While roster moves in Major League Baseball are not allowed during the shutdown, teams can still make minor league transactions. For instance, the Rockies cut right-hander Tim Melville earlier this week. And now the Orioles are among the clubs paring down minor league player personnel. The Orioles just released 37 low-level farmhands, Dan Connolly of The Athletic reports (subscription link). Connolly provides the full list of players in his piece.
While the Orioles, of course, didn’t part with any premium prospects, there are a few familiar names in the bunch. Sons of former Orioles Chris Hoiles (outfielder Dalton Hoiles) and Rafael Palmeiro (infielder Preston Palmeiro) were let go. Also of interest, the Orioles said goodbye to infielder Jomar Reyes, who was a well-regarded prospect earlier in his professional career.
Baltimore signed Reyes for $350K out of the Dominican Republic in 2014, when then-general manager Dan Duquette said Reyes and fellow signing Carlos Diaz could be “potential everyday major league players that can hit in the middle of the lineup.” That obviously hasn’t come to fruition so far, as Reyes has only managed a .269/.313/.395 line in 2,159 minor league plate appearances. Now 23 years old, he spent most of last season in High-A and batted .283/.320/.406.
Angeleos must of watched the fmmily Guy episode where Peter’s throwing people off the cruise ship too many times while quarantined.
Just screams BYE as he releases each one.
This looks bad for the Orioles. Can you say GREED?
the major leagues are paring down the minor league systems.
I believe it’s all the teams or most of the teams are closing down some of the lower minor leagues teams. So that means layoffs. Everyone so quick playing the Angelo’s family. Considering the amount of people that go to the ballpark at Camden Yards, you’re lucky to have a baseball team at all.
Considering how bad the team is, Brooke, they’re lucky any fans come to Camden Yards at all. That’s a 2 way street.
Yeah, this sage money but the reason for the release is probably the milb contraction. Milb will cut 40 teams and this means about 1000 milb players will lose their job without being replaced
Zero revenue right now and you call it greed? Real rich, there buddy.
The idea that there is zero revenue currently just isn’t true. That would imply that no one around the world has bought a single piece of merchandise. Now I don’t know how much actual profit that brings. These kids combined probably don’t make 1/10th of Chris Davis’ salary, though. It’s not a great look.
An O’s shirt cut-up wouldn’t even work as a mask – they stink. Yes, rioting in Walmart for TP, whole milk and replica Mychael Givens jerseys.
A bad team is better than no team.
Keeps going this way you will have the Charlotte Orioles, who are the Nashville Orioles. Those two cities would love a baseball franchise. You know the old saying you don’t know what You Got Till It’s Gone
Amen
Every team is doing this. Not just the Orioles..wake up
@mt7mlk You’re about a week too late. We know.
37 players?! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that many players being released at one time.
There’s a lot of things in the world right now we’ve never heard of happening before.
I mean, playing half a season in empty stadiums because of a global pandemic probably overshadows this in terms of things we’ve never seen before.
Watch them all become stars with every AL East club.
Dave Frist – Check out Soxprospect.com under draft history. It has the last 27 years of drafts. When you realize how few players from round 20 to as many as round 50 make the MLB the real question is why has MLB continued to draft 40 to 50 rounds each year? These players would do better to take full or partial scholarships and get a full time job rather than the small minor league salary they get (and the next bs comment is usually cheap owners)…
The lower minor league teams do not get enough attendance to offset the cost, so most teams run in the red and loose money.
I grew up in a town with a AAA team and enjoyed those games as much or more than mlb games, but there are too many minor league teams for the MLB to carry the cost and the reality is that 97 percent will never even play a single game in mlb. If you follow minor league baseball you see large group of released players every year and very, very few lower minor leaguers ever play in the mlb.
Just as an example the RS released 28 minor league players January 16 – 22, 2019, and 16 more in March for a total of 44. This happens with every teams as they release players who have not progressed to make room for the new draftees and international signings. If this were any other year this post never happens, because games are covered and there is game results.
More MLB-what-ifs so baseball fans have something to read……
It is amazing how little most people commenting really understand baseball and how the organizations work…..
Organizations are not drafting that many players really thinking they will discover the next Piazza, they are mainly doing it to help field teams that will help develop the small number of players with an actual shot of making it.
Why draft 20 – 50 and pay the expense when nearly ALL of the players that do come from draft picks 1 – 20! Waste of time and money.
