The Orioles have selected the contract of reliever César Valdez, per a club announcement. To create space on the active and 40-man rosters, outfielder DJ Stewart has been placed on the 60-day injured list due to a right knee osteochondral defect.
Valdez is back with the big league club after being outrighted off the 40-man roster last month. The changeup specialist began the year in a high-leverage role, picking up eight saves while working to a 1.42 ERA over the first month of the season. He ran into some disastrous results from May onward, though, posting a 7.44 ERA in his last 32 2/3 frames before he was bumped from the roster.
Assigned to Triple-A Norfolk after he cleared waivers, the veteran has earned his way back with a strong showing. Valdez has tossed 12 2/3 innings of three-run ball with the Tides, racking up ground-balls at a massive 64.7% clip in that brief minor league showing. The 36-year-old still hasn’t accrued enough service time to be arbitration eligible, so the O’s could bring him back next season for scarcely more than the league minimum salary if they feel it worthwhile to devote him a 40-man roster spot all winter.
Stewart will undergo a cleanup procedure on his injured knee, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). He’s expected to be full-go for Spring Training in 2022. The 27-year-old picked up 318 plate appearances this season but posted below-average numbers on both sides of the ball. Stewart hit .204/.324/.374 while rating poorly as a defensive corner outfielder. As with Valdez, he’s yet to reach arbitration, so the O’s could keep him in the fold for almost no financial cost if they’re willing to keep him on the roster over the winter.
Wrong DJ Stewart
Cesar or let her go. Whatever you decide, let this guy go.
4 years in MLB with a 6.04. Somewhere, there is a security job for this big, mean looking 36 year old fellow.
Shemp was the best stooge
Nothing like calling up a 36 year old prospect that’ll make O’s fans dream about the future,,,,,
Great job again elias, thinking an over the hill has been could reset. Oops…nope! GM of the year!!!
He’s Baaaaack!
Can we stop with these articles about minor league teams?
Perhaps Orioles’ coverage could be made part of articles about Double AA leagues.
DJ Stewart, the only thing I can visualize is the play a couple years ago when he dove for the ball and it hit him on the head.
Tied for 5th in the league with 2 errors as a LF this year but has only played 39 games there. Managed to make 2 errors in RF too, in just 33 games. Unlike the rest of the team he actually can take an occasional walk but if he can’t field he’s not going to claim a starting role…and this for the 48-103 Orioles, not an actual MLB caliber team.
Just think, he was a first round draft pick!