Weston Wilson Elects Free Agency
The Orioles announced that utility player Weston Wilson elected free agency. Baltimore designated him for assignment last week when they selected catcher Sam Huff onto the MLB roster. Wilson cleared waivers and was outrighted for the second time in his career, which allowed him to test the market.
Wilson had spent the last two months on Baltimore’s MLB roster. He got some work at third base, mostly against left-handed pitching. Wilson tallied 46 plate appearances, hitting .231/.348/.333 with one home run. He worked six walks against 11 strikeouts. It was a decent enough showing for a bench player, but Baltimore needed to carry a third catcher with Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo nursing minor injuries.
The 31-year-old Wilson is out of options, so the O’s needed to send him through waivers. It stands to reason they’d like to bring him back on a minor league contract, though he’ll have the opportunity to explore other opportunities. Basallo and Rutschman have both returned to the lineup over the last two games, so the O’s theoretically could reverse the weekend transaction and sign Wilson to a big league deal.
Before this season, Wilson’s MLB experience came exclusively in Philadelphia. He played three years for the Phillies as an up-and-down platoon bat, hitting .242/.328/.428 across 245 trips to the plate. Wilson was mostly a corner outfielder with the Phils despite Baltimore using him most frequently on the dirt.
Orioles Release Tommy Pham
JUNE 12: The Orioles have granted Pham his release, per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun.
JUNE 11: Veteran outfielder Tommy Pham will exercise an opt-out clause in his minor league deal with the Orioles tomorrow, reports Josh Tolentino of The Baltimore Sun. He’ll return to free agency if the Orioles don’t add him to the MLB roster.
Pham signed with the O’s midway through May. He took a few days to build up before reporting to Triple-A Norfolk. Pham struggled in 14 games for the Tides, batting .196/.281/.375 with 20 strikeouts in 64 plate appearances. He picked things up from a power perspective recently, connecting on three homers in his final eight games.
The 38-year-old Pham had a brief big league stint with the Mets earlier in the year. He went 0-13 with a walk and seven strikeouts while starting four of nine appearances. Pham spent the entire ’25 season in the Majors with the Pirates. He took 449 trips to the dish and had a slightly below-average .245/.330/.370 slash line. He connected on 10 homers, 17 doubles and one triple with a solid strikeout and walk profile.
Baltimore has a starting outfield of Taylor Ward, Colton Cowser and Leody Taveras. The latter was signed as a fourth or fifth outfielder but has put together a decent season, batting .258/.345/.365 in 209 plate appearances. He has handily outplayed Tyler O’Neill, who has hit .155 with one home run since returning from a concussion in mid-April. O’Neill has started to lose playing time as a result, dropping into a part-time corner outfield/designated hitter role.
The O’s have been without Dylan Beavers for the past month due to a low-grade right oblique strain. He’d likely push Taveras back into a fourth outfield role once he’s healthy. The O’s could make room on the bench for Pham by optioning Jeremiah Jackson, but they could see that as a redundant fit with O’Neill already on the roster. If they grant him his release, he’ll search for another team looking for right-handed outfield depth.
Orioles Sign Chadwick Tromp To Minor League Deal
The Orioles have signed catcher Chadwick Tromp to a minor league deal, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He elected free agency earlier this week after being designated for assignment by Atlanta.
Tromp, 31, has seen scattered big league playing time over seven seasons. He has stepped to the plate 205 times in 79 games. That includes six games with Baltimore last year. On the whole, he has a .218/.225/.371 line in his career. He has generally received solid grades for his glovework but the light offense has kept him in a depth role. He has exhausted his options over the years, which has led to him bouncing on and off rosters, mostly as an injury replacement.
The Orioles currently have a bit of uncertainty in their catching mix. Adley Rutschman has a left hamstring issue while Samuel Basallo is dealing with a left wrist ailment. Sam Huff was added to the roster recently and has started the three most recent games, including tonight. Rutschman hasn’t appeared in a game since Sunday, when he served as the designated hitter. Basallo hasn’t started since Sunday, though he has made pinch-hit appearances in the past two games.
