The Orioles announced that they have signed infielder Jean Segura to a minor league deal. The veteran has been out of affiliated ball for over a year, having been released by the Guardians at the start of August last year. He could perhaps report to Triple-A Norfolk shortly but may also go to another affiliate for a tune-up after his long layoff.
It’s a surprising signing that comes completely out of the blue. Not only has Segura not played any official games in the past year, he also wasn’t featured in any substantive offseason rumors, nor does it appear that he played in any winter or foreign leagues.
The absence comes on the heels of his worst career season. He hit .219/.277/.279 for a 52 wRC+ in 85 games for the Marlins last year, the first season of a two-year, $17MM deal that he signed with the Fish. He and Kahlil Watson were flipped to the Guardians for Josh Bell at the deadline, but the Guards immediately released Segura, indicating his inclusion was simply for financial reasons. No team signed Segura for the final two months or for 2024, until now.
Prior to his awful 2023 season, he had a lengthy run as a solid player in the big leagues. From 2016 to 2022, he got into 849 games between the Diamondbacks, Mariners and Phillies. He got to double-digit home runs in every full season of that stretch and had at least nine stolen bases in all of them. Overall, he hit 84 long balls and slashed .295/.345/.434 for a wRC+ of 107 while swiping 109 bases. He was gradually moved from shortstop to second base in that stretch, playing a bit of third base as well, and produced 21.9 wins above replacement in the eyes of FanGraphs.
Whether Segura can engineer a bounceback after his rough 2023 season and long stint away from the game is anyone’s guess, but there’s no real risk for the Orioles in trying. The Guardians are still on the hook for the final year of his contract, so the O’s would only have to pay Segura the prorated league minimum for any time he ultimately spends on their roster, which would be subtracted from what Cleveland pays.
Not too long ago, the Baltimore infield was characterized by having more good players than opportunities, but the situation has changed significantly in the past few weeks. They included Connor Norby in the Trevor Rogers deal and also saw Jordan Westburg and Jorge Mateo land on the injured list.
They still have a solid infield mix though third base is perhaps a little less impressive than the other spots. Ryan O’Hearn and Ryan Mountcastle are sharing first base while Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson have the middle spots covered. At the hot corner, Ramón Urías and Coby Mayo are the top options at the moment. Mayo just got called up but his first 15 major league plate appearances have resulted in a line of .000/.133/.000. Urías has a much better line of .234/.309/.364, though that still leads to a subpar 95 wRC+. Urías does have a strong defensive reputation but his numbers in that department are down this year: -3 Defensive Runs Saved and -6 Outs Above Average from the third base spot.
The O’s can take a close-up look at the veteran Segura in the coming weeks and see how it goes. Perhaps he can convince the club’s decision makers that he’s an upgrade over their current options or simply provide them with some non-roster depth in case another injury pops up in the coming weeks. He’ll be competing with guys like Terrin Vavra and Liván Soto, who are each on the 40-man roster but currently on optional assignment, as well as non-roster guys like Niko Goodrum, J.D. Davis and Nick Maton.
HE’S BACK!
The master is now the pupil
I’ll be pulling for you, mean Jean. I can’t think of a nicer guy in the game. Maybe Cutch.
The Orioles are taking as many former Phillies players as they can get.
Really good hitter!! Great pick up!
Mean Jean the Hit Machine!
Another Orioles move that makes zero sense. Why build this farm if you are afraid to use them or afraid to trade them? Why add another over the hill infielder blocking young players? Don’t have an o for 10 in Baltimore you will be jettisoned until your 27.
You don’t know ball
Sure I don’t. Im sure he hasn’t been signed all year because he’s in his prime. I’m sure last year was a mirage.
Explain.
So am I understanding: the Orioles are not advancing their young players. Is that your take?
Not when they should be. Kjerstad has been held back. Norby was held back. Even Rutschman was held in the minors way too long.
Adley spent one full season in O’s farm system. Spent a few months after being drafted and 20 games in 2022 before call up.
Wrong, Kjerstad has been suffering from a concussion – that’s why he is in MiLB
Adley was injured, which delayed his call up.
You need to research these things before shooting off your mouth and exposing your ignorance. Adley was injured, which delayed his planned promotion. Kjerstad is injured now.
Why are you running your mouth with fake facts? You lied about fangraphs stats. You’re lying about injuries. What do you care so much that someone thinks your GM sucks that you would make stuff up? If he was injured in the mlb he should have put on their mlb injured list and not sent to the minors. Thats a serious rules violation and he would have a major grievance. So are you saying your GM is breaking these rules because the Mets GM was suspended for a year for stuff like that.
Not a single falsehood did I mention. Cite sources, big mouth, to dispel any of the facts I stated. Oh right, you can’t
Makes perfect sense. Westburg & Mateo are injured. Mayo & Holliday are still young.and developing. Signing Segura to a minor league deal adds a veteran presence to the organization. There is literally zero risk involved. If Segura hits, they can add a veteran with postseason experience to the 40-man if they want. If he doesn’t perform, they get rid of him.
Westburg will definitely be back for the playoffs. If you adding someone then you don’t add someone who hasn’t played all year. It makes zero sense. Baseball plays a month of spring training just to get ready for a season so your adding a guy who needs a month to get ready that’s already bad. Orioles moves keep making them worse. Just keep watching their record get worse.
