The Orioles announced that right-hander Tyler Wells and infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo have been reinstated from the 60-day injured list. Catcher Maverick Handley has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk in one corresponding active roster move. Right-hander Corbin Martin has been designated for assignment to open a second active roster spot and one 40-man spot. Righty Elvin Rodríguez, who was on optional assignment, has also been designated for assignment as the other corresponding 40-man move. The Wells activation was reported last week.
Mateo has been out since June due to a hamstring injury. The speedy utilityman hit just .180/231/.279 with a homer and 14 steals in 65 plate appearances prior to going on the injured list. The 30-year-old has never provided much in the way of offense, but even by his modest standards, that was well shy of the norm. In 1300 plate appearances from 2021-24, Mateo slashed .225/.271/.371 (79 wRC+) with 29 homers and 90 stolen bases. Mateo has long provided quality glovework at shortstop, though, and he can capably handle second, third or center field — all while providing elite speed on the bases.
This is the final guaranteed season the Orioles have with Mateo, though they can retain him via a club option for next season. They’d need to bring him back at a $5.5MM price point, however, which feels steep given the season he’s had and his prior lack of offensive production. There’s no buyout on the option, making it all the more likely that the O’s will turn it down, though there’s always a chance they’d try to bring him back at a lower rate.
Martin, 29, has been on and off Baltimore’s roster a few times this year. Around the transactions, he has tossed 18 innings, allowing 12 earned runs for an ERA of 6.00. He likely deserved better. His 10.1% walk rate was high but his 25.8% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate were solid figures. A .353 batting average on balls in play and 65.7% strand rate seemingly pushed some extra runs across. His 3.57 SIERA pointed to better run prevention going forward.
Regardless, the O’s have decided to move on again. Martin doesn’t have options and therefore can’t be easily sent back to the minors. With the trade deadline having passed, he’s destined for the waiver wire. If some club claims him, he can be controlled for four seasons after this one. He cleared waivers back in July, so it’s possible he’ll do so again. Last time he cleared, he exercised his right to elect free agency, which is another thing that could happen again in the coming days.
Rodríguez, 27, signed with the Brewers in January on the heels of some good results in Japan. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to have success in North America this year. The Brewers designated him for assignment in July, at which point the Orioles claimed him.
Between those two clubs, he has a 9.15 ERA in 19 2/3 major league innings. He has also tossed 40 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.46 ERA, 18.3% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate. Though the results haven’t been great, he does still have options, so perhaps he will appeal to a club looking for some extra depth in the minors.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
Elvin has allowed 21 HR in 52.2 MLB IP. Yikes!
That can’t be right.
OMG and 65 in 161 LT! Crazy!
Elvin’s baseballs have left the building.
Funny…
so if they dfa them then they are not eligible to play in the post season … correct… ? makes you wonder why teams wait to dfa people after the cutoff .. why not do it before
The question one should ask is would another team pick either of these low tier arms up if they’re in the race? And as a followup, would they actually include either on the postseason roster given how lackluster they’ve done?
Rookies called up after Sept. 1st don’t count towards the rookie eligibility threshold of days spent, at-bats, and innings pitched on the MLB roster. So if a kid who has a hot S.T. makes the team, and then flops in April and gets sent down, they can call him up again in Sept. He’ll remain rookie eligible next season.
These guys were always going to be DFA’d but are roster-fillers until 9/1.
ELVIN has left the building !!
I don’t get it
Substituted Elvin for ELVIS,
OHHHH NOW I GET IT THANKS JACKSSON!!!
He and his wife can go open that outdoors store in Manhattan now.
No reason Mateo should continue to have a spot on this team. Jeremiah Jackson has very obviously earned his spot to finish the season and likely to be the utility guy next season.
The Orioles should not be paying 5 million dollars next season for a guy who has no spot on the team anymore. If he takes any at bats away from a younger guy it runs counter to what the teams stated objective is for the remainder of the season. It’s these types of moves that I think are maddening for the fans who are actually paying attention.
Jackson has been starting in the outfield. I think Mateo would only be taking utility ABS away from Emmanuel Rivera or Luis Vasquez. They’re all garbage so I don’t care much.
