The Marlins have claimed outfielder Cristian Pache off waivers from the Orioles, reports Christina De Nicola of MLB.com. Baltimore designated him for assignment two days ago. Pache is out of minor league options, so he’ll go right onto the big league roster. Miami has multiple 40-man vacancies after their deadline sell-off, so only a corresponding 26-man roster move will be necessary when the team announces the claim.
Pache, 25, is a former top prospect whose bat has never come around at the big league level. He’s still a lights-out defender in center field and can give the Marlins a standout defender at a position that’s been a point of weakness on the roster for several years now. In 119 plate appearances between the Phillies and Orioles this season, Pache is hitting .210/.297/.276 with a 36.1% strikeout rate. Overall, he’s a lifetime .181/.244/.274 hitter in 546 big league plate appearances.
Even with that dearth of offensive value, Pache’s glove made it seem like a virtual lock he’d be claimed by another team when the O’s designated him for assignment this week. He can handle any of the three outfield spots but has spent the bulk of his career in center field, where he was lauded as a true 80-grade defender during his prospect days. Defensive metrics bear that out. He’s played 1338 innings in the field in his major league career and been credited with 12 Defensive Runs Saved and an even gaudier 16 Outs Above Average. Pache “only” sits in the 77th percentile of big leaguers in terms of sprint speed, but his jumps, reads, instincts and arm strength are all so strong that he nevertheless stands out as one of the sport’s premier defensive talents.
Pache entered the season with 2.031 years of big league service time, and since he’s spending the whole year in the majors — again, he cannot be optioned — he’ll finish with 3.031 years. That’ll make him arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and give Miami an additional three years of club control. He’s not going to hit for them, but the rebuilding Fish might simply be content to give him frequent playing time because of his defensive wizardry, knowing that if anything, the lack of offensive contributions is going to keep his price tag low during the arbitration process.
This guy lives rent-free in NL East
Adios, Cristian. I will always appreciate your mammoth 1.000 AVG as an Oriole.
Thought he didn’t play ?
He was 1-1 on 7/29 vs. TOR.
They need someone with his range and speed to play in that ravine, so it’s a good pickup even if he hits like Billy Hamilton.
Bad Billy Hamilton was more than a glove, Pache isn’t
so do the Fish pick up his remaining salary or prorated min and the O’s break the similar cost of 10 games with Tony Kemp in sunk cost?
Pretty much any salary owed to Pache is sunk cost…
He was claimed on waivers so the Marlins take over his salary. He was only making 761 k which is barely above the minimum anyway so if he had been released and then signed by the Marlins the Orioles would have been on the hook for the prorated 21k.
thanks @geo, just trying to plan out what my beer at Camden Yards is going to cost next year. lol.
$1MM for 10 Tony Kemp warm fuzzies in the clubhouse was an expensive few counseling sessions.
League minimum is 740k. Kemp is being paid by the Reds on a minor league deal which is obviously less than league minimum. So the Orioles will probably end up paying Kemp less than the league minimum for the year. And they pay him every 2 weeks so it’s not like they are paying him all at once. They just gave their first round pick a 4 million dollar bonus so the Orioles aren’t going broke on Kemp. And not to be a broken record the price of beer ( or hot dogs or ice cream) have nothing to do with players salaries
This is the type of thing they should be doing. Grab a couple of failed former prospects, and see how it looks, especially in today’s game where guys are getting called up early, and then you see some find it later in their 20s/early 30s
I remember when people said this dude was a ridiculous defender in CF
Makes sense, especially assuming Victor Mesa hr will be out with the back…
I’d love to see Troy Johnston finally get a look in the big leagues, among other guys they havent given opportunities to
There are worse players to have on your team as a 4/5th outfielder and late inning defensive replacement.
Also he won’t be that expensive going forward as well unless he breaks out offensively.
Time will tell.
Christian Pache and Forrest Wall roaming the OF for the Marlins. Unreal.
Which of sanchez gordon or stowers sits for either..not to mention norby..i doubt they see much action
“Pache entered the season with 2,031 years of big league service time”
Impressive!
He doesn’t look a day over 2,000. He must moisturize.
1338 innings is essentially one full season. 12 DRS and 16 OAA is pretty darn good.
The most Marlins-type player I’ve seen in at least, like, two years.
He will definitely help us lose more games. He can’t hit and strikes out a lot sounds like a perfect fit to this club. Hopefully we hold on to a few more years and cut another Harold Ramirez type player. I’m a big fan of consistency
Maybe he will hit if he gets a chance to play regularly.
“If he’s a good hitter, why doesn’t he hit good?”
“He’s a minor leaguer. He’ll be ready.”
“So he’s gonna be a good hitter when we put him up against major league guys?”
Billy Beane/Brad Pitt – Moneyball