NOVEMBER 5: The O’s formally announced the outrights of Severino, Diplan and Greene on Friday evening. Additionally, Baltimore announced that right-handers Chris Ellis and Spenser Watkins and catcher Nick Ciuffo have cleared waivers. Ellis has already elected minor league free agency, and Watkins and Ciuffo will also have that right.
Ellis made six starts for the O’s after being claimed off waivers from the Rays. He worked to a 2.49 ERA in 25 1/3 innings but did so with underwhelming peripherals after struggling in Triple-A. Watkins posted an 8.07 ERA over 54 2/3 frames during his first major league action. Ciuffo appeared in just two big league games at the very tail end of the season.
NOVEMBER 3: The Orioles have outrighted catcher Pedro Severino and right-handers Marcos Diplan and Conner Greene to Triple-A Norfolk. According to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, all three players will elect free agency rather than accept the outright assignment.
Severino is the most experienced name of the trio, with parts of seven MLB seasons under his belt (the last three in Baltimore). Severino was projected to earn $3.1MM in arbitration this winter, but was seen as a non-tender candidate following a season that saw him hit .248/.303/.383 with 11 home runs over 419 plate appearances.
The 28-year-old shouldn’t have much trouble catching on somewhere as a platoon partner or backup catcher. As for the Orioles, Nick Ciuffo is the only catcher in the organization with Major League experience, but the O’s are expected to add another low-cost veteran backstop this winter, and star prospect Adley Rutschman is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2022.
Diplan made his Major League debut in 2021, with a 4.50 ERA over 30 innings out of the Orioles bullpen. A veteran of seven minor league seasons with the Orioles, Twins, Brewers, and Rangers, 2021 was Diplan’s first season as a full-time reliever, though he had gotten an increasingly large share of bullpen work by 2019. He showed some solid improvements to his strikeout and walk rates with Norfolk this season and even pitched in the Futures Game during All-Star week.
Greene also got his first taste of MLB action this year, posting a 7.11 ERA over 25 1/3 combined innings with the Orioles and Dodgers. Beginning the season with the O’s, Greene was claimed on waivers by Los Angeles and then claimed back by Baltimore, all within the span of less than three weeks in August. Greene has a live fastball, but he has yet to translate that heater into big strikeout numbers or even consistent results in the minors, with a 4.34 ERA over 729 2/3 career innings on the farm.
thank god Severino is gone, sad to see Greene go but he struggled at the end, and Diplan struggled but I think there is still some untapped potential
I’m surprised they let Diplan go.
Now do Ciuffo, Watkins, and Stewart. And hell, take Yusniel off too.
Severino come to the Yankees and replace Sanchez. Yankees need to start looking at any catcher. Replacing Sanchez priority number one.
Severino is a worse version of Sanchez. You do not want to do that to yourselves
That saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” certainly applies to baseball fans. Another one is “be careful what you wish for.”
Why would you want Severino? He is a terrible defender, and while his bat is passible the lack of any real power keeps him from being an offensive threat.
Perfectly acceptable backup, especially with the energy he brings to the dugout. But not a starter.
He may come back to Baltimore. It just won’t be for 3MM. I could see us re-upping him for a million bucks.
Severino’s defense and framing are one of the worst in the league. As an Oriole fan I recommend it though 😉
Marcos Diplan signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers is a lock. That’s a Jon Daniels specialty.
I think Diplan looked pretty solid this year, he may become an okayish reliever one day.
Who do you think the Orioles will sign as the veteran catcher to go with Adley? My guess is Martin Maldonado, I think he would be a good fit. Jeff Mathis as well might be helpful in a developmental year.
Maldonado isn’t a free agent until next year. Yan Gomes would be a good choice, Boston has a $7 million option on Christian Vazquez and a $250K buyout. What are the Bosox expected to do?
The sox are expected to either exercise Vazquez or work out another extension. I believe it was Bloom (could have been another big shot decision maker in Boston) that made a comment saying that solid all around catching is tough to find and Vazquez is one of them.
Roberto Perez
AR is going to be up in the first month of the year. I doubt you see the O’s sign anyone that would cost significant dollars. Wouldn’t totally shock me to see Severino come back at a lower rate.
I think the Orioles plan to give Adley the job from the get go and they are just laying the foundation. Once Adley is in he will be the Orioles catcher until at least after the control ends.
There is no way Adley gets a whiff of MLB until the Orioles successfully manipulate his service time, he will not break camp with the team.
No, they want someone cheap to hold down the fort until they get the extra year of service time then he will be up
If that’s still the process. New CBA is incoming. I don’t know what that may look like. If it’s drastically different—he may make it day 1. As it stand now, no way he’d be up.
I think they will take care of the service time manipulation in the next CBA and because of that there will be no reason to keep Adley down. If I am right he will then start from the beginning and become the best catcher in baseball within a year. I also think he walks away with the ROY. Baltimore fans you have a special player in Adley that you are going to enjoy for years to come. There is no doubt in my mind he is ready right now to be there opening day catcher.
Manny Piña incoming
As a Brewer fan, I’ve loved the Pineapple these last 7 years, but it’s time to give Feliciano his shot.
Also, I wouldn’t mind if we brought back Diplan.
Hope the Orioles bring back Diplan.
Severino is a solid #2 catcher on most clubs and many clubs would gladly pay $2-3 mil for a solid #2; especially if their #1 catcher is a LH hitter. He’ll find a gig.
He makes a great backup
I know Severino defense is terrible however he is pretty decent with the bat. You could not get a better backup catcher.
Good young catchers coming up with Adley & Stephenson.
why get rid of Ellis? he would’ve been good down the road
You know it’s bad when even the Orioles don’t want you.
man, they were really that down on Ellis?
Bad peripherals, but I agree that it seems to be a bit early to let him go.
To the writer of this article: Why not just list his “peripherals” instead of giving us your opinion of how underwhelming they may have been?