The Orioles announced that they have claimed left-hander Tucker Davidson off waivers from the Royals. The O’s already had an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding move.
Davidson, 28 in March, was once a notable prospect in Atlanta’s system but hasn’t quite delivered on that hype just yet. That has led to a fairly nomadic couple of years, starting with a trade to the Angels as part of the Raisel Iglesias deal in 2022. But he was designated for assignment by that club a year later and was flipped to the Royals for cash. Now it appears the Royals tried to pass him through waivers but the O’s have swooped in and grabbed him.
The lefty was a starter as a prospect but worked primarily in relief in 2023, likely due to the fact that he was out of options and couldn’t be easily sent to the minors. The results in the bullpen were mixed. On the negative side, he finished the year with an ERA of 5.96 between the Angels and Royals, with a subpar 19.5% strikeout rate.
On the positive side, his 8.1% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate were both close to league average and he was in the 81st percentile in terms of limiting hard contact. His FIP and SIERA both came in at 4.27, suggesting his .358 batting average on balls in play and 63.1% strand rate both made his ERA look worse than he perhaps deserved.
The Orioles have a few left-handed options for their bullpen already, with Cionel Pérez, DL Hall, Danny Coulombe, Nick Vespi and Keegan Akin on the roster. But some of those guys have options or could perhaps still be considered for starting gigs. Adding Davidson gives them another option to add into the mix, though the O’s have also been known to claim players and then attempt to pass them through waivers later.
I’m still guessing Tucker figures it out someday and has some nice seasons. He is a lefty after all and they seem to get a ton of chances.
He wouldn’t be the first ex-Brave arm to figure it out as a ‘pen staple elsewhere, but I see him similar to former Braves LHP RP: Bruce Zimmermann. Not a lot of velo or good location that’s resting on the laurels of which hand is parents first put the spoon in.
his*
I think we’re going to attempt to sneak him through waivers like Darwinzon Hernandez last year.
There’s too many out of options fringe pitchers on the club at the moment. Baumann, Tate, Irvin, and Akin are all out of options.
Baumann spent substantial time in AAA and is out of options. Tate was nuked all year once he returned. He’s a complete mystery.
Fringes of the O’s roster? Yeah, neither is guaranteed. You can’t have a bullpen with no one to option down. Perez, Baumann, Tate, Coulombe, Irvin and Webb have no options left. Cano and hopefully DL Hall are 2 guys you don’t want to option to the minors at any point. That limits flexibility substantially.
Baumann is good enough to be a middle reliever on just about any team in baseball; but having others you can’t option makes it dicey.
no real downside as noted in the article and comments so far. lefty lottery ticket. can always try to sneak him through waivers after teams have shored up their off-season rosters and re-sign him later. O’s are left deep, we couldn’t use some fireballer righthanders in the pen.
Another braves and angels castoff who is out of options. Can’t imagine he sticks.
World Series 2024 here we come
Great move. Low Risk,possible high reward. I’m guessing you were saying the same after they picked up Felix Bautista.
Yes, I was thinking Bautista all the way
I like the guy. Braves rushed him basically because they had too.
Good the Os saved big news like this for between playoff rounds.
They had an open spot and thus nothing to lose. That’s the whole story. He’ll be the first one cut when they need to open a spot. He then either becomes minor league depth or continues on to the next team that can try to sneak him past waivers.
Another elias dumpster dive, how’d that cheap skate crap work in the playoffs??
Idk why, but I just have a feeling the Os are gonna turn him into a superstar reliever like they did with Cano, Bautista.