Orioles Outright Darwinzon Hernandez
The Orioles announced on Thursday that reliever Darwinzon Hernandez has cleared waivers. He’s been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk and will stick in the organization without occupying a 40-man roster spot. The O’s have extended him a non-roster invitation to big league Spring Training.
Hernandez, 26, changed organizations for the first time last month after being designated for assignment by the Red Sox. The southpaw had spent his entire career with Boston since signing out of Venezuela a decade ago. The O’s swung a minor trade with their division rivals, bringing in Hernandez for cash considerations. His stay on their 40-man lasted just a couple weeks, as Baltimore DFA him a week ago upon acquiring Cole Irvin from Oakland.
The pair of transactions allow the O’s to stash a hard-throwing lefty reliever as a non-roster player in the upper minors. Hernandez has pitched in each of the last four MLB seasons, flashing tantalizing stuff but too often struggling to throw strikes. He posted a 3.38 ERA through 40 innings as recently as 2021 but was lit up for 17 runs in just 6 2/3 frames last season.
Overall, Hernandez now carries a 5.06 ERA across 85 1/3 MLB innings. He has an excellent 32.3% strikeout rate and has gotten swinging strikes on a quality 12.5% of his overall offerings. His combination of a mid-90s fastball and a mid-80s breaking pitch that garnered plus or better grades from prospect evaluators is clearly capable of missing bats at the highest level. Yet no other pitcher with 50+ innings over the past four seasons has walked batters more often than Hernandez, who has dished out free passes at a 17.7% clip.
Assuming he doesn’t reestablish himself on the MLB roster during Spring Training, Hernandez will head to Norfolk to start the year. He owns 5.29 ERA with a 30.8% strikeout percentage but an 18.8% walk rate in parts of three seasons at the top minor league level. He still has one option year remaining, so the O’s could bounce him between Baltimore and Norfolk if he reclaims a 40-man spot at any point. Hernandez would reach minor league free agency at the end of the season if he’s not a part of the 40-man roster.
The Orioles have Keegan Akin and Cionel Pérez as their top left-handed relievers. Nick Vespi is also on the 40-man roster, although his specific timeline is unclear after recent sports hernia surgery. Hard-throwing pitching prospect DL Hall might be best suited for a bullpen role given his own strike-throwing concerns, while Drew Rom and Bruce Zimmermann are candidates for depth roles in either the rotation or long relief.
Read The Transcript Of Today’s Chat With Former MLB Pitcher Scott Feldman
Scott Feldman was drafted in 2002 in the 41st round by the Astros out of a junior college: College of San Mateo in California. He was a draft-and-follow and didn’t end up signing with the Astros. Because of the Astros’ claim on Feldman’s rights, he wasn’t scouted heavily after they drafted him. So in 2003, Feldman wound up being drafted by the Rangers in the 30th round “as a favor to my agent,” as he later put it. Shortly thereafter, his elbow started hurting, and he ended up needing Tommy John surgery.
That progression did not put Feldman on the radar of prospect gurus, and he worked out of the bullpen in the minor leagues. He cracked the Majors in late 2005 with a brief look out of the Rangers’ bullpen. Feldman spent the ’06 and ’07 seasons bouncing between Triple-A and long relief work in the bigs.
The Rangers decided to try Feldman as a starter in 2008, and he kept getting looks in the rotation as needs arose. Feldman made 25 starts that year, but still didn’t have a rotation spot locked up. By late April of ’09, however, he took over for an injured incumbent and didn’t look back. Feldman put up a 4.08 ERA in 31 starts that year, his 17 wins ranking fifth in MLB. Feldman’s breakout 2009 season, which included an 11-strikeout effort and six different scoreless outings, led to the Rangers’ Opening Day nod in 2010. He also landed a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth.
Feldman dealt with knee surgery and the recovery process in 2010 and ’11, and he moved in and out of the Rangers’ rotation. The Rangers declined their club option for 2013, and Feldman reached free agency for the first time. He found a rotation spot on a one-year deal with the rebuilding Cubs.
After a fine start to the 2013 season, the Cubs famously traded Feldman to the Orioles in the deal that brought back Jake Arrieta and Pedro Strop. Returning to free agency after that season, Feldman inked a three-year, $30MM deal to join another rebuilding club, the Astros. He garnered the club’s Opening Day start in 2014.
Feldman did solid work for the Astros outside of some injuries. In the final year of his contract, he was dealt to the Blue Jays at the trade deadline. He landed a one-year deal with the Reds for 2017 and snagged their Opening Day start — his third such honor with a third different club. Feldman underwent season-ending knee surgery in August of that year.
