The Orioles announced this evening that reliever Joey Krehbiel has gone unclaimed on waivers. The right-hander accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk and will stick with the organization.
Krehbiel has spent the entire 2023 campaign in Norfolk on an optional assignment. He’s come out of the bullpen nine times for the Tides, throwing nine innings of two-run ball. While that’s impressive on the surface, the 6’3″ hurler has walked seven batters and hit another. That’s eight free passes out of 37 hitters (21.6%) compared to just six strikeouts. Baltimore took Krehbiel off the 40-man roster last week as the corresponding move for acquiring catcher Luis Torrens from the Cubs.
While Krehbiel hasn’t pitched in the bigs this season, he logged a good chunk of relief work for Baltimore last year. Manager Brandon Hyde tabbed him 56 times, in which Khrebiel threw 57 2/3 innings with a 3.90 ERA. His 18.4% strikeout rate was a few points below average but he kept the free passes to a solid 7.4% clip and was a generally serviceable middle reliever.
Krehbiel also went unclaimed on waivers while a member of the Diamondbacks back in 2019. His second outright gave him the right to explore minor league free agency but he’s elected to bypass the open market. He’ll try to rediscover last year’s command and reestablish himself on the 40-man roster. If the Orioles don’t reselect his contract by the end of the season, he’d hit free agency at the start of the winter.
Joey was given the opportunity, as were others, to join Tate in that late inning set up role after Bautista moved to closer last year. IMO, that was the main factor with why the Os fell out of contention last year. IE. No one could replicate what Felix did in that set up role.
By the way, what a trade with the Twins. Lopez and Cano are 2 of the best set up guys in the sport this year!
Agreed. That was a brilliant trade for the Orioles. Povich looks like a good bet to be a solid #3-4 starter, and Cano has been one of the best relievers in baseball so far.
A shame, he was InKrehbiel!