Right-hander Joey Krehbiel, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles last week, has declined an outright assignment and opted to become a free agent, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. The 30-year-old had been previously outrighted in his career, which grants him the result to reject a subsequent outright assignment.
Krehbiel pitched 57 innings of relief with the 2022 Orioles but logged just five MLB frames in 2023, spending the rest of the time down in Triple-A Norfolk. Krehbiel has performed reasonably well in the bigs with Baltimore, pitching to a 3.73 ERA with a 19% strikeout rate, 7.6% walk rate and 41.1% grounder rate in his 63 2/3 frames over the past two seasons. That said, he also walked more than 14% of his opponents in 39 1/3 Triple-A innings, to say nothing of an unsightly 1.6 HR/9 mark with Baltimore’s top affiliate in Norfolk.
Last year’s 57 MLB innings were a career-high for Krehbiel, who’s appeared in parts of four campaigns between the D-backs, Rays and O’s. He’s turned in a 3.65 ERA with sub-par strikeout and walk rates in that time, averaging 94.7 mph on his heater and generating grounders at a roughly average rate.
Krehbiel will head to the open market in search of a new opportunity, likely on a minor league deal. He has a minor league option remaining, which will add to his appeal for clubs who have interest in bringing him aboard as a depth option for their relief corps. And, since he still has fewer than two years of MLB service time, Krehbiel is controllable for another five seasons. Of course, he’d need to pitch his way onto a big league roster and carve out a permanent role for that to be a factor of any real note.
Yes! He was the 1st RP given the opportunity to replace Bautista of that Bautista Tate set up duo when Bautista moved to closer after the Lopez trade to the Twins. Needless to say, it didn’t go well.
That’s okay. I imagine the bullpen will get upgraded to make up for Bautista’s absence next season.
probably better that he took himself out of the possibilities for the O’s as he never filled me full of confidence on mound. it’s interesting, after so many tough and uncompetitive seasons, to be able to say, “the O’s can do better than that”. glad that the hopes of a roster full of quad A players isn’t the ceiling for the off-season. Johnny Boy, please don’t crush Balmore fans this winter with your frugality.
There doesn’t need to be a comma after “and” when it’s starting the sentence.