Scott tried to rehab his knee to play in 2018 or ’19, but as he puts it, “it wasn’t meant to be.” He notes, “In April of 2019 I decided I was done. I’ve reflected a lot on how lucky I was to get to play professional baseball from 2003-2017. All the great people I got to be around on a daily basis for 15 years. Teammates, coaches, clubhouse guys, front office, ownership.”
Feldman wound up having a very nice MLB career, especially for a guy who didn’t have those aspirations in high school. He won 78 games and made 204 starts, tallying nearly 1,400 innings. He got to pitch in the 2011 postseason for the Rangers, including five outings in the World Series against the Cardinals. Feldman provided a lot of value to teams by gobbling up innings, and he always displayed excellent control. Born in Kailua, Hawaii, Feldman was one of the game’s best pitchers to come out of that state.
As MLBTR’s Steve Adams noted in a free-agent profile of Feldman back in 2013, his father was an FBI agent and army veteran. Feldman discussed his close relationship with his father in a 2014 interview with MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart, shortly after his father passed away after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. As McTaggart noted, Feldman pitched just two days later and fired seven shutout innings.
For those wondering what Scott is up to now, he writes, “I’ve been staying busy with a couple real estate projects here and there, spending time with family, traveling, golfing, a little bit of coaching at my alma mater, taking some classes, hiring the right people to work with, re-establishing community in Northern California after being away for such a long time, trying to give back, and planning for what might be next.” Scott is involved with Stop Soldier Suicide, as well as a mental health and wellness company called Most Days.
We were thrilled to have Scott join us to chat with MLBTR readers about a variety of topics including his experience pitching in the World Series, navigating free agency three different times, being traded midseason and more. Click here to read the transcript!
Orioles To Decline Five-Year Lease Extension At Camden Yards, Seeking Longer-Term Agreement With Maryland Stadium Authority
The Orioles are passing on their opportunity to trigger a five-year extension of their lease at Camden Yards, reports Jeff Barker of the Baltimore Sun. According to Barker, the team is in search of “a longer-term, more comprehensive stadium agreement” with the Maryland Stadium Authority.
The Orioles’ lease at Camden Yards remains in effect through the end of the 2023 calendar year. The team faced a decision on whether to tack on additional five seasons to remain in their lease through 2028, a condition of a February 2021 extension agreement between the franchise and the MSA. Barker writes the club is optimistic about its chances of hammering out a longer deal, one which might include upgrades to the ballpark and potential development projects in the surrounding area.
That’s a hopeful indicator for fans in the area who might be apprehensive about the possibility of losing the franchise. Those worries won’t be officially quelled unless and until a new agreement is finalized, however. The sides now have 11 months to do so before the current agreement expires. Barker reports the organization is seeking a deal of 10-15 years in length and is hopeful to get something done by the All-Star Break. A recent Maryland law would allow the MSA to borrow up to $600MM for Orioles’ stadium upgrades (with a matching amount available for the NFL’s Ravens) but requires a longer-term deal than the five-year pact the O’s were deciding upon today, Barker notes.
The sides could still pivot to negotiate another short-term extension akin to the one agreed upon two years ago. That’d appear a fallback to their desired goal of a significantly longer commitment, one that’ll remain a key story for the franchise over the coming months.
After this news broke, the club issued a press release with quotes from Maryland Governor Wes Moore as well as O’s Chairman and CEO John Angelos. “When Camden Yards opened thirty years ago, the Baltimore Orioles revolutionized baseball and set the bar for the fan experience,” Moore says in the statement. “We share the commitment of the Orioles organization to ensuring that the team is playing in a world-class facility at Camden Yards for decades to come and are excited to advance our public-private partnership. We look forward to writing the next chapter of major league baseball in Maryland as we continue to make magic for fans and meaningful investment for communities across our state.”
“I am looking forward to continuing to collaborate with Governor Moore, his administration, and the Maryland Stadium Authority in order to bring to Baltimore the modern, sustainable, and electrifying sports and entertainment destination the State of Maryland deserves,” Angelos says in the same press release. “We greatly appreciate Governor Moore’s vision and commitment as we seize the tremendous opportunity to redefine the paradigm of what a Major League Baseball venue represents and thereby revitalize downtown Baltimore. It is my hope and expectation that, together with Governor Moore and the new members and new chairman of the MSA Board, we can again fully realize the potential of Camden Yards to serve as a catalyst for Baltimore’s second renaissance.”