Two reasons; 1) They will not sign ALL 50 players they draft, and 2) Some organizations quietly release lower level players who may be struggling, too old for the level they are at or is blocking another player from a lower level and would be replaced by a draft pick in the later rounds.
Did anyone tell them there will only be 5 rounds in the draft?
yeh. Right after they told them there would be a couple months less of revenue.
And a drastic in reduction in minor league affiliates. Hence the need for much less minor league players. Especially if there isn’t really an MiLB season this year.
this action doesnt seem like a good idea to do before there is an exact timeline for this though.
It doesn’t.
But it’s amazing how everyone failed to take my comment as nothing more than a joke.
37 players gone, draft normally has 40 round and 32-37 normally sign…
Stevil ….because you are a joke…..
Brilliant burn. You have a promising career in comedy when you’re not too busy providing so many much-needed MLB what if’s on someone else’s website.
What was the total financial responsibility connected with the releases? Maybe O’s frugal ownership is gathering their pennies expecting the network suit with the Nats is soon to be settled.
With no minor league season, the O’s are taking the low road so they don’t have to pay people who they clearly considered nothing more than roster fillers.
Isn’t their whole team roster fillers?
Why stop with the minor league players?
Why should a young kid even try, the odds are so stacked against MLB. Go to college and get an education!
Because they want to pursue their dream of becoming a pro baseball player?
Going to college and becoming “educated” had lost its importance. There’s too much indoctrination and not enough learning and too much debt for worthless degrees. If they can’t back it in the minors, trade school is the best option.
Agreed. I wish someone would have drilled that into my head as a teenager.
I bet someone tried. You can’t tell youngsters nothin’
Agreed. Unless you are getting a degree in things like law, medicine, etc…many aren’t worth the cost. So many would be better off with trade school degrees in a specific area of study
You have the wrong Carlos Diaz from Baseball reference, LOL check it out!!
My guess is that most, if not all, of these 37 released players were going to be minor league free agents at the end of the year. Since there will almost certainly be no minor leagues this year, they wouldn’t have played anyway. Wouldn’t be surprised if in November, a lot of these guys wind up back in the Orioles farm system. Suspect other teams will start to do the same thing with their fringe minor leaguers
With Davis’ contract still looming large, they have to find a way to pay their starting 1B.
Same thing with the horrible Cobb contract
Jomar Reyes is gonna get signed by some team and become a solid MLB player. Heck, he’s just 23. Okay, a little old for still being in A-ball, but you don’t just give away a guy like that..
Unless there are off-the-field issues that haven’t been reported, dumb move by the O’s IMHO>
He’s been at single A for years with some tastes of Bowie. If he can put it together, good on him. Now he looks like a really big singles hitter.
Lol
These guys make like 10k a season… really cheap bs from Balt, per usual
All of baseball stated Pre-plandemic they were reducing the amount of minor league teams. With less picks and all these releases- Os are clearly reducing their franchise by atleast 2 affiliates.
This should not be a surprise and Os reputation is terrible anyway so no hit there.
I didn’t think the elimination of some minor league teams was official yet? That whole idea reeked of greed, and I can’t believe it’d be done without some type of fight. Of course I suppose the Billionaire Boys club might’ve seen the pandemic as a great cover to pull this BS move, since they’re also trying to fool ppl into believing they’re taking a real financial loss this year.
the major leagues are paring down the minor league systems.
I believe it’s all the teams or most of the teams are closing down some of the lower minor leagues teams. So that means layoffs. Everyone so quick playing the Angelo’s family. Considering the amount of people that go to the ballpark at Camden Yards, you’re lucky to have a baseball team at all.
Ya, the O’s are taking waaaaay too much heat here. Usually at the end of Spring Training (which didn’t happen this year, right?) teams will let 15-20 players go, just because they’ve been outperformed by other players, and minor league teams have roster limits, too.
Add in the likely lack of a Milb season this year, and minor league contracation in 2021., you can see the sense of the moves. I’m rather confident that every other team in MLB has a similar list, they just haven’t announced it yet.
teams only let players go who are out of minor league option years or on a major league contract and won´t accept minor league assignments
That is patently untrue. Clubs release minor league players all the time.
No, Im talking about guys in Spring training. Not just random minor league dudes
Bobtillman – you are 100 percent correct. Many teams will bring in extra players for spring training and release them at the end. Teams also release players who do not progress (Red Sox releases 44 between January and March 2019). Releasing large groups of players is very normal, just is not news worthy in most years because most of the players no one has herd of except people like myself who spends a lot of time following minor leagues.