Jackson has been playing all around, he was playing 3B a couple days ago – and he is a legitimate defender. Mateo is horrible in the outfield and didn’t really show much improvement after working out in the outfield. Jackson has shown that he is much better offensively with the bat as well. The only thing Mateo seems to have the edge on Jackson is his speed.
Rivera is another guy I don’t understand the point to having around either. He and Mateo really are odd men out.
We have to have another utility infielder if Jackson is playing RF though. I agree that none of them have a future and there’s no point to have multiple. Either Mateo or Rivera should be off the roster. I think Rivera is less useful because he’s really a 1B/3B. We have plenty of guys to cover those slots. At least Mateo is a middle infielder.
Jackson hasn’t made a start at SS either. I don’t think Vasquez is a real major leaguer. I wouldn’t be shocked if Mateo or another utility infielder is signed this offseason. (As much as we don’t want to hear that)
We dont have one ready in the upper minors. A guy like Brandon Butterworth or Griff O’ferrall is probably a long term answer but they haven’t made it to Norfolk yet.
Jackson can play middle infield as well. He’s logged about equal amounts of time at SS and 2B – about 30 games each. That’s why I mentioned he is defensively more versatile and valuable than Mateo. I still can’t get some of those ugly routes he took to some balls and gaffes he made out there. He is someone who probably needs to play one of the middle infield spots consistently in order to get the most value, unfortunately consistent playing time is something he is never going to get in Baltimore anymore. He could probably be serviceable in left with a lot of work out there in the offseason and spring but it is better off for all parties that he does that with another club who can get him more playing time. His speed is for sure a difference maker but I doubt he wants to just be utilized as a pinch runner for his career.
I would make a serious run at Alonso this winter because he is pretty much guaranteed to opt out. I thought they should have made a big push for him last winter, especially at the price the Mets paid. His power is exactly the type of RH bat this team needs in the lineup, not O’Neill. Package any of or all of Mountcastle (sign and trade or else non tendered possibility) Mayo and Heston (plus prospects if needed) to get a controlled starting pitcher (what will Miami want for E. Perez, do it!) PLUS make an offer to one of the frontline starters available in FA (Cease, King, Woodruff (if he gets to FA with the options he has), Suarez, Framber, etc. I wouldn’t mind bringing Eflin back on a one year incentive laden contract, or Sugano. I like German Marquez as someone who could probably do well with our pitching development guys. If they learn anything from this season it’s that you can never have too much pitching, especially starting options. Someone will get injured and anything you get from Greyson should be considered a bonus until he proves he can stay healthy. Taking the above, you’d have a potential rotation of: Cease, Rogers, Bradish, Perez, Kremer and I would put Wells at the back end of the bullpen, same with Greyson, if he’s available. The rest of the pen is on the roster already or maybe another acquisition if needed from FA. Your lineup is something like:
C – Adley, Basallo
1B – Alonso
2B – Holliday
SS – Gunnar
3B – Westburg
LF – O’Neill
CF – Cowser
RF – Beavers
DH – rotating dependent upon rest days and opposing starters
Obviously those aren’t all given moves and your bench will have a couple spots open after J. Jackson but that is a team that would win a ton of games and has the pitching to make a deep run in the postseason. Just my opinion on what direction to go this offseason.
You think the rest of the bullpen is on the roster?
Dietrich Enns, Rico Garcia, and Grant Wolfram?!
It’d be absolutely criminal for the O’s to not add multiple relievers. Including one who has legitimate closer stuff. Wells was solid as reliever but I don’t understand the groupthink that I’ve seen penciling him in as a closer at this point.
Kjerstad and Mountcastle have about 0 trade value today. Mayo’s is way down too. O’Neill is probably the RF because his arm is much better than Beavers. Probably doesn’t matter because he’ll only play half a season if you’re lucky. Another outfielder should be added to the roster. (Laureano really fit well)
O’Neill does not have a better arm than Beavers, which is specifically why I pencil him in at RF.