The lease uncertainty comes at a time when the franchise’s ownership situation is the subject of controversy. Longtime O’s owner Peter Angelos is now 93 years old, and his sons Louis and John are embroiled in a legal battle. Louis Angelos has sued his brother and mother Georgia Angelos, alleging that John Angelos has blocked his mother’s wishes to sell the franchise and that John and Georgia have seized control of Peter Angelos’ assets in the Orioles and his law firm at Louis’ expense. Louis also implied that John Angelos could eventually attempt to move the franchise to Tennessee, something John Angelos has strongly denied.
John Angelos was part of a promotional event with Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to announce the creation of a scholarship for local schools. Angelos, however, refused to entertain a question from Dan Connolly of the Athletic about the franchise’s ownership situation, bizarrely calling it “(an inappropriate) subject matter for this day” (video link provided by Paul Gessler of CBS Baltimore). He did reiterate, however, that “we’re not going anywhere.” Angelos expressed openness to showing Connolly and other reporters the organization’s financials and specifics of the ownership structure at another point. There’s no indication that process has been set up.
Quick Hits: Orioles, Nationals, Steer
Orioles general manager Mike Elias told Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio on Sunday that he expects top pitching prospect Grayson Rodriguez to crack the team’s Opening Day rotation out of camp this spring and that he also believes top outfield prospect Colton Cowser will be ready to make his MLB debut at some point in 2023.
Rodriguez was striding confidently toward Baltimore last summer before he suffered Grade 2 right lat strain while working in a game at Triple-A Norfolk in early June. He didn’t return to action in the minors until September, and by the time he got properly stretched out again, the O’s chances of a late-season push to the playoffs had fully cratered. The 23-year-old ultimately finished with a 2.62 ERA, 109 strikeouts and 28 walks in 75 2/3 innings (17 starts) between High-A Aberdeen, Double-A Bowie and Norfolk. He’s recorded a career 2.47 ERA with 419 strikeouts in 292 total professional frames since the Orioles selected him 11th overall in the 2018 MLB Draft, but the lineups and environments of the AL East obviously present a far greater test than what he’s seen on the farm.
Cowser, the No. 5 overall pick from the 2021 MLB Draft, also reached the Triple-A level in 2022 and produced an overall .278/.406/.469 batting line with 19 home runs and 18 stolen bases in his 138 minor league games. The 22-year-old has experience at all three outfield spots and boasts an .895 OPS so far as a pro. If there’s an injury to Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins or Anthony Santander, the ETA on Cowser could further shrink.
A brighter future is rapidly coming into focus at Camden Yards.
- Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo spoke glowingly of the organization’s young players and rising prospects at the club’s Hot Stove event for full-season-ticket holders this weekend, as relayed by Stephen Mears of TalkNats.com. CJ Abrams, Luis Garcia, Keibert Ruiz, Cade Cavalli, MacKenzie Gore and Josiah Gray all earned a specific mention. “This is the most lush and successful prospect list that we’ve ever had,” Rizzo said. “It’s the most talented players we’ve ever had in the farm system at one time.” The big buzz is that Cavalli could be positioned to join Gore and Gray in Washington’s season-opening starting rotation with Stephen Strasburg‘s health still a lingering uncertainty.
- Spencer Steer acknowledged at a Reds Caravan event over the weekend that he has his sights set on the everyday third base job in Cincinnati this season. “I’m going to do everything I can to win that spot,” he told MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon. “I think it’s doable and attainable. That will be my focus: getting into that lineup and staying in that lineup.” Acquired from the Twins at the trade deadline last August in the return package for Tyler Mahle, the 25-year-old Steer went on to bat .211/.306/.326 across his first 28 big league games. He was slashing .274/.364/.515 in the minors prior to his promotion to the Reds’ roster.
Darren O’Day Announces Retirement
Right-hander Darren O’Day announced his retirement from baseball on his personal Twitter account on Monday morning.
“The mental, physical, and time demands have finally outweighed my love for the game,” wrote the 40-year-old submarine reliever. “When I started in 2006, I didn’t know if I was good enough to compete in MLB, but I was determined to keep going until someone told me otherwise. I hope anyone out there who does things a little different can find inspiration in my story.”
O’Day went undrafted after a solid NCAA tenure at the University of Florida, but he quickly latched on with the Angels and made his MLB debut with that organization in 2008. He wound up pitching for six total teams — Angels, Mets, Rangers, Orioles, Braves and Yankees — during his impressive 15-year major league career and will hang up his cleats having registered a collective 2.59 ERA with 637 strikeouts, 166 holds and 21 saves in 609 frames at baseball’s highest level. Baseball-Reference has his final career earnings wrapping up just shy of $50MM.