If you followed as much as you claim you’d stop asking stupid questions like you did above regarding the number of rounds baseball uses in the June draft.
With the Frederick Keys being the proposed team to be eliminated for the O’s, players had to go. They aren’t cutting any top prospects, if you think a 23 year old Reyes playing high A ball is a bad cut, you’re wrong. Does he have a chance of being a decent player, maybe but 23 year olds are typically playing AAA and on the brink of making the majors. The Iron Birds will be promoted to a full season club in place of the keys, Baysox had their best season ever, and the Tides have some players ready to go for the O’s this year. Saying its Angelo’s fault is dumb, blame the MLB for elimination of so many minor league teams, the O’s may have been first, but won’t be the last making this many if not more cuts.
Rebuilding with a sledgehammer. Tim the Toolman Taylor must be running things.
So you’re saying the team is looking for More Power!!!!
This is how it begins. You’ll see many teams not being able to afford players. By the end of the year some small market franchises will have rosters of under 20 players. Baltimore is a redundancy in their market and a relocation makes sense. They would be better off in Charlotte. Similar history and culture.
Baltimore’s owners have plenty of money on the bank. they could afford to pay these guys.
Right, but if these guys aren’t playing And producing revenue, it’s basically a handout. They can’t be handing out free money forever! They are trying to stay viable every way possible.
forever? it would be for a year at most, and its not like they are paying that much to them. i get that they arent making any revenue right now but saying they “cant afford” to pay these guys with how much these owners and franchises are worth is ridiculous.
Things are very bad in Baltimore. They will need to pay stadium maintenance, armed guards, new fences, riot control apparatus. It will be some time before they can allow people in the stadium safely. Sure the teams “ value” is high, but who will pay full price for a team when people cant attend? Baltimore, along with several other small market teams will need to sell when players get their salaries.
This has nothing to do with money and everything to do with minor league contraction.
Baltimore isn’t a small market team. When they put a competitive team on the field, in a beautiful ballpark, they draw really well. You don’t relocate a team like that.
Unfortunately, they neglected the IFA market for years. Consider that MLB basically viewed this as a major penalty for the Braves when they handed down an IFA ban, plus future restrictions. Baltimore WILLINGLY did this to themselves though. The minors fell into shambles, and now the ML product is beyond awful. New vision has them on their way back, but this is more of a philosophy issue than a market issue, if you’re arguing the Nats now own that market. I don’t believe that to be true either, however.
They don’t draw really well. Only 3 million once in the last twenty years. The City of Baltimore is in real trouble( Crimes, Drugs, Murders) people have bigger problems than the baseball team. They just cant afford the franchise anymore. Plus that stadium is very quaint but its almost 30 years old and when I went a man jumped in my face outside probably full of drugs. People much rather would go see the Nats first.
Every major metropolitan city has it’s share of problems. That can’t be an argument against baseball in that city.
Also to say they only drew 3 million fans once in the last 20 years without mentioning how MLB essentially let the Nats encroach on Baltimore’s market is a bit unfair. Baltimore has a great fanbase, and draws strongly when good.
30 years really isn’t old for a ballpark, either.
Lastly, right now, of course people would probably rather go see the Nats first. One team just won a WS, and the other is in a rebuild. The Nats currently have a better on-field product. If both teams are equal strength, I don’t know if I’d be so quick to paint the Nationals as owning the market.
Curious, are you a DC fan by chance?
No I’m in upstate NY but I’m a general fan of baseball. Baltimore made sense for a team 100 years ago but for for baseball to survive Post-covid will will need evolving markets and dynamic contexts. Having a team in a decaying city with no economy and full of angry addicts when there a beautiful stadium with a championship team just across the river makes no sense., The city loses thousands of people a year to overdoses and Gunfights anyway. In ten years there will be no one left to go to the games. They have no prospects of note and no hope of ever getting better. There’s almost no chance they survive any season this year with a full roster. Charlotte makes the most sense. Its got A LOT going on! Plus you probably could get Michael Jordan involved. One check from MJ and all these players can get paid. I know some lawyers own Baltimore But I’m sure they are scared and hiding in their homes mostly. I don’t blame them for trying to survive. But survival comes first and then Baseball. Maybe in five years try again with a minor league team in a local Maryland/Delaware league. Right now its clear they will have to sell.
Let me ask you this then: Detroit and St. Louis both rank ahead of Baltimore for violent crime, and Kansas City and Cleveland don’t lag far behind. So would you abandon all of those markets, too?
