The Orioles have agreed to a deal with Cuban left-hander Naykel Cruz, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. The contract is pending a physical. Cruz is expected to report to High-A or Double-A once the signing is official, Romero adds.
The 25-year-old Cruz held a showcase for big league teams back in November. He pitched in parts of four seasons in the Cuban National Series — Cuba’s top professional league — and was a member of Team Cuba in the 2023 World Baseball Classic (though he only pitched two-thirds of an inning in that tournament). The southpaw has also briefly appeared in the Mexican League, pitching in seven games back in the 2022 season.
During his four seasons in Cuba’s top league, Cruz posted a 4.18 ERA with shaky strikeout and walk rates of 19.1% and 15.4%, respectively. Prior to that offseason showcase, Romero wrote that Cruz had bumped his velocity from the 91-92 mph he averaged during his days pitching in the CNS to 94-95 mph.
Cruz’s age and previous experience in CNS make him eligible to sign as a professional rather than an amateur. That doesn’t mean he’s required to sign a major league deal, however. In all likelihood, he’s signing a minor league pact for a yet-unknown bonus.
By all accounts, Cruz isn’t an especially high-profile prospect, though that hardly means he can’t contribute at the big league level. Plenty of players who signed as international prospects and received middling bonuses have developed into major leaguers. Given his age, prior experience, the fact that he was eligible to sign as a professional and the fact that he could potentially go right to Double-A, Cruz is a bit more notable than many shot-in-the-dark international signings. It’s hardly likely that he pitches for the Orioles later this season, but it’s also not entirely out of the realm of possibility, especially given the state of Baltimore’s pitching staff at the moment.
Lol anyone but an actual ace continues
There are no aces available right now. Ask Toronto, they just signed three SP and none of them could be mistaken for anything close to an ace. Until closer to the deadline, pickings are slim for pitchers.
can you elaborate on what available ace you might think they should target?
This is but a long line of not going after the ace they need for the last 2 years
They should have went after an ace when they made the playoffs couple years ago
They should have went after another ace to pair with Burnes last year
Should have gone after two aces this off season like fried and trade for cease or king
Should have given Trevor bauers a chance over this dude esp since all the accusations turned out false.
Trevor Bauer isn’t going to be signed by a MLB team ever again, I’m afraid to tell you.
You’re right Steinbrnner2728.. Which is a damn shame because it’s all proven to be based on false claims, political black balling and he’s a legitimately good MLB pitcher
Kyle Bradish was third in the Cy Young in 2023. But of course he wasn’t an ace.
Desperation
@hoof
The first place Mets are also desperate in their signing Colin Poche today. That owner is so cheap. What are they thinking? Why didn’t they sign an ace? Don’t they know their window is closing?
I cannot believe that the Orioles are making room on their Double A minor league squad for a lottery ticket when Ohtani and Skubal are out there if only Elias would give up a few of his precious prospects in a trade.
Look, seriously, most all Baltimore fans are frustrated but parroting the same non-sense theories really isn’t doing anything but raising your blood pressure unnecessarily.
This squad is extremely talented, extremely green and so far, extremely frustrating. I keep hoping that all the cylinders will fire at the same time despite their obvious flaws. Baltimore fans seem very happy to just roll around in their misery like a pig in slop. I just can’t live like that. As annoyed as I might be, they’re MY team and I will always look for some glimmer of hope to believe in.
But you have a right to roll around in that stuff if you want to. I just don’t want to have to hear it echoing around all the time.
Sheesh dude. If you don’t want to see negativity, you should probably just not read comments on the internet.
Fans can feel however they want to feel. Me personally, I think it’s pretty understandable that fans are upset that the team made no necessary moves or investments to help the team win in the offseason, and we’re 13-22 because of it. And the team is not “green”. They’ve made the playoffs the last two years.
If you’re watching the games and think it will magically turn around without some major changes, I don’t know how to help you. There needs to be some accountability for a management group that took a team that won 101 games in 2023 and in a year and a half turned it into one of the worst teams in baseball. It’s fair to call for that even if it hurts your feelings.
“If you don’t want to see negativity, you should probably just not read comments on the internet.”
Perhaps, if you don’t like hearing opinions and what people might see different about something, you should probably stick to being alone.
Yes, a team with a double play combination under 25 is “not green”. “No necessary moves or investments”. They increased payroll by $70 million.
Maybe Elias knows what he’s doing and isn’t running the team with a one year horizon?
So do what? Run Rubenstein out of town?
He’s not firing Elias. No chance.
Literally only Holliday is green, everyone else has been playing in the majors for 3+ years. Adley and Gunnar for 4. The issue is Elias signing random AAAA players and the manager playing them every day instead of actual starters or prospects.
For Os fans, misery is simply an excuse to rant and their team is run by eggheads and rich guys. They spend their days channeling their inner Spiro Agnew.
Let the scouring of dumpsters begin.
Dumpster Diving Dan Duquette sounded so natural off the tongue.
Orioles fans were assured those days were over, so there isn’t a fitting term for the Elias regime yet. I keep replaying his snarky chuckle in the winter meeting interviews about moving the wall in because Sanchez and O’Neill were signed while his counterparts were signing starting pitchers not made by Temu.
“Orioles fans were assured those days were over?”. Nonsense. Elias was very clear that he considered the waiver wire as a source of talent and picked up Urias and Mateo very early and gave them playing time. He went out of his way to praise DD, which infuriated Os fans.
What you’re missing is that a lot of Os fans wanted Elias fired in 2021. If you defended Elias and provided arguments supporting analytics, you were harassed off the main blog. Steve Melewski blocked the harrassers and his blog became a refuge for Elias supporters. As thoughtful people who thought DD was a good GM.
There is a clear difference between where the team was in 2020/21 and 2025. Supposedly. Urias was picked up in Feb 2020. Mateo in 2021. They were seen as placeholders through 2022 to give way to Henderson and whichever of the other draftees emerged. Now these dumpster dives from where the team is smack of desperation.
Urias continues to be above average offensively and defensively, useful as UIF and as an injury fill in. I even wonder if he contributed to both Mateo’s and Henderson’s best defensive seasons. So he earned a spot. Mateo? No. Never hit well enough, defense fell off too, the type of player who no longer has a spot when the team contends.
I never bothered with Melewski’s blog or the other Orioles blogs, many are jokes. For me, I questioned why not try harder to compete at the 2022 and 23 deadlines when in position, because there is no guarantee you return to that position. Elias did not do what Houston did in 2017 to put itself over the top (Cole and Verlander). Instead, he got Cole Irvin and only 1 year of Burnes.
If the Orioles are not THE player at the deadline and in the offseason for every top and 2-3 type pitcher who is or could be available, then Elias isn’t doing his job. They’ll need 3 (I would count extending Eflin as 1) and not on 1 year deals.
Cool cool
groovy
I have no idea who this guy is. Have fun with the worst rotation in baseball
We have no idea who you are either. Have fun not being a professional baseball player behind a generic username and avatar.
If anyone is surprised later to find Cruz in the O’s bullpen later this season…like Jake Taylor, looks like he couldn’t cut it in the Mexican League.