The Orioles announced that they have claimed outfielder Daniel Johnson off waivers from the Giants. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. The O’s also selected the contract of right-hander José Espada and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Their 40-man roster was at 39, meaning they needed to open one spot. They did so by designating righty Houston Roth for assignment.
The O’s clearly like Johnson. They signed him to a minor league deal ahead of the 2024 season. He was called up in September of last year but only got into one game before being optioned back down to the minors. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of the season and elected free agency. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants this year and got selected to the big league roster in June. He was designated for assignment a few days ago and the O’s have taken the opportunity to bring him back.
Johnson’s major league track record is still fairly limited. He has 126 plate appearances dating back to his 2020 debut with a .193/.238/.336 slash. The O’s are presumably more interested in his minor league track record. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has 1,236 minor league plate appearances with a combined .267/.333/.469 line and 107 wRC+. He also has 54 stolen bases in that time, though has been caught stealing 19 times in the process.
Ahead of the deadline, the O’s subtracted from their outfield by trading Cedric Mullins, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn. Since then, they lost Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill to the injured list. That leaves them with a current outfield mix of Jeremiah Jackson, Dylan Carlson, Greg Allen, Jordyn Adams and Ryan Noda. Johnson could jump right into that group, though he’s also optionable for the rest of the year and could end up with Triple-A Norfolk.
As for Espada, he signed a minor league deal with the O’s a couple of weeks back. The fact that he has been added to the 40-man roster but optioned to the minors suggests that there was some kind of opt-out or upward mobility clause in the deal. The O’s seemingly don’t have an immediate big league roster spot for him but also didn’t want him to get away, so they’ve added him to the 40-man.
Since joining the O’s, he has tossed six Triple-A innings, allowing four earned runs via four hits and two walks while striking out eight. He has just one inning of big league experience, which came with the 2023 Padres. In the minors, he has generally been able to miss bats but also miss the strike zone. He was with the Padres on a minor league deal until being released recently, when he signed with the O’s. Between the two organizations, he has thrown 43 1/3 innings on the farm this year with a 3.74 earned run average, 37.1% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.
In addition to their aforementioned outfielders, the Orioles also traded away a number of relievers at the deadline. Bryan Baker, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez and Andrew Kittredge were all sent out the door in July, opening up bullpen opportunities. Espada isn’t getting called up today but his roster spot puts him in good position to get called up later.
As for Roth, he was just selected to the roster a couple of weeks ago, in the wake of the Domínguez trade. He was optioned down to the minors a few days later before appearing in a game, so he’s still looking to make his major league debut.
With the trade deadline having passed, he is destined for the waiver wire in the coming days. Somewhat similar to Espada, his minor league work features strikeouts and walks in big numbers. Primarily a starter earlier in his career, he has worked exclusively as a reliever since the start of 2024. In that time, he has thrown 92 innings on the farm with a 2.93 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.
He still has a full slate of options and almost no service time. If any other club is interested enough in his minor league work to put in a claim, he could be a cheap depth arm for the foreseeable future.
Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images
Don’t we already have Daniel Johnson in Gary Allen?
He has options. And frankly neither Johnson or Allen are going to be in Baltimore next year ( maybe not even next week). Beavers will be up soon so he’s your RF. Cowser when he comes off concussion protocol is your LF. But who knows when that will be. O’Neil still has a few body parts he hasn’t injured yet. So basically the Orioles are just patching together an OF to limp down the stretch. At this point the only OF’s who will be in Sarasota ( barring a trade) are Cowser, Beavers, and because he makes 16.5 million O’Neil.
I don’t think we’ll see Beavers or Basallo this year. O’Neill is done for the season. I know that isn’t official, but the dude was done after the first month of the season. He’s got no motivation to play this year, or next.
Basallo only plays C (supposedly not that well) 1B/DH. Given that Adley is back at C, that leaves 1B, which is where Mayo is playing and Mountcastle. O’Neill, Mayo, and Mountcastle all play DH.
Beavers doesn’t qualify for the PPI because he’s not listed on two publication’s top 100 prospects. So the O’s would have to hope he gets a better rating between the time they would likely promote him and next year in order to qualify for the promotion. Basallo would, but, there’s already people playing the positions he’d play. Are you going to bench Mayo again, or Mountcastle while trying to build up his value?
Beavers was just put on Baseball America’s top one hundred, debuting at #83. Read it again, but this time use Casey Kasem’s voice!
So how many top 100’s does that make?
And how many does he need to be on?
Need to be on 2 of 3. He’s on 2
He’s on one.
There’s no building Mounty’s value. He’s a nontender or a no return trade.
He’s got the rest of this season and next. He’ll still be relatively cheap in arbitration because his numbers will be down overall due to missed time.
There’s a little Daniel Johnson in all of us.
Capt Tuttle is a free agent.
What a wonderful and obscure reference 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
I prefer Captain Spaulding.
LW III
He’s shown flashes of talent. Great speed. Wish him well.
I saw Johnson play when he was with Columbus a few seasons ago, and thought the same thing. I was hopeful he could make a positive impact on the Guardians, but unfortunately, he didn’t. Coincidentally, I was just wondering about him last week, as I attended another game in Columbus. Hope Johnson can finally find success in the majors.
Oh my Lord, more garbage collecting. Get some real talent, not garbage for Chrissakes!
ch
It’s August. Where do you expect the team to get “real talent”?
Daniel Johnson can at least play some type of professional baseball. The only talent you have, cooperhill, is spewing garbage negative comments on MLBTR. Perhaps you should get some real talent yourself, my friend.
A true roster spot will find you in the end.
O’s dominating the waiver wire!
I’m sure all these successful moves will encourage Gunnar, Adley, Westburg, and Holliday to sign the long-term extensions that Elias will never offer.
man he is going to look weird in the orange and black
Why are the Orioles embarrassing themselves? Stop signing these crappy guys. Just bring up one or two of the young outfielders in a few days
They gotta have someone to patrol the outfield until that happens.
Love how you’re calling the major leaguer a crappy guy. What have you contributed to the world?
I make life-saving drugs for a living.
I manage about $450m of client capital. How about you?
I can call major league “entertainers” crap if that’s what they are.
gr81t2, lol ok sounds like you might manage a bunch of cLiEnT CaPiTaL but what does that when mean? Are you a janitor at a major hospital? Without context, that doesn’t mean anything.
Also, why are you here if these “entertainers” are so crappy? In your opinion they are crappy but are still the top 3% in their industry…
Ok. Enjoy your video games in mommy’s basement
Yeah, because his personal life matters when criticizing ball players
SF6sparky, it doesn’t matter at all…I was simply curious as to what he has contributed to life. Appreciate the input but wasn’t needed. Thanks
Gunning for that better draft position next year.
Someone tell the Orioles loading up on really fast guys who can’t hit doesn’t help them. As far as I am aware there are also no rewards for leading the league in dumpster dives to fill the time before service time manipulation allows Beavers and Basallo to be promoted.
Farhan? Is that you??
My god, call up Beavers to play outfield, and is Kjerstaad dead? Year from hell lol
Kjerstad, who still didn’t hit after being sent to AAA, has been shut down due to “fatigue.”
Yeah, I am concerned for his well-being. I hope it isn’t another cardiac issue.
Orioles loading up on Johnsons/Jacksons.
They got Crockett, now go get Tubbs
Don’t strike out, I know you will. True glove will find you in the end.