Tromp will give the O’s some non-roster depth while they navigate those injuries. If Rutschman or Basallo ultimately need a stint on the injured list, or both, Tromp could be added to the roster. If both manage to get healthy in the coming days, Huff is out of options and could end up designated for assignment. Huff was designated for assignment earlier this year and cleared waivers, which allowed the O’s to re-sign him to a new minor league deal after he elected free agency. But there is no guarantee that the same thing would happen again, so there’s sense in having Tromp around as a contingency for various scenarios.
Photo courtesy of Rafael Suanes, Imagn Images
Orioles Place Chris Bassitt On Injured List
The Orioles announced that right-hander Chris Bassitt has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 5th, due to low back discomfort. Fellow righty Trey Gibson has been recalled in his place and will start tonight’s game.
The O’s signed Bassitt to a one-year, $18.5MM deal in the offseason. They haven’t received much return on that investment yet. Bassitt has made 12 appearances for the club so far this year, posting a 5.27 earned run average in 56 1/3 innings. His ground ball and walk rates are fairly similar to last year but his strikeout rate has almost been cut in half. He punched out 22.6% of batters faced for the Blue Jays in 2025 but is only sitting down 14.2% of opponents for the orange birds.
It’s possible the back issue has been a lingering problem. Low back inflammation sent him to the IL in September of last year. He missed the ALDS but was back on the mound in a relief role for the ALCS and World Series. Lower back tightness caused him to depart his most recent start for the Orioles after just three innings.
Though Bassitt has been struggling, it’s less than ideal for Baltimore’s rotation to be thinned out even further. Zach Eflin required Tommy John surgery in April, knocking him out for the rest of the year. A strained quad put Dean Kremer on the IL in mid-April and he still hasn’t begun a rehab assignment almost two months later. Even if he ramps up soon, he’ll need some time to get back into game shape. Cade Povich hit the IL last month due to elbow inflammation and has an uncertain timeline.
Thus far, there’s nothing to indicate Bassitt will require a lengthy absence but the O’s will have to proceed for a few weeks with four starters on the IL. That leaves them with Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, Trevor Rogers and Brandon Young in four spots.
As mentioned, Gibson is coming up to start tonight’s game. It’s unclear if this will be a spot start or if he’ll stick around. Gibson has already made three appearances for the O’s this year with a 3.65 ERA but subpar peripherals in that small sample. In his 38 Triple-A innings, he has a 3.55 ERA, an average-ish 22.4% strikeout rate and strong 51.4% ground ball rate but a poor walk rate of 11.2%.
If the O’s send Gibson back down after tonight’s game, they could have an extra reliever for a few days but would eventually need to find a cover for Bassitt’s spot. Albert Suárez is in the big league bullpen in a long relief role and could provide some bulk. Cameron Weston is on the 40-man but was optioned on May 29th. He can’t be recalled until 15 days have elapsed from that move unless directly replacing someone going on the IL. Perhaps a non-roster option like Nestor German or Trace Bright could get some consideration, or maybe the O’s will look to an external option, but sticking with Gibson is also a possibility.
Photo courtesy of David Butler II, Imagn Images
Cubs Claim Eduarniel Núñez
The Cubs have claimed right-hander Eduarniel Núñez off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. Jesse Rogers of ESPN reported the claim prior to the official announcement. The Cubs optioned Núñez to the Arizona Complex League and don’t need to make a corresponding active roster move. Their 40-man roster had two vacancies due to reliever Ty Blach and infielder Nicky Lopez being designated for assignment last month, so Núñez can fill one of those spots.
Núñez, now 27, is a known commodity to the Cubs. They signed him as an international amateur almost a decade ago. By the end of the 2024 season, he didn’t have a roster spot and became a minor league free agent. He signed a minor league deal with the Padres and got added to that club’s roster in the summer of 2025. He was sent to the Athletics in the Mason Miller trade but was designated for assignment in May of this year. He went to the O’s in a cash deal but Baltimore designated him for assignment a few weeks later, which has allowed his original club to scoop him back up.
The righty has shown some strikeout potential but with a lot of room for improvement in terms of control. His four-seamer averages in the upper-90s and he also throws a mid-80s slider and curveball. Dating back to the start of 2023, he has thrown 171 innings on the farm with a 3.42 earned run average. He struck out 29.4% of the batters he faced in that time but while also giving out walks at a massive 15.4% pace. He also made ten appearances in the big leagues for the A’s last year and walked 18.3% of opponents.