I personally feel you’re attributing too much of the blame for the Orioles’ woes on the city, and failing to lay enough of it on the previous management regime.
Baltimore is a tremendous baseball city. They’re not a small market. They’re in a better position than a few other franchises in terms of market. I don’t believe many of their moves are due to a lack of revenue, so much as a lack of direction.
Great point both. Baltimore is not nearly in the dire straits of Detroit or St Louis and there are affluent and growing areas in Maryland. That said, while the Tiggers and Cards have their baseball legacies to fall back on; the Os seem trapped in a nostalgia time warp of the Robinsons-Boog-Earl Weaver. Nostalgia couldn’t save the Colts from bolting, wouldn’t be surprising to see the Os gone in a generation
“There are affluent and growing areas in Maryland”
That’s the understatement of the century. Maryland is the wealthiest state in America.
yea you obviously don’t live anywhere near here. The O’s are the draw when they win or at least solid. saying the Nats have this market is just plain uneducated.
I’m very proud of you as a fan. You have probably been through a lot. Wouldn’t you rather see the Orioles play some LOCAL baseball? Bowie, Aberdeen, Frederick. That could be a fun little league! All small Maryland cities playing hard and having lots of fun. It wouldn’t cost much to go to the games, just five bucks or so. That makes a lot more sense than playing Boston and Seattle and charging prices that the townsfolk can’t afford. Plus you could only have three games a week. That way you could keep the roster sizes down to a more affordable model.
I never want to go to any of the towns you mentioned. We have minor league baseball here and it just doesn’t appeal to me. Maybe if I could walk to it, but nothing outside of that
Orioles games are already $5 but they can barely draw a crowd, unless the Yankees or Red Sox are in. I lived and worked in both Baltimore and DC for years and what Aces states is spot on. Charm City feels more like a college town or even a high school town– Ravens are big but going to the game there feels more like a large high school with their pep band. Agree Baltimoreans would feel more of a kinship with other regional towns like Bowie and Hagerstown. As for the gameday experience, the same shtick has been going on since the 90s with their in game programming. The team was one of the only teams to prosper post strike as Angelos was an avid advocate of the players union rights and was rewarded by this blue collar city. Sadly the fans stopped showing up post-Cal and things only went downhill when the Spos became the Nats.
The diehard Os base is pretty meager. Even when they were drawing well when Camden first opened, a big chunk of the season ticket base were corporate and DC clients. That largely disappeared when the Nats started up. The Os drew good crowds of Red Sox and Yankees fans when they’d be in town but the core audience is dwindling and dont see the pockets of Millennials who don’t the waterfront showing any interest longer term. The battered fanbase is similar to the situation in Cleveland, which routinely cant get beyond the low 20s on a nice summer night for perennial competitors.
Yikes these are uneducated comments by people who are biased against the Orioles or Baltimore for some reason. When the O’s play in DC, 75% of the fans are Orioles fans. The O’s were top 5 in TV viewership multiple times during their most recent stretch of winning seasons. The O’s have a large fan base.
Would they make more being released, and on unemployment? I wonder if less minor league players will drive up the salary of major league players?
gotta pay to see the players cut? there a free link anywhere?
If you think O’s are being callous or cheap, you’re living under a rock. This process of eliminating minor league teams has been in the works since last year.
baseballamerica.com/stories/all-42-teams-reportedl…
I have a friend who played in the Angels and Mariners organizations and made it to AAA. He talked about how minor league teams are full of “fillers”, especially the low minors. You simply have to fill these rosters. Bonus babies get every break and benefit of the doubt along the way as the teams have major money invested it them. The fillers fight their way up the chain or are soon gone. After all there is a new crop every year. It appears that the teams just don’t want to support the scores of minor league clubs and the hundreds of players required to fill the rosters at least not to the extent they are now. I think it’s too bad because the minors are where fans can really connect with players and the game. Plus we risk losing the best nicknames such as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, Akron RubberDucks, Hartford Yard Goats, Montgomery Bisquits, Pensacola Blue Wahoos, Rocket City Trash Pandas, etc, etc, etc.
Maybe independent leagues will benefit from the contraction? They can field better teams and be more of a local product since they’re not affiliated. I know the independent leagues kind of killed the amateur leagues in New Jersey. It’s not that they took money away, it’s just that interest kind of withered among the younger players. Not sure that it was even related but it did happen around the same time.