Yes, they will need to get some bullpen arms, I specifically mentioned potentially adding an arm/acquisition. Wells has better potential in the pen, specifically the back end, in my opinion. I also wouldn’t be against putting Greyson in the pen if he continues to struggle with staying healthy in the rotation but I wouldn’t count on him being an impact starter until he proves he can do it over the long term and remain healthy. They absolutely cannot afford to make that assumption.
Mountcastle is likely a non tender if they can’t figure out another plan to get value back. Heston and Mayo have some value, I think perhaps Mayo more so based on everything I’ve read. He’s not even hitting .200 and still seems overmatched at the plate. No, they will not get you anything of significant value back individually, but in a package with other prospects that any given team has interest in should return something of value to add to the current run, not the future.
I wanted to see them keep both Laureano and Kittredge because of their affordable options, specifically Laureano, but I’m not mad at the returns.
The team will need additions, but nothing that is beyond their means. The time to be aggressive is now, the seasons of control with Gunnar and Holliday are dwindling, especially if you plan on trading them if they don’t sign extensions, which they likely won’t do. This team is built to win and with the right additions they should do just that.
jbigz12 – would it be of better service to Mateo to release him now, allowing him to catch on somewhere down the stretch for very little money to audition with more PT somewhere he may end up playing next year? Its not like keeping him around will help the Orioles win all their remaining games and make the WC.
I’m indifferent to whether he’s on the team or not right now. What’s clear is that we don’t have a middle infielder in our system who can be recalled to play now. Rivera and Vasquez also suck.
He could be released now or he can sit on the bench.
The Orioles love fringe major leaguers like him.
ba$eballF@n21- 100%. Well said.
Given backlash I’ve gotten, I thought I was the only one who saw Mateo had 6 errors in that extremely limited time this season and was leading the league in errors at one point, with 3 or those at SS in just 68 innings? Doesn’t sound like “quality glovework” to me and I wonder if Ramon Urias has a lot to do with Mateo’s 2022 fielding. Good picks at 1B saved another couple of throwing errors too.
Did everyone forget that the team lost Mateo’s first TWELVE starts? All the killed rallies? That he’s hitting .180?
He even got a write up in Rotowire like he was supremely underrated! The subject was an incident in the OF when he misplayed a ball and hurt himself running into the wall (and not making the catch). What hustle! He also almost took out Kjerstad doing something similar early in the year. Meanwhile, no articles such as “Mateo’s speed wins game for Orioles” anywhere.
Speed does no good when you can’t get on 1st. $5.5M is a huge sum for a pinch runner, when you’ve got Rivera hitting again and much cheaper, Vazquez as an option, Let alone Jeremiah Jackson who can play IF but has been in the OF. Mateo hasn’t played in 3 months and is still 3rd on the team in errors with the only two ahead having played over 1000 innings compared to his 168.
Any AB given to Mateo is one less chance to look at someone like Jackson for 2026, as you said, or others who should be a part of future considerations.
Can’t build a championship team by giving away 11 games in April and May starting Morton and Gibson “building the rotation from the bottom up”. Can’t do it keeping guys like Mateo around for $5.5M taking a roster spot from a productive player hoping he suddenly learns to hit at 31 next year.
Thornton, im right there with you on the subject. It just doesn’t make sense for him to be on the roster in either case, regardless of if you are trying to win or if you are using the remainder of the season to sort some things out for the young guys heading into the offseason.
I don’t want to see Sugano on this roster again either. If that’s what $13MM gets you—just throw Povich out there. There’s at least some upside with that play.
Bradish and Rogers penciled in at the top. Then I hope we get an impact starter (Michael King?) plus a Dustin May or Zach Eflin gamble on the upside to add to the mix.
Depth looks fine with Wells, Kremer, G-Rod, and Povich behind that. Any of those names besides Kremer could be relievers for various reasons. A healthy G-Rod would be a game changer.
Multiple high leverage relievers need to be added as well. There’s no way around that. You can’t subtract Dominguez, Soto, Baker, and Bautista and expect that to be filled with waiver wire claims. Hopefully we find a couple gems but that’ can’t be the strategy for the pen.
Jeremiah Jackson isn’t a major league
SS either. 9 errors at SS in 224 AAA innings.
There’s a reason he hasn’t gotten an MLB rep there.