Right because they keep dropping down the standings right? Do better.
Just because the Yankees were losing too doesn’t mean everything is great. You do better.
Have you taken notice to the number of injuries they’ve had to starting pitchers?
“The more he shouts, the more his ignorance shows.”
(BTW, what’s a purported Mets fan doing here pontificating on the O’s?)
I’m sorry. I guess baseball fans are only allowed to talk about one team and that’s it? Are you for real?
You are not privy to Westburg’s condition so your guess that he will be able to return for the post-season is not a fact – just your assumption.
I know how long bones take to heal Einstein and how long everyone else took to return.
You don’t know how many days each injury takes to heal, dumbshtt
@Mets O’s are 6-4 their last 10 games. Only 5 teams have a better record out of last 10. Just not seeing this notion you re trying to portray that the sky is falling.
Please enlighten us to what middle infield prospect that will be blocked by Segura playing in Norfolk. We’ll wait.
All of them. Every single prospect below him gets blocked.
If you can’t name a single player, it tells us you don’t know squat about what’s in the O’s farm system and who’s in line to move up the line.
Sure I’ll list every player they have. This move is the demote Mayo in particular though as soon as Segura gets a few at bats to ramp back up to speed. I love how all you Oriole fans get upset when anyone questions your GMS bad moves. He has done nothing except intentionally lose games to get low draft picks and get extra draft picks. His in season moves to make the team better have been horrible. The teams record gets worse every time he makes a roster move.
Quite literally backfilling AAA. Westy, Mateo went down. Norby and Cook were traded. Mayo & Holliday were called up. Norfolk is thin on infielders.
So you’re still unable to identify a single middle infielder being blocked by Segura’s arrival. 1) Mayo is already in the Majors and 2) he plays 3B, but your argument was “every single prospect below [Segura] gets blocked.” Mayo isn’t there. Just so you are aware, the Majors is above triple-A where Segura is headed. Players in Norfolk don’t block guys in the Majors. Sorry if this confuses you. Good luck with your next unfounded rant on another topic you know very little about.
I’m sorry if you can think of what’s coming down the road. Don’t know what to tell you that you can’t think what a move means. Sorry it confuses you it and you try to be smart by saying name a minor leaguer in Norfolk. Of course he didn’t go straight to the majors moron. He hasn’t swung a bat in a game all season. It will be two weeks.
Agree Mets, Birds fans sure seem thin-skinned and burst into tears anytime someone says a negative thing about their team. And I agree the GM’s weird fascination with stockpiling decrepit infield veterans at Norfolk has a strange psychological component to it.
Point to one team that doesn’t sign veteran players to fill out minor league rosters when the need arises espcially after a string of injuries and/or promotions to the Majors..
Maybe to have a veteran in the minors helping those young players.
Not this late in the year. This is definitely a move for the playoff roster.
Yeah. It seems like it. Having a veteran with WS experience may benefit some of the younger roster, but I don’t know. Feels like they’re just taking a flier.
How do you block someone if you’re in the minors?
He won’t be in the minors in a couple weeks.
The return of James Cigarettes! boom….
Can someone do a health check on Mets 6986? I fear he may have had a stroke. Good grief, talk about a meltdown about nothing.
@darth
“,*All* of the prospects are blocked by Jean Segura in the minors. They’ll put him on the active roster even if he flames out in the minors and this is some kind of sneaky way to keep their prospects down while also blowing all chances at the playoffs.”
Intriguing hypothesis, @Mets6986.
Don’t let reality temper your anger. Fight the man.
There is enough yelling at the clouds in baseball fandom, without encouraging more of it….
There’s so many prospects playing the infield in Norfolk right now.
JD Davis, terrin vavra, Livan Soto, Niko Goodrum, and Diego Castillo are absolute can’t miss prospects! Can’t forget Nick Maton too!
“Battle of the AAAA and former MLB players”
Elias’ sorting hat. Just need to capture lightning a bottle for a short period while Westie and Mateo (hopefully) get back.
Especially when he’s just dead wrong claiming Segura will “block every infielder in the system.” All the guys worth calling up playing middle infield are either in Baltimore. on the MLB IL or already traded away.
I actually like the O’s signing vets like that. Gives them some security if they have to IL someone and get an injury exemption. Obviously having such players become a necessity would be far from ideal. But it’s a nice security blanket to have.
The panic continues
Had a nightmare season in ‘23 and hasn’t played in any games at any level so far in ‘24. Wow, man, this move is pure genius!!!
you never know what an L1-A can do to the guy’s career
Pssst, minor league depth.
Elias zigging while everyone else is zagging
Segura is an easy guy to root for. He was always good until last year and likely an injury played a part and would help explain him not signing before now. He’s signing with a contender. Absolutely no risk for the O’s and hopefully he plays well.
I see this as future move. If orioles spend money next year on keeping someone like Santander they could maybe depending on how Seguera looks use him as utility player next year since they would only be responsible for league minimum which could allow Orioles to shred some payroll by releasing or trading players like Mateo or Urias to make paying others more realistic. Just a thought and costs thrm nothing now to get a look at him
oh yeah, this guy