The Orioles have signed right-hander Jose Espada to a minor league contract, per a report from Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball.
Espada, 28, was a fifth-round pick by the Blue Jays back in 2015. He worked his way through Toronto’s minor league system until he was plucked from the organization by the Red Sox in the minor league phase of the Rule 5 Draft prior to the 2021 season. He pitched well for Boston’s High-A affiliate but departed for minor league free agency after the season, at which point he signed with the Milwaukee Milkmen of the independent American Association. Espada pitched to a 3.61 ERA in eight starts for the Milkmen before he was scooped up by the Padres partway through the 2022 season.
The right-hander excelled at High-A in San Diego and went on to debut at Double-A the following year. After 64 innings of 2.81 ERA ball at the level, Espada was promoted to Triple-A. He continued to pitch well for the club’s affiliate in El Paso even despite the difficult offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, and was rewarded with his big league debut when he threw a scoreless inning for the club in late September. He departed affiliated ball for a second time over the offseason, this time signing with Nippon Professional Baseball’s Yakult Swallows in Japan. He posted a 5.00 ERA in 27 innings of work for the Swallows last year and returned stateside in 2025 on fresh minor league pact with the Padres.
In the months since then, Espada has posted a 3.38 ERA in 37 1/3 innings of work across 29 appearances split between the Double- and Triple-A levels. Espada was released by the Padres organization last week, however, and now has signed on with a new club in Baltimore. He struck out 37.1% of his opponents with San Diego’s affiliates this year, but walked 12.2%. He’ll now get the opportunity to serve as non-roster depth in the Orioles system and attempt to prove himself worthy of another opportunity in the big leagues, which could be easier to come by in Baltimore if the Orioles continue selling bullpen pieces after already parting ways with Bryan Baker and Gregory Soto.
Is there a team called the Butter Churners where the Orioles can find “talent”? 😂
They dipped into the Atlantic League a few times years ago for guys like Mark Hendrickson, and even David Robertson came back to MLB from a stint there, so clever team names are nothing to be ashamed of.
We are really stretching the outer limits of “talent” linking the word with Mark Hendrickson. Tall, slop-ball pitcher with nearly 5 ERA. One of the guys they’d sell as “veteran innings-eater” and commenters on here would say was the underrated diamond in the rough find, how dare you criticize Elias, you don’t know baseball he will be a middle of the rotation guy the next 5 years.
Except that acquisition was the fault of Dan Duquette, not M.E.
Don’t discount Mark’s years as an NBA power forward. He did as well as could be expected for the 63 win 2009 Birds, whose best starter was Brad Bergeson.
Yes Phillio, and I was shocked it wasn’t from the Cubs at the time since that was our only partner for a while (Trachsel, Pie, Patterson, Gregg, etc.)
The spin was the same stuff we hear today though.
“Lurch” Hendrickson!🤣
Another inconsequential move instead of making impact trades. Just like the offseason
What “impact trade” would you like to see done at this point in the season? They’re going to move guys with expiring contracts and probably aren’t going to get anything significant in return for a bunch of rentals.
You must be unaware….the Os haven’t won the whole thing since 1983. We’re fed up with making moves for the sake of making moves. New owner said “no constraints on spending”. They spent on 2 old pitchers and an often-injured powerlifter. So far no sense of urgency from Elias. The young guys will get frustrated and leave in FA
whine, whine, whine, @gr8
You must love being a loser. I like winning winning winning
Relax, it’s only for depth this year after they trade off more of the pen. If they guy can be coached up to 4A, good for him.
Exactly. People think they should be able to get a five star prospect for O’Hearn and Mullins.
No one said that. Trade guys who are going to walk end of season. Watch Elias flub this up. Impact means having the balls to make a fair trade, and understating the “temp” of the players and fans. Gunnar and westburg aren’t gonna sign long term if Elias keeps relaying on his computer print-outs to run the team.
They signed the Astros manager. Good for them.
Elias has taken dumpster diving to new depths!