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Orioles Claim Hector Velazquez

By TC Zencka | March 8, 2020 at 12:52pm CDT

The Baltimore Orioles added Hector Velazquez to their roster today, claiming the right-hander off waivers from the Boston Red Sox, tweets Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. The Orioles PR department has confirmed the move. The Red Sox DFA’ed Velazquez on March 5.

Velazquez, 31, spent the last couple of seasons as a swingman in Boston. After a solid season as a starter in 2017 for for the Pawtucket Red Sox, he made his big league with 8 appearances spread out throughout the year. The total product got Velazquez more involved in the Red Sox’ 2018 title run as he threw 85 innings, appeared in 47 games, and finished with a 3.18 ERA/4.15 FIP. Outside of a couple of stints on the IL, Velazquez spent most of 2018 on the major league roster.

Last season was more of an up-and-down year for Velazquez both in terms of performance and his relationship to Triple-A. The sinkerballer made 34 total appearances for the Red Sox, starting 8 games for the second consecutive season, and finishing with a 5.43 ERA/4.74 FIP. Somewhat nontraditionally, Velazquez threw more changeups in 2019 than any other offering, though on the whole, he invokes a relatively egalitarian mix of sinkers, changeups, fastballs and sliders.

The Orioles will add him to their long relief mix, tweets MASN’s Roch Kubatko. It’s been an offseason-long goal for the Orioles to add pitching depth so as to avoid rushing naive arms to the majors.

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Baltimore Orioles Boston Red Sox Newsstand Transactions Hector Velazquez

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View Comments (35)

Comments

  1. pasha2k

    3 years ago

    Desperation!

    Reply
    • Manfredsajoke

      3 years ago

      Going to be a bad year to be a Orioles fan.

      Reply
      • misterbill

        3 years ago

        Isn’t it always?

        Reply
        • GoRav114

          3 years ago

          Yea other than having best record in AL over recent four year period from 2012-2016, the seven AL pennants, and three championships. I’m sure a lot of teams would take the overall success the Orioles franchise has had. Just cause its not recent doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Add to that having one of the best stadiums in all of baseball and all is fine in birdland. I have no doubt the Orioles will be back on top again soon.

        • MT in Baltimore

          3 years ago

          Correct you are Sir!

        • richarda-3

          3 years ago

          2012-2016 is a 5-year span, actually, during which the Orioles had the best record in baseball. Many youngins don’t know the history like we do.

      • mstrchef13

        3 years ago

        This year will be a significantly better year to be an Orioles fan than 2018 was. In 2018 we expected to contend for at least a wild card spot and ended up with a club record 115 losses. This year we expect to be bad but we can see glimpses of a future that hasn’t existed in quite a while. Looking forward to the expected arrival of Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, and Ryan Mountcastle, along with the continued development of Hunter Harvey, Anthony Santander, and Austin Hays.

        Reply
  2. DarkSide830

    3 years ago

    good arm to hold down the fort with until the youngsters come up. maybe even deadline trade bait.

    Reply
  3. txtgab

    3 years ago

    Well looks like Velazquez plus Leblanc pending opt out are the real reasons behind DFAing the two rule 5 picks

    Reply
    • richarda-3

      3 years ago

      Doubtful that returning the Rule 5 pitchers on March 6 was predicated on a March 5 waiver claim.

      Reply
  4. davidk1979

    3 years ago

    Probably gonna be the O’s fourth or fifth starter- good news for him bad news for O’s fans

    Reply
    • Red Eye

      3 years ago

      Long relief for him

      Reply
  5. bhambrave

    3 years ago

    “Naive arms”. Interesting turn of phrase.

    Reply
    • kennyk67

      3 years ago

      I was thinking the same thing.

      Reply
  6. pasha2k

    3 years ago

    As a RS fan I saw him all the time. He started out great, n I dunno if it was over use, since our pen was overused, or the league just got to him. I hope he does well for the Os fans. Because who is the games all about? The FANS!

    Reply
    • KingTiger

      3 years ago

      Amen!

      Reply
    • pwndroia

      3 years ago

      Still better than Brian Johnson.

      Reply
  7. Sonny

    3 years ago

    Get Cashner back

    Reply
    • AssumesFactNotInEvidence

      3 years ago

      No don’t

      Reply
      • AssumeFactsNotInEvidence

        3 years ago

        Excuse my little buddy over here. Cashner planted his flag in his sister and he has not gotten over it.

        Reply
        • jbigz12

          3 years ago

          Oh no not Cashner! God forbid the Orioles add someone who might eat innings and return a lotto ticket or two in July. That’d be just terrible.

  8. bobtillman

    3 years ago

    Not a bad pickup at all, actually. He’ll eat some innings at minimum wage, and while he’s not especially good, he’s not totally horrible. The best $10,00 (the priced the Sox paid the Mexican League) DD ever spent, tho there’s some question about the birth certificate.

    Brings to mind one of my favorite (of many) Johnny Sain quotes, when a pitcher was described as an “innings eater”…”he’s more of an innings vomiter”…….

    Reply
  9. D0m

    3 years ago

    They thought it was Vázquez

    Reply
  10. Curtisrowe

    3 years ago

    Velasquez isn’t all that bad. As others have said he eats innings and while he gets in trouble he rarely gets totally rocked.

    Reply
  11. Rsox

    3 years ago

    There’s really nothing to lose in this for the Orioles. They get a potential starter or at worst long man out of the bullpen.

    Reply
  12. jtk1911

    3 years ago

    Good pickup really liked him in his first year unique role

    Reply
    • jtk1911

      3 years ago

      First full year *

      Reply
  13. GoRav114

    3 years ago

    Adds length and experience at a low cost. Seems like a good gamble

    Reply
  14. pwndroia

    3 years ago

    This guy wasn’t that bad. I’m kind of upset we DFA’d him over Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson is the absolute worst.

    Reply
    • AssumeFactsNotInEvidence

      3 years ago

      Brian Johnson was already DFA’d.

      Reply
      • Curtisrowe

        3 years ago

        Yeah, Johnson was DFA’s but even the Orioles didn’t want him.

        Reply
  15. madmc44

    3 years ago

    Brian Johnson is a Non Roster Invitee to ST.

    He, Brian, is not on the 40 man roster. I think he may survive the 26 man roster if he’s not claimed before they break camp and head to Toronto to open the season.

    I’ve always liked the way he works. He and Velazquez are similar in their approach. If the rotation remains as is–ERod, Eovaldi and Perez then potentially two group of 9 inning sets of relievers. Johnson and Ryan Weber may be the starters at least until Sale and Collin McHugh are cleared to participate. Hopefully their bats can carry them for a while.

    They still have only 33 listed on their 40 roster–that includes Sale, McHugh and Verdugo but not Pedroia. Pedroia is on the 60 day IL. Most likely McHugh and Sale will start the year on the 15 day along with Verdugo.

    Reply
  16. Sonny

    3 years ago

    Why not sign Cashner?

    Reply
  17. Moneyballer

    3 years ago

    I like this claim quite a bit.

    Reply
  18. Cgoss

    3 years ago

    Solid pickup for the Orioles. Will be a long reliever or a spot starter sometimes

    Reply

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