The Orioles announced today that right-hander Matt Bowman and infielder Emmanuel Rivera have cleared outright waivers and accepted assignments to Triple-A Norfolk. Both players had been designated for assignment in recent days.
Bowman, 34, signed a minor league deal with the club in December. Since then, he has bounced on and off the club’s roster. Four times this year, he has been selected to the roster, designated for assignment, cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to the Tides.
Around those transactions, he has thrown 23 1/3 innings for the O’s with a 5.79 earned run average, 15.7% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 34.6% ground ball rate. For his career, he now has 239 1/3 big league innings under his belt with a 4.32 ERA, 18.7% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 52.4% ground ball rate.
The constant shuttling might be unwelcome for some but it appears Bowman is content with his relationship with the Orioles, as he has the right to reject outright assignments but hasn’t done so this year. The O’s seem likely to be deadline sellers later this month and have a number of trade candidates on their pitching staff, so perhaps Bowman can get a more stable role in the final two months of the schedule.
Rivera, 29, has between three and five years of major league service time. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment but would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to do exercise that right. He and the club avoided arbitration in the winter by agreeing to a $1MM salary.
The combination of that contractual situation and his out-of-options status has led to him also bouncing on and off the Baltimore roster, with this being his third outright of the year. Around those transactions, he has posted a .229 /299/.271 batting line while providing solid defense at third base, along with occasional appearances at the other infield corner.
Similar to Bowman, he could get more regular playing time down the stretch. The O’s could perhaps move corner infielders like Ryan O’Hearn, Ryan Mountcastle and/or Ramón Urías in the coming weeks.
Photo courtesy of Reggie Hildred, Imagn Images
The Orioles have a 4th of July sale going on this weekend; if you buy a set of Ryan’s or Ramon’s, you get he other set 1/2 off!!
Buy one, get one! Nobody in the business has as many sets and pairs to ply! Buy an O’Hearn and Mountcastle, get an Urias and Laureano for half! Buy an Urias and Laureano, get an O’Hearn and Mountcastle for half!
They got former Gold Glovers, ROY Runner-up’s, and All Stars down at the Camden Yards 4th of July sale! No matter if you like your leather flashy, or batters splashy, Camden Yards is your place!
Ask for Mike. All sales final(ly)!
(Offer excludes tire rotations, and is valid at participating Front Offices only. Limited to teams that have the ‘spects to spend. Offer availability limited to non-Yankee teams.)
I hope he gets something nice in return for those relievers and Hearndog
I think of the Bob Bell parody commercials when I think of the July sale. I could come up with a good transcript but that will result in no more posts lol.