O’Day’s best year on the mound was 2015, when he earned his lone All-Star nod and delivered an overall 1.52 ERA and 82 strikeouts (with only 14 walks) in 65 1/3 innings for the O’s, who then signed him to a four-year, $31MM contract the following winter. The unconventional right-hander was obviously far more than just a one-hit-wonder given how long he lasted in the bigs and how many different clubs saw him as a fit for their respective bullpen mixes along the way. Between the 2009-2021 campaigns, he posted a 2.37 ERA in 586 appearances and collected 21 saves. He also logged 30 postseason appearances in that timeframe, including four in the World Series in 2010 with the Rangers.
O’Day signed a minor league contract with the Braves last winter and put up a 4.15 ERA and 26-to-10 K/BB ratio across 21 2/3 innings in the first half of the 2022 regular season. He suffered a calf injury just before the All-Star break and then a season-ending sprain of his right big toe in September. His last pitch as a major leaguer came on July 11 against the Mets.
MLBTR wishes O’Day well in the next chapter of his life.
AL East Notes: LeMahieu, Yankees, Orioles, Bello
DJ LeMahieu continues to make progress in his recovery from a foot fracture, and based on the infielder’s offseason workouts, “it looks like there was never a problem,” Yankees hitting coach Dillon Lawson said. Though LeMahieu has yet to face live pitching, Lawson told the New York Post’s Dan Martin that the infielder is “able to do everything he needs to do, whether [the pitch] is inside, outside, up or down,” whereas when LeMahieu was battling his injury late last season, “sometimes when he came out there for batting practice, he’d have to come off his back side and couldn’t really rotate into the ball.”
Assuming LeMahieu is healthy and productive, the Yankees will pencil him into the lineup every day, whether at third, second, or first base. It is also possible that if the team is entirely confident LeMahieu is healthy, another infielder might be traded to make some extra space in the infield picture. Jon Heyman of the New York Post suggests that in addition to trying to trade Josh Donaldson and his hefty contract, the Yankees also at least explored trying to move Gleyber Torres or Isiah Kiner-Falefa, though obviously no deals transpired. Kiner-Falefa is expected to compete with star prospects Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe for everyday shortstop duty, while Torres is expected to be the starting second baseman. If Torres was dealt, New York could cover second base with some combination of LeMahieu, Peraza, Volpe, Kiner-Falefa, and Oswaldo Cabrera.
More from around the AL East…
- The Orioles have interest in acquiring “a defensive-minded corner outfielder who can be trusted in left field,” Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes. Austin Hays and Anthony Santander are slated to be the starters in the corners for Baltimore next season (with Hays in left field and Santander in right) and defensive metrics are somewhat split on the glovework for both players. The Defensive Runs Saved and UZR/150 metrics like Hays’ left field work quite a bit, though he is rated as a subpar defender by Outs Above Average. Presumably the Orioles are looking for more of a veteran glove-first player for their outfield mix, which also includes such less-experienced names as Ryan McKenna, Kyle Stowers, and top prospect Colton Cowser. Franchy Cordero and Nomar Mazara will also be in camp on minor league deals, though neither are known for their glovework.
- Earlier this week, Triston Casas said the Red Sox hadn’t yet broached the subject of an early-career contract extension, but he would be open to discussing such a deal. The same is true for another up-and-coming Sox star, as Brayan Bello told Alex Speier of the Boston Globe and his representatives and the Red Sox “haven’t had that conversation yet, [but] I would definitely listen.” Like Casas, Bello is 23 years old and made his MLB debut last season, with the right-hander delivering a 4.71 ERA over his first 57 1/3 innings in the Show. Bello doesn’t have Casas’ status as a staple of top-100 prospect lists, but he is still a well-regarded young pitcher, and perhaps even more important to Boston’s long-term plans given the organization’s recent struggles at developing homegrown arms. Though a long-term extension might limit Bello’s earning potential if he grows into being a consistent big league-caliber pitcher, he might also have interest in locking in the first guaranteed payday of his pro career, as Bello received only a $28K bonus as an international prospect in 2017.
Orioles Sign Curtis Terry To Minor League Contract
The Orioles announced this morning they’ve added first baseman Curtis Terry on a minor league deal. The team did not indicate he’s receiving an invitation to big league camp.
Terry, 26, has 13 games of MLB experience under his belt. That came with the Rangers two seasons ago, when the right-handed hitter posted an .089/.146/.133 line through his first 48 plate appearances. It wasn’t a strong MLB debut but came on the heels of a .275/.349/.533 showing with 22 longballs through 99 games with their top affiliate in Round Rock.
