Headlines

  • Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September
  • Nationals Select Eli Willits With First Pick Of 2025 Amateur Draft
  • 2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results
  • Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear
  • Astros Promote Brice Matthews
  • Red Sox Likely To Activate Alex Bregman Tomorrow
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors
  • Pro Hockey Rumors

MLB Trade Rumors

Remove Ads
  • Home
  • Teams
    • AL East
      • Baltimore Orioles
      • Boston Red Sox
      • New York Yankees
      • Tampa Bay Rays
      • Toronto Blue Jays
    • AL Central
      • Chicago White Sox
      • Cleveland Guardians
      • Detroit Tigers
      • Kansas City Royals
      • Minnesota Twins
    • AL West
      • Houston Astros
      • Los Angeles Angels
      • Oakland Athletics
      • Seattle Mariners
      • Texas Rangers
    • NL East
      • Atlanta Braves
      • Miami Marlins
      • New York Mets
      • Philadelphia Phillies
      • Washington Nationals
    • NL Central
      • Chicago Cubs
      • Cincinnati Reds
      • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Pittsburgh Pirates
      • St. Louis Cardinals
    • NL West
      • Arizona Diamondbacks
      • Colorado Rockies
      • Los Angeles Dodgers
      • San Diego Padres
      • San Francisco Giants
  • About
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Tim Dierkes
    • Writing team
    • Advertise
    • Archives
  • Contact
  • Tools
    • 2025 Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Agency Database
  • NBA/NFL/NHL
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors
  • App
  • Chats
Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Orioles Outright Ryan O’Hearn

By Darragh McDonald | January 12, 2023 at 5:49pm CDT

The Orioles announced that first baseman Ryan O’Hearn has cleared outright waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He had been designated for assignment last week when the O’s claimed Lewin Díaz a second time.

O’Hearn, 29, had a strong debut in 2018. Over 44 games in that season, he hit 12 home runs and produced a batting line of .262/.353/.597. Unfortunately, he’s been struggling since that time, slashing .211/.282/.351 over the past four seasons while striking out in 26.9% of his plate appearances.

Despite that poor run of late, the Royals still believed in O’Hearn enough to tender him a contract. He and the club avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $1.4MM salary for this year. They later designated him for assignment, perhaps hoping to pass him through waivers and keep him in the organization but without him taking up a roster spot. Instead, the Orioles grabbed him off waivers and are now are the beneficiaries of that plan.

O’Hearn can technically reject this outright assignment and elect free agency, since he has over three years of MLB service time. However, only players past the five-year mark can both opt for free agency and retain their salaries. Since O’Hearn is in between those two thresholds, he would have to leave that $1.4MM on the table in order to head to the open market. If there were a team in the majors that thought he was worth something in that range or higher, they surely would have put in a claim this week. That means O’Hearn’s smartest play, from a pure financial point of view, is to head to Norfolk and try to earn his way back onto the roster.

The O’s have been trying for quite some time to pass a left-handed bat through waivers to improve their depth at first base. They have twice claimed Díaz and then designated him for assignment shortly thereafter. The first time didn’t work since the Braves clearly indicated they were interested and sent cash considerations to Baltimore to acquire him. But the Braves then quickly put him on waivers themselves and the O’s swooped in with a claim yet again. Díaz has since been sent into DFA limbo by the O’s for a second time, his fifth of the offseason overall, and is still there for now. If he clears, he and O’Hearn would seemingly have to battle each other to be the one to get the call whenever the O’s feel they are ready to commit a roster spot to one of them.

Share 0 Retweet 2 Send via email0

Baltimore Orioles Ryan O'Hearn

Mets Interested In Trey Mancini, Adam Duvall
Main
Diamondbacks, P.J. Higgins Agree To Minor League Deal
View Comments (14)
Post a Comment

14 Comments

  1. kiddhoff

    3 years ago

    Wow!

    Reply
  2. gorav114

    3 years ago

    Really smart play by Elias

    Reply
    • GareBear

      3 years ago

      He fills a need about as well as duct tape would save a sinking boat. Coming from a Royals fan, I wish him the best with the O’s and beyond but expecting league average performances from him has often led to disappointment

      2
      Reply
      • Elbo

        3 years ago

        Wait, what, the orioles signed him?

        Reply
      • theathlete

        3 years ago

        MythBusters:

        It is possible to seal leaks in a boat using duct tape?

        Verdict: PLAUSIBLE

        The MythBusters patched a damaged boat with duct tape and then floated it in San Francisco Bay. The tape managed to keep the boat afloat, with only minor signs of damage after forty minutes of use. Adam then decided to test whether duct tape can seal an existing leak while the boat is still in the water. Adam noted that it was more difficult to get the duct tape to stick underwater, but successfully patched the leak. However, the “emergency” fix wasn’t nearly as effective and the duct tape quickly failed. The MythBusters concluded that duct tape was a viable temporary repair method when applied in dry conditions.