With the Cubs sending Núñez to their Arizona complex, they presumably have some plan in mind to get him on track, perhaps with some kind of mechanical adjustment. He can remain on optional assignment for the rest of this year and one additional season, so the Cubs could be patient with him. They don’t have short-term pressure on the 40-man as they still have a vacancy after this move. Though whether he can hold his roster spot in the long term will depend on what the team sees in the coming weeks as they get a close-up look at him
Photo courtesy of Dennis Lee, Imagn Images
Orioles Designate Weston Wilson, Select Sam Huff
The Orioles announced that utilityman Weston Wilson has been designated for assignment. Taking Wilson’s place on both the 26-man and 40-man rosters is catcher Sam Huff, whose contract was selected from Triple-A Norfolk.
Huff’s arrival is related to the availability of Samuel Basallo, who made an early exit from Friday’s game due to what the team described as abdominal discomfort. The injury hasn’t yet been seemed serious enough to warrant a trip to the injured list, but even if Basallo is fine after a day or two of rest and recovery, the Orioles now have Huff on hand as a backup catcher behind Adley Rutschman.
Baltimore signed Huff to a minor league contract during the offseason, and his deal was previously selected to the active roster in April when Rutschman was on the 10-day IL. Huff appeared in three games for the O’s during his week on the 26-man roster before he was DFA’ed, and after Huff chose free agency over an outright assignment, he quickly re-signed with the Orioles on a fresh minors contract.
Should Basallo’s abdominal issue prove to be a short-term concern, it is very possible Huff will face another DFA within the next few days. Wilson is also no stranger to the DFA cycle, as he was designated and then outrighted off Baltimore’s 40-man roster last February, just a couple of weeks after the Orioles claimed him from the Phillies’ waiver wire. This past outright means that Wilson also has the ability to elect free agency over an outright assignment, assuming he clears waivers this time around.
Wilson’s contract was selected to the active roster on April 13, but he has seen only sporadic action in a backup role. Wilson has hit .231/.348/.333 in 46 plate appearances over 19 games, playing mostly at third base with one game in the outfield and three mop-up outings as a pitcher.
Now a veteran of the last four MLB seasons, Wilson has a .240/.331/.413 slash line over 291 career PA with the Orioles and Phillies. Wilson also has a good deal of experience at first and second base plus some work at the other two outfield positions, so he offers some versatility to any team looking to add bench depth on a waiver add.
Orioles Acquire Kyle Nicolas
Right-hander Kyle Nicolas has been traded from the Reds to the Orioles, per announcements from both clubs. The Reds, who designated him for assignment a few days ago, receive cash considerations in return. Baltimore has optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. To open a 40-man roster spot, right-hander Eduarniel Núñez has been designated for assignment.
It’s the second trade for Nicolas this year. Back in March, the Pirates traded him to the Reds in exchange for infielder/outfielder Tyler Callihan. The trade hasn’t worked out for either side thus far. Callihan has spent most of this year in Triple-A and has put up a .223/.305/.346 line at that level.
Nicholas has also been primarily in the minors this year. He logged 7 1/3 major league innings for the Reds but with seven earned runs allowed. His 15 2/3 Triple-A innings have resulted in an uninspiring 5.17 earned run average. His 24.4% strikeout rate at that level was decent but he gave out walks at a massive 20.7% pace.
The Orioles are presumably looking past his rough 2026 numbers. In the past, his stats have been more intriguing, though still with notable control issues. A former starting pitching prospect, he has been a primary reliever in recent years. Over the 2024 and 2025 seasons, he threw 46 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 3.11 ERA. His 14.1% walk rate was way too high but he struck out 30.7% of opponents. He also threw 92 2/3 big league innings over that two-year span with a 4.27 ERA, 21.7% strikeout rate and 12% walk rate.
Nicolas is in his final option season but the O’s can keep him in the minors for now. If they can help him rein in his stuff, perhaps they can get him back on track. It’s also possible that he ends up losing his roster spot. The Orioles are one of the most aggressive clubs when it comes to cycling players through the edge of their roster. Since the season has started, they have acquired Jayvien Sandridge, Lou Trivino, Christian Roa and Núñez in small trades, free agent signings or waiver claims. Each guy was then designated for assignment not long after.
In most of those cases, the goal is to get the player through waivers and be kept as depth without using a roster spot. If Nicolas is eventually passed through waivers in the future, he would not have the right to elect free agency since he does not have a previous career outright nor three years of service time.