Texas outrighted the former 13th-round pick off their roster at the end of the 2021 campaign. Terry signed a minor league deal with the Twins and spent the entire 2022 season at Triple-A St. Paul. He had a solid if unspectacular showing, posting a .250/.348/.429 line with 10 homers in 342 plate appearances. He walked in 11.7% of those trips while only striking out 16.4% of the time. That wasn’t enough to get an MLB look from the Twins and he returned to minor league free agency this offseason.
Baltimore has made an effort to stockpile first base depth. They acquired Ryan O’Hearn from the Royals to promptly run him through outright waivers. The O’s also succeeded on their second attempt to pass Lewin Díaz through the wire unclaimed. Both players figure to have priority over Terry on the first base/designated hitter organizational depth chart given their lengthier MLB résumés and left-handed bats that better complement righty-swinging starter Ryan Mountcastle. Terry figures to open the season with either Triple-A Norfolk or Double-A Bowie as upper minors depth.
Orioles Acquire Cole Irvin From A’s
The Orioles have acquired left-handed pitcher Cole Irvin in a trade with the Athletics, per announcements from both clubs. Right-handed pitching prospect Kyle Virbitsky will also head to Baltimore while infield prospect Darell Hernaiz is heading to the A’s.
On one hand, this move comes as a surprise, since there had been no previous indication the A’s were shopping Irvin or that they were talking to the Orioles. On the other hand, it’s not shocking to see the club continue tearing down the roster, since they’ve been aggressively committed to that path for the past year. Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Sean Manaea and Chris Bassitt were all traded just before the 2022 campaign, while Frankie Montas was dealt midseason and Sean Murphy this winter.
With the club seemingly willing to strip the roster down to the studs, any established Oakland player is at least a speculative trade candidate. There was no real rush to move Irvin, since he still had four years of club control remaining, but he will qualify for arbitration at the end of this season and would start to make a more significant salary. It appears that they received an offer they liked enough to pull the ripcord early and jettison Irvin from the roster in yet another future-focused move.
The Orioles have been looking for rotation upgrades all winter and were reportedly still on the hunt earlier this week. They haven’t been running out huge payrolls in recent years so Irvin’s low salary and years of cheap control were surely appealing to them. They made one modest upgrade to their rotation this offseason by signing veteran Kyle Gibson to a one-year, $10MM deal but have otherwise been quiet until today. Irvin will quickly become the club’s second-most experienced starter behind Gibson.
Irvin, 29 next week, was a Phillies’ draftee and made his MLB debut with them. He made 19 appearances over 2019 and 2020 but with a bloated 6.75 ERA in that time. But his minor league results were much better and the A’s took a shot by sending cash considerations to Philadelphia to get him. The change of scenery went very well for him, as he made 62 starts over the past two seasons with a 4.11 ERA over 359 1/3 innings.
This new change of scenery will have risk for the O’s, though. Irvin has succeeded in Oakland over the past couple of years with a low-strikeout, pitch-to-contact approach. He’s only walked 5.2% of the batters he’s faced over those two campaigns, which is a very strong number. For reference, the league average for starters last year was 7.5%. But he’s only punched out hitters at a 16.8% rate for Oakland, well below last year’s 21.6% league average. His 37.6% ground ball over that span was also a bit below par. That kind of profile has worked for him in the pitcher-friendly confines of Oakland Coliseum but might not be as effective in different conditions. It’s perhaps notable that Irvin has posted a 3.44 ERA at home over the past two years but a 4.88 mark outside of Oakland.
The O’s are apparently undeterred by those splits and have added Irvin to their starting mix, where he and Gibson should take two of the spots. The rest of the rotation will be less certain, with options like Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells, Bruce Zimmermann, Mike Baumann and Spenser Watkins on the 40-man. Each of those guys have a bit of MLB experience but inconsistent results have prevented them from truly establishing themselves as big leaguers. There’s also Grayson Rodriguez, who is considered one of the best pitching prospects in the sport but he’s yet to make his MLB debut and missed most of last year due to a lat strain. John Means could be a factor down the line but likely not until midseason due to undergoing Tommy John surgery in April of last year. It’s a group with a lot of unknowns but the club will hope to get some reliability out of Irvin and Gibson while they sort through the rest and see who separates themselves from the pack. In addition to Irvin, the O’s will add Virbitsky to their system. The 24-year-old was a 17th round draft pick in 2021. He posted a 4.63 ERA last year between Class-A and High-A, striking out 25.7% of batters faced while walking 5.5%. He’ll add some starting depth to the lower levels of their system.
By letting go of Irvin and Virbitsky, the A’s are adding an intriguing young player in Hernaiz. The 21-year-old was a fifth-round selection of the O’s in 2019. Baseball America ranked him the #25 Orