The Orioles have claimed outfielder Jake Cave off waivers from the Twins, according to the MLB.com transactions tracker. Baltimore is designating reliever Jake Reed for assignment in a corresponding move. Roch Kubatko of MASNSports.com confirms the news (Twitter link).
Cave has played parts of five big league seasons, all of them with Minnesota. He was initially drafted by the Yankees but dealt to the Twins before making his major league debut in 2018. The former sixth-round pick played well in part-time action during his first two seasons, hitting 21 home runs over 163 games. He’s had a tougher go over the last three seasons, largely due to increasing issues making contact. Dating back to the start of the 2020 campaign, Cave owns a .206/.262/.351 line in 478 trips to the plate.
The Twins ran Cave through outright waivers last offseason, but he made it back to the majors in early August. He posted a .213/.260/.384 showing with five homers in 54 games, swinging through 17% of pitches he saw. It wasn’t a great big league showing, but the 29-year-old had been very impressive during a longer run with Triple-A St. Paul. Cave popped 14 homers in 373 plate appearances with the Saints, posting an overall .273/.370/.509 line. His 24.9% strikeout rate was still a bit higher than average, but he showed solid power and walked at a strong 11.5% rate.
Cave adds some left-handed hitting outfield depth to Baltimore’s ranks, at least for the moment. He has a fair bit of experience at all three spots on the grass, although public metrics haven’t been fond of his work in center field. He’s a career .243/.314/.430 hitter against right-handed pitching, and he’s been essentially unplayable (.210/.240/.352) in 230 plate appearances against southpaws.
With between three and four years of major league service time, Cave is eligible for arbitration through 2024. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $1.2MM salary if tendered a contract. It’s possible Baltimore still elects to non-tender him next month (perhaps with hopes of re-signing him to a cheaper or minor league deal), but they’ll add him to the 40-man roster for the time being. Cave still has one minor league option year remaining, so the O’s could keep him at Triple-A Norfolk next year if he holds his spot on the 40-man.
Reed is a recent waiver claim himself, having been added from the Dodgers five weeks ago. The low-slot righty made eight appearances with the O’s, allowing six runs (four earned) in 5 2/3 innings. He suited up with three different teams overall in 2022, also pitching for the Mets and Dodgers. Between the trio of clubs, the 30-year-old posted a 7.02 ERA with a modest 16.9% strikeout rate in 16 2/3 frames.
Despite his lack of major league success, Reed has been a fairly frequent target for teams once he’s hit the waiver wire. That’s in large part thanks to his solid Triple-A track record, as he owns a 3.84 ERA through parts of six seasons at that level. Reed has fanned an above-average 25.6% of batters faced there while walking 9.5% of opponents.
Reed will hit the waiver wire again in the coming days. Like Cave, he still has an option year remaining and could serve as a depth player if another team were to put in a claim. If he passes through the wire unclaimed, he’d have the right to refuse an outright assignment and elect free agency based on his minor league service time.
Twins also have sent Devin Smeltzer (who has elected free agency) and Jhon Romero outright according to MIlB transactions
Better be checking in on that job at the lumberyard.
One Jake caved. The other reed things the wrong way. Good luck gentleman.
Tony Gwynn had only ONE 3 strikeout game his entire career. Never struck out 4 times. And had less than double digit 2 strikeout games in his career. What % of the time did that man strikeout?
Hmmm, I don’t know Trumbo, this feels like a question from the math section of the SAT a decade or three back!
It isn’t so hard, Rob. The answer is “D – You can’t tell from the information provided.”
Darn it! Where were you when I kept screwing up those questions?
For Love of the Game is right Rob. Although, I was being tongue in cheek mostly. Was really wondering what his K % was in general. FLOTG is a man of #’s and common sense and I respect that.
My bad Rob, I didn’t mean for it to seem as if it was one combined question. I was just citing a few factoids and then asked the strikeout % question at the end. I wish I was a better writer. Hopefully you get the gist though…I’ll get on baseball reference and do some solid division and figure it out myself.
Don’t worry, Trumbo. I wasn’t being serious either!
FanGraphs lists his K%
I’ll check it out gbs thanks….Ok found it before the edit window ended haha 13.4% for his career.
Darn…I was looking at the wrong stat….Not 13.4%…….4.2% That is unfathomable…
Possibly the most rugged name in sports?
Jake Reed had a good run as a Viking wide receiver.
Don’t really get the Cave addition.
We have a ton of OF’ers and LH hitters overall.
Don’t think claiming cave means we’re shopping anyone—just doesn’t really make a ton of sense to me.
Cave had an OPS of 84 yet was a positive war player. Must be a hell of a fielder.
End of an era. Time to get a high-caliber backup in center field.
Not a bad potential depth piece.
Cave is a decent 4th Outfielder but should not used everyday. Unfortunately Minnesota’s lack of OF depth forced him into the lineup far more often than he should have been.
That said, does Royce Lewis continue to learn to play CF or do the Twins try to find a CF capable backup via free agency/trade/waivers?
I think Gordon can do it, and it’ll get him 70 games a year while Buxton is hurt/resting.
Cave has a lot of white hairs already in that beard and not quite 30 years old. I was nearly 40 when that started happening to me.
On a related note, the Two Jakes is one of the more disappointing movie sequels of all time.
Jake Reed is only good when he’s on the Dodgers.
Trivia-If the O’s park Cave in Norfolk he will be 30 miles from his high school.
A tale of 2 Jakes