        3
        Reply
        • MacGromit

          3 years ago

          theathlete,
          *This* is the kind of useful info that is actually constructive. Bravo.

          Reply
  3. mbreslow77

    3 years ago

    Phew!!

    Reply
  4. Henry Silvestre

    3 years ago

    These guys on the DFA carousel are funny man +1 -1 +1 -1 same guys over and over again

    Reply
  5. Buzz Killington

    3 years ago

    Lucky. He could have ended up like poor Lewin and got claimed and waived non stop.

    2
    Reply
    • Four4fore

      3 years ago

      Lewin Diaz for Junior Fernandez who says no?
      Everybody

      Reply
    • Roidville Slugger

      3 years ago

      Yeah. At least he found a way out of that purgatory.

      Reply
  6. Dumpster Divin Theo

    3 years ago

    Top of the mornin’ to Laddie O’Hearn. May the road rise up to meet ya

    Reply
  7. geoffb1982

    3 years ago

    Farhan will be all over this. Dumpster diving continues for the Giants

    Reply
  8. YEP

    3 years ago

    White Sox RF to start the season and be 4th outfielder when Oscar Colas gets the call.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September

    Nationals Select Eli Willits With First Pick Of 2025 Amateur Draft

    2025 MLB Draft, First Round Results

    Red Sox Place Hunter Dobbins On 15-Day IL Due To ACL Tear

    Astros Promote Brice Matthews

    Red Sox Likely To Activate Alex Bregman Tomorrow

    Phillies Reportedly Targeting Controllable Relievers

    Yankees Prioritizing Pitching, Also Searching For Infield Help

    Orioles Trade Bryan Baker To Rays

    Yankees Release DJ LeMahieu

    Trevor Williams To Undergo UCL Surgery

    Nationals Fire PBO Mike Rizzo, Manager Dave Martinez

    Brewers Activate Brandon Woodruff

    Clarke Schmidt Expected To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

    Bobby Jenks Passes Away

    Braves Release Alex Verdugo

    Top 40 Trade Candidates For The 2025 Deadline

    Rays Reinstate Ha-Seong Kim

    Yankees Have Shown Interest In Ryan McMahon

    Royals Interested In Bryan Reynolds

    Recent

    Stuart Sternberg Has Agreed To Sell Rays To Patrick Zalupski, Deal Expected To Be Final By September

    Adolis Garcia Drawing Trade Interest

    Poll: Who Will Win The 2025 Home Run Derby?

    Royals Place Michael Lorenzen On Injured List

    Yankees Claim Rico Garcia

    Blue Jays, Joe Mantiply Agree To Minor League Deal

    Submit Your Questions For This Week’s Episode Of The MLBTR Podcast

    D-backs Have Listened To Offers On Outfield Depth

    Vinny Nittoli To Opt Out Of Brewers Deal

    The Opener: Home Run Derby, Draft Day 2, Rodriguez

    MLBTR Newsletter - Hot stove highlights in your inbox, five days a week

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • Sandy Alcantara Rumors
    • Luis Robert Rumors
    • Alex Bregman Rumors

     

    Trade Rumors App for iOS and Android App Store Google Play

    MLBTR Features

    MLBTR Features

    • Remove Ads, Support Our Writers
    • Front Office Originals
    • Front Office Fantasy Baseball
    • MLBTR Podcast
    • Trade Deadline Outlook Series
    • 2025-26 MLB Free Agent List
    • Contract Tracker
    • Transaction Tracker
    • Extension Tracker
    • Agency Database
    • MLBTR On Twitter
    • MLBTR On Facebook
    • Team Facebook Pages
    • How To Set Up Notifications For Breaking News
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
    • Pro Hockey Rumors

    Rumors By Team

    • Angels Rumors
    • Astros Rumors
    • Athletics Rumors
    • Blue Jays Rumors
    • Braves Rumors
    • Brewers Rumors
    • Cardinals Rumors
    • Cubs Rumors
    • Diamondbacks Rumors
    • Dodgers Rumors
    • Giants Rumors
    • Guardians Rumors
    • Mariners Rumors
    • Marlins Rumors
    • Mets Rumors
    • Nationals Rumors
    • Orioles Rumors
    • Padres Rumors
    • Phillies Rumors
    • Pirates Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Rays Rumors
    • Red Sox Rumors
    • Reds Rumors
    • Rockies Rumors
    • Royals Rumors
    • Tigers Rumors
    • Twins Rumors
    • White Sox Rumors
    • Yankees Rumors

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives
    • RSS/Twitter Feeds By Team

    MLBTR INFO

    • Advertise
    • About
    • Commenting Policy
    • Privacy Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    hide arrows scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version