I’d like to see a return to the “townball” teams of the early 20th century, but I don’t think they would work today. Those teams had fewer entertainment options with which to compete. Townspeople had more civic pride, and supporting the sports teams was part of it. Now- forget about it.
Fff
The minor leagues have been in need of restructuring for some time. There are too many affiliated teams as it is. Having fewer affiliates will force the MLB teams to cut down on the roster filler, and those players will have to get on with their lives (finish school, get a job). Yes, their dreams may be smashed but they’ll be better off in the long run for not having wasted years just barely holding on.
They don’t really mention it but a reduction in affiliates will have a huge impact on international players, particularly your teenagers from Latin America. With fewer roster spots teams will be concentrating on signing just the advanced talents they think can move up more quickly. Your “he could be good if only…” players that would’ve gotten a contract could be left out in the cold.
Rather cold, don’t you think? “Forget your dreams, get on with your life” probably isn’t something you’d want to be told, is it?
There’s another reality you failed to mention, too. These cuts aren’t going to come at higher levels. They’ll be lower level teams, where young IFAs are usually allowed to develop as they mature. How many stars might the game miss out on seeing to save a few bucks on the guys who do washout?
Of course it’s cold. Pro baseball is cutthroat- I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. Many players do quit after their first season when they can’t adjust. They realize you need to balance the pursuit of their dreams with reality- that’s all. I thought it was widely understood that if you fail and wash out of pro baseball it’s more likely to happen at the lower levels, so I didn’t feel the need to include it
As for international players they will definitely have fewer opportunities. There has been a lot of discussion around this, but thse proposals seem to be calling for the elimination of the short- season leagues. It is a huge adjustment from the complex leagues/DSL to full- season Class A, and only the moat advanced players will be able to do it. Not to mention what the elimation of an entire team will do for available roster spots.
This may come as a shock to you: baseball is entertainment, players have roles and the bit role players are always expendable.
This is a universal truth. You have no choice but to accept it.
Appier and Guzman should have won the AL award in 90 and 91, respectively.
These players were walking on broken glass and by cutting them loose now they can get on with their lives.
That cat in the foto is so punk rock
Release the hounds!!!!
Each organization will have at least one less minor league team starting next year and maybe 2 less, this was being discussed before the virus
Maybe they will let Adley Rutchsman go and He will go to a real baseball team
It’s amazing to me, how the unimportant can make comments on subjects that other people are so well informed. You all sound like clowns. Maybe adley rutschman we’ll go to a real team what a ridiculous thing to say.
For the first time since the 80s Orioles are doing the right thing, and our fans complaint.
Before making comments get some experience about baseball. That is other than Sony PlayStation.
Hahaha! And you are apparently NOT one of the unimportant? What makes you an expert? Who are you that you can come at fans with your holier than thou attitude? The beautiful thing about being a sports fan is that we all have opinions about our teams. The other beautiful thing is that we also don’t have to pay attention to others opinions.
If we paid attention to others we may learn something. I’m not an expert on baseball I’ve been following the Orioles for 50 years. And I was smart enough to listen to my elders, and say the least amount of stupid stuff as I could.
How do I find the list of the released MiLB players, without the subscription to the Athletic? Or if anyone knows can they just list the players in a reply?
Does anybody know the names of the 37 Players that the Orioles’s release? I can only find a few players. Thanks…
16,347 from 2009-2019 Orioles
27,898 from 2009 -2019 nationals
10,000 fans a game 81 games. Just figure $50 a person the ticket, food drink etc. That comes to about 40 million dollars a year that would be to really good pitchers or three pretty good pitchers.
So it’s pretty hypocritical the Glam the Orioles. When the fans are the real problem
So the concession workers and those renting space at Camden to operate for those 10,000 fans get nothing? How much of that $40-million goes to the workers who operate for the people day in and day out? Cleaning staff, grounds crew, all concession staff and the owners from the outside companies setting up shop in the stadium – figure that out and take a big cut out of that $40-mil.
I was actually a little more than 40 million, cost $50 a fan as a low estimate. You can make up whatever excuses you want, fans have left down the team as much as the team is let down the fan. One thing the Orioles have going for them, if they begin to win fans will come back. But they need to clean up the area get the drugs, the whores, the panhandlers, and the violence out of Southwest Baltimore. I worked in Annapolis, every football season the beginning of the year they be wearing Redskins jerseys . By the 8th game the same fans will be wearing Ravens jerseys. From Annapolis Pennsylvania West Virginia. The Orioles can draw. But the fans of Baltimore need to stop whining and support the team.