9:20am: The Orioles have announced the signing.
9:12am: The Orioles have agreed to a minor league pact with veteran catcher Bryan Holaday, Craig Mish of FNTSY Radio reports (via Twitter). The Lagardere Sports client will presumably head to Major League Spring Training as a non-roster invitee in hopes of landing a backup job in Baltimore.
Holaday, 32, spent the past two seasons in the Marlins organization and saw action at the MLB level in each campaign, hitting a combined .237/.297/.335 with five homers and 11 doubles in 295 trips to the plate. He threw out 34.9 percent of attempted thieves on the bases in his two years with Miami (22-for-63) and rated solidly in terms of pitch blocking, per Baseball Prospectus. After turning a corner in the framing department in 2018, his numbers backed up toward their (below-average) career norms in 2019.
At present, it seems likely that the Orioles will rely on Chance Sisco and Pedro Severino as their primary options behind the dish, but it’s possible that the club could want Sisco to log everyday at-bats in Triple-A Norfolk if he doesn’t show well in Spring Training.
Sisco, a second-round pick in 2013, has long rated as one of the Orioles’ best prospects (and one of baseball’s best catching prospects), but he’s yet to find much success in the Majors. Injuries limited him to a combined 394 plate appearances between Triple-A and the big leagues in 2019, which surely didn’t help his cause. He has one minor league option year remaining, so the O’s could still send the 24-year-old to Triple-A for refinement if they wish. Severino, on the other hand, is out of minor league options.
Elsewhere on the 40-man roster is 29-year-old Austin Wynns. He’s regarded as a solid defender but hasn’t hit much in the upper minors or in the Majors. Like Sisco, he has a minor league option remaining. Holaday will have to beat out both Sisco and Wynns to get a look out of camp. If not, he could head to Triple-A and give the organization an eight-year MLB veteran to provide depth in Norfolk.
Will this be the defensive veteran that allows the Orioles to get Chance Sisco back to AAA to work on his hitting?
I’m not sure. His defensive metrics look below average throughout his career. Have to do a deeper dive on him.
I think he’ll play in AAA unless if they desperately need him to play considering they already have 3 catchers on the 40 man.
This gives them the flexibility to DFA Austin Wynns if they see a non catcher on the waiver wire that they like. They’ve pretty much ran through every pitcher and position player they have the intention of DFA’ing. My best guess is that Wynns or possibly Evan Phillips is next on the chopping block. W this addition I’m inclined to believe it’s Wynns.
You don’t often see catchers ticketed for the minors get chopped from a roster this late into the winter — I doubt Wynns is going anywhere. Wynns has a remaining option and he’s ticketed for the 2nd catcher gig at Norfolk. Whether or not Phillips survives the winter is another story.
We picked Severino up off waivers in what March last year? I don’t think Wynns’ spot is necessarily safe. Cervenka has options if we need a catcher with options. He’s about as much of threat with the bat as Wynns. He may stick but I think he’s awful close to next to go. If he had more than one season of options remaining I’d like Wynns chances a lot more. But the writing is pretty much on the wall for him. If it’s not this year I have to imagine it’s next season.
@jbigz12….you totally whiffed on the Os DFA Vavavavaliaka in your last DFA projection post…hope this prediction turns out better for ya…
Like MySpace you’ve failed to innovate and have been rendered obsolete.
I’ve taken the market. Time for you to cease operations!
He’ll be a fan favorite and the pitching will grow with him on team.
Sisco is a bust. Typical Orioles draft pick.
I wouldn’t call him a bust yet. He’s only 24 and he was decent offensively last year.
Sisco had a big bat in the minors.
Sometimes in takes players a little longer to adjust to major league pitching. Noneteless, it’s worth investing a little time in AAA to see if he can develop and add value as a back up offensive catcher or get something back in trade.
hope the O’s give Martin Červenka a look at some point soon. good story. MLB could use more international players.
You can’t seriously be implying that there aren’t enough international players…
Europeans would’ve been the better word. Latin America is well represented.
really just didnt say “need.” its just a matter of interest vs some sort of unfulfilled need for the league itself.
im not saying it from a diversity perspective. just a matter of interest of mine to see more countries represented. last Czech major leaguer played in the 50s.
I can truly agree, even though baseball is the most diverse sport, it is well represented in a few international regions (Latin America, Japan), but there are other regions where baseball players are scarcely found. For example, Czechia. I mean Max Kepler is the most notable German player I can think of, and probably the most notable from Europe. So overall, I’d have to agree that we need more European’s playing the game, because you can find more diversity outside of the Latin American / Asian regions.
Didn’t know Kepler was from Germany, cool. However I think Gregorius is the most notable :) (born in Amsterdam)
They’re going to rely on Chance.
I really feel for the guys like this that get shipped from bad team to bad team, but the way to fix that, I guess, is to play better and prove you can be an asset on a good team. Now if you are Starlin Castro, and getting shipped from team to team right before each team is about to win a championship or division race… then you are just out of luck.
so…Marlins 2020 champs?
Lol…. no…. I’m a Mets fan.
The Orioles look set to lose more games in 2020 than in 2019 IMMHO…
Hoping Elias will some how be tied to the Astros cheating scandal and suspended/fired soon…
Sorry, Elias was not mentioned in the 9 page report lol.
And yes, Os will lose 100 games plus again…..and get another top pick.
I guess this means they trade Adley now!!