
They overpaid for to many players that bombed and how they cant afford to sign players with davis still on payroll.
Orioles?
Ita ll starts with the City.
Clean it up city itself.. Rid the city of corrupt politicians.
Citizens take hold of your communities and county gov.
Wake UP.
No one is interested in your gormless political regurgitations.
I live in baltimore… Fans are scared to come into the city for the game. He makes a point doofy
Perhaps Cashner makes sense for the Twins while Pineda is out.
All part of the Rebuild Plan.
Cashner would be cheap and can be flipped at trade deadline, while he provides stable innings for the placeholder pitching rotation.
Don’t worry, Akin, Kremer and Zimmerman will be the first wave of Prospect pitchers to come up mid to late season….and after that Baumann, Lowther, Wells etc
The future is bright and coming quicker than you think, yet not this year.
What kind of interest?
New management has undertaken successful rebuilds before and is ahead of the competition on analytics.Sox are deteriorating, and when rebuilding clubs are competitive again, they won’t let the Yanks buy everyone up for their latest drive.
Almost everyone commenting is a nerd. Not me though.