The Orioles announced that they have agreed to terms with outfielder Jake Cave on a contract for 2023. The financials of the deal are not yet publicly known. Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun reports that it’s a split contract, meaning Cave’s salary will be dependent on how much time he spends in the majors. Additionally, the club announced that right-hander Chris Ellis and catcher Aramis Garcia both rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency.
Cave, 30 next month, was originally drafted by the Yankees but was traded to the Twins before making his major league debut. He spent at least some time with the Twins in each of the past five seasons. His first few campaigns were quite encouraging, as Cave hit .262/.329/.466 over 2018 and 2019, producing a wRC+ of 111. It’s been a rough go since then, however, with Cave’s line dropping to .206/.262/.351 since the start of 2020. That amounts to a wRC+ of only 70 in that stretch.
Cave was outrighted in the 2021-22 offseason and spent most of his time in Triple-A before being selected back to the bigs in August. He had encouraging results for St. Paul, hitting .273/.370/.509 for a wRC+ of 130 in 85 games, though he wasn’t able to bring that up to the big league team.
Nonetheless, Baltimore must have been intrigued, as they grabbed Cave off waivers in mid-October. That was after the season was done, meaning Cave has yet to suit up for the O’s. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a salary around $1.2MM, though he and the club will steer clear of a hearing by agreeing to a figure well ahead of time.
Cave still has one option year remaining, which it seems the O’s intend to use given the split nature of his deal. The current Baltimore outfield consists of Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Kyle Stowers. The club also has a highly-regarded outfield prospect in Colton Cowser, who finished 2022 at Triple-A and could be ready for an MLB debut in 2023. In order to accommodate Cowser, it’s possible that the O’s swing a trade of one of their existing outfielders. Since prospects often take some time adjusting to MLB pitching, it’s sound strategy to have an experienced depth option like Cave on hand. Stowers also has just 34 games in the big leagues on his ledger and isn’t a lock to hold down a job going forward, adding another reason to prioritize a depth option.
As for Ellis and Garcia, they were each outrighted off Baltimore’s roster on the weekend but were eligible to elect free agency. In Garcia’s case, he has more than three years of MLB service time whereas Ellis qualified for free agency by having a previous career outright.
I’ll be the first to say it: The Orioles caved.
No…..they have tunnel vision
I didn’t even know this Cave could EVEN enter arbitration.
Elias must see something in Cave that is fixable that the Twins didn’t. Can’t really understand why we went after a LH reserve OF given our surplus of that exact thing. But you have to trust the man.
I saw Jake Cave and Zack Granite play together in a minor league game. From the town of Bedrock, they’re a page right out of history.
Has there ever been a more manly name in all of sports? Jake Cave should pose for his baseball card photo wearing a flannel shirt instead of an Orioles jersey and holding an axe instead of a baseball bat.
As a Twins fan, I was surprised when they even retained Cave last off-season after he cleared waivers.
His main calling card is that he’s “scrappy” and can play passably at all three outfield spots
He is a decent corner outfielder but can be an adventure in center with his erratic routes to the ball.
Offensively, you’ll get some home runs, which mostly seem to come during a single hot streak.
On balance, he’s a fair hitter agsinst righties, with about a 30% K-rate but with a 40% K rate and little power, he’s mostly useless against lefties. Cave is not a strong enough hitter to hold half of a platoon His baserunning is nothing special
My feeling is, that at pretty much any given time there are better, younger options available and I see him as strictly organizational depth,
so I really question that he’s worthy of a 40 man spot.
Where does Jake practice his swing ? In the Bat Cave of course
Seems like MiLB filler at this point unless they plan on trading Hays and want security if any of the others go down with injury. Cowser seems legit. Had a rough start in his first 10 AAA games but batted .299/.390/.582 (.972 OPS) in his last 17 games.
I think it’s a safe bet Cave was brought in and signed for 2023 as an insurance policy/placeholder until Cowser is ready. If he surprises and shows he can battle from Opening Day then maybe they just go with Cowser and move forward. I’m assuming they want a little more seasoning in Norfolk before they hand a starting gig to him. I’m also assuming the O’s look to move Mullins, Hays or Santander in a package to land a bigger better starting rotation piece which then puts Stowers & McKenna into the starting lineup and Cave on the bench.
McKenna is not starting for the O’s. He is a 5th OF at very best.