Turning to Núñez, he provides a template for what might be ahead for Nicolas. Núñez was designated for assignment by the Athletics in mid-May. The O’s sent out cash considerations to get him, sent him to Norfolk and have now bumped him off the roster three weeks later.
His big league track record is still quite limited. He made ten appearances for the A’s last year and posted a 7.11 ERA in those. In the minors, he has shown some similar tendencies to Nicolas, with strikeout stuff but also poor control. From 2023 to 2025, he tossed 153 1/3 innings in the minors with a 2.99 ERA. He struck out 30.4% of batters but gave out free passes at a big 14.7% clip. The walks have gotten worse this year, with Núñez at 20.2% through 17 2/3 innings.
He now heads back into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the O’s could take as long as five days to explore trade interest, but they could also put Núñez on waivers sooner than that. If he were to pass through waivers unclaimed, he would stick around as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have three years of service nor a previous career outright and therefore wouldn’t have the right to elect free agency.
Photo courtesy of Sam Greene, Imagn Images
Orioles Outright Dietrich Enns
TODAY: Per Roch Kubatko, Enns has cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk.
May 26th: The Orioles announced that they have recalled left-hander Nick Raquet from Triple-A Norfolk, a move that was reported by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com earlier. In a corresponding move, the O’s designated fellow lefty Dietrich Enns for assignment.
Enns, now 35, had an intriguing comeback season in 2025. He had made his major league debut a few years prior but wound up pitching overseas from 2022 to 2024. He was back in North America last year and logged 46 1/3 innings between the Tigers and Orioles. He allowed 4.08 earned runs per nine. His 24.5% strikeout rate and 7.5% walk rate were both a bit better than average. He may have even had better results without a .338 batting average on balls in play, which is why his 3.54 SIERA was a bit lower than his ERA.
The O’s signed Enns for the 2026 season, a one-year deal with a $2.625MM guarantee and a club option for 2027. Here in 2026, a left foot infection put him on the IL for about a month, from early April to early May. Around that IL stint, he has given Baltimore 16 innings with a 3.94 ERA but with worse numbers under the hood. His 18.6% strikeout rate and 15.7% walk rate are both subpar figures. His BABIP and strand rate are now to the lucky side, so his 5.24 SIERA suggests he’s been worse than last year, even though he ERA is slightly better.
The Rays and Orioles went to 13 innings last night. Baltimore ultimately came out on top but it was a bit of a pyrrhic victory, as they had to use six relievers in the process. One of them was Enns, who was pitching for a second straight day. It’s likely that Baltimore’s decision to cut Enns came from a combination of the pitching staff being taxed, him being unavailable, and his uninspiring results this year. He is out of options and needed to be bumped off the 40-man entirely to open an active roster spot.
Enns now heads into DFA limbo, which can last as long as a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Orioles could take five days to explore trade interest. Given this year’s results and salary, they may not find much interest. If Enns were to clear waivers, he would likely stick around as non-roster depth. He has a previous career outright and would technically have the right to elect free agency in that scenario. But since he has less than five years of big league service time, he would have to walk away from the money he is still owed on his current deal.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Orioles Re-Sign Albert Suárez
3:20pm: The O’s have officially announced their singing of Suarez. To open a 40-man spot, righty Dean Kremer was transferred to the 60-day injured list. Kremer has been on the IL since April 20th due to a right quad strain and his 60-day count is retroactive to that date. He will therefore be eligible for reinstatement in about three weeks. He hasn’t yet begun a rehab assignment and is presumably not close to returning.
1:45pm: Right-hander Albert Suarez elected free agency yesterday after the Orioles passed him through waivers unclaimed, but he’s predictably lined up to rejoin the team in short order. Suárez is already back in the Orioles’ clubhouse, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, and the team is expected to finalize a new contract with him and option righty Cameron Weston to Triple-A Norfolk in a corresponding move. That suggests it’ll be a big league deal for Suárez, who’d be available out of the ‘pen for tonight’s game.
As was the case following his last DFA in Baltimore, Suárez near-immediately returns on a new contract. He’s out of minor league options, but both he and the Orioles seem content with an arrangement similar to the one between the Braves and Carlos Carrasco (profiled here earlier today). Effectively, Suárez is something of a 41st man on Baltimore’s 40-man roster. The team will probably continue to add him to the big league roster, DFA him, pass him through waivers, and re-sign him as needed. It’s feasible that another team would claim Suárez at some point, but the O’s could always bake in some friendly terms that make the right-hander likelier to clear.
The 36-year-old Suárez has a 2.75 ERA in 19 2/3 innings with the O’s this season but just a 12.3% strikeout rate and an ugly 11.1% walk rate. His run-prevention numbers have been buoyed by a .186 average on balls in play and 9.2% homer-to-flyball rate, both of which (particularly the former) are likely to regress.
This year’s so-so numbers notwithstanding, Suárez has been an important contributor in Baltimore since returning from a half decade pitching overseas (three years in Japan, two in South Korea). He’s piled up 165 innings in two-plus seasons as an Oriole, logging a 3.49 ERA, 18.6% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. Most of that work came in 2024; shoulder and elbow injuries combined to limit Suárez to 11 2/3 MLB frames last year. He’s already surpassed that mark in 2026 despite the multiple DFAs.
Since Suárez is out of options and amenable to the on-and-off-the-roster setup the Orioles appear to be using here, there’s a good chance he’ll once again be designated for assignment when the O’s need a fresh arm. The cycle will likely repeat itself at that point, with Suárez passing through waivers, returning on a new deal, and so on. It’s a more tumultuous path than most big leaguers traverse, but Suárez has already picked up 40 days of big league service and pay this season — players accrue service/salary while in DFA limbo — so it’s still a pretty lucrative one, especially for a 36-year-old with fewer than four years of service under his belt.
Orioles Activate, Option Heston Kjerstad
The Orioles announced Thursday that outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who’s been out all season due to a hamstring strain, has been reinstated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll fill the lone vacancy on Baltimore’s 40-man roster, which is now at capacity.
Formerly the No. 2 overall draft pick and one of the sport’s top prospects, the now-27-year-old Kjerstad still hasn’t experienced major league success. He’s appeared in parts of three big league seasons but compiled only a .218/.284/.365 slash in a total of 314 trips to the plate. The former Arkansas standout has fanned in 28% of his plate appearances in the majors and walked at only a 5.7% rate. Kjerstad makes a decent amount of hard contact but is far too prone to chasing off the plate and makes contact at a below-average rate when he expands the zone.
Though he’s struggled in limited major league looks, Kjerstad has a productive track record in Triple-A. He’s logged parts of four seasons at the top minor league level and delivered a hearty .274/.354/.482 slash with a 9.4% walk rate and 24% strikeout rate. He’s homered 29 times, collected 36 doubles and logged seven triples in 755 plate appearances at that level.
To this point, Kjerstad has never really gotten an extended look as an everyday outfielder. Health troubles have played a role in that but aren’t entirely at the root of the issue. He dealt with myocarditis early in his professional career and has twice been on the major league injured list due to concussions. Last year’s season ended with an unspecified medical issue; he reported severe fatigue to the Orioles, which prompted a wave of testing. The team never disclosed the results of that testing, but Kjerstad appears healthy enough for game action now.
Looking past those medical issues, however, Kjerstad’s calls to the majors have typically come to replace a more established outfielder who’s on the shelf with an injury. The O’s have also platooned him heavily despite pretty decent left-on-left numbers in the minors from 2022-24. The Orioles were rebuilding when Kjerstad was drafted in 2020, but much of his time on the cusp of the majors (and in the majors) has come when the O’s have been operating with more of a win-now focus. That’s led to veteran acquisitions of Tyler O’Neill, Taylor Ward, Ramon Laureano and others. Some have worked out better than others, but all have combined to cut into would-be opportunities for Kjerstad.
Assuming Kjerstad spends more than 20 days in the minors, today’s transaction will burn his final minor league option year. The O’s will presumably want to get him a real look later in the season, as he’ll head into 2027 without any minor league options, meaning he’d have to make the roster or else be designated for assignment. Young outfielders like Colton Cowser and Dylan Beavers haven’t really cemented themselves as fixtures in the Oriole outfield as the team had hoped, so there might still be some opportunity for Kjerstad to seize a spot if he’s called up later this year. If not, he’ll have to win a job heading into the ’27 season. Speculatively speaking, he could also emerge as a change of scenery candidate at this year’s deadline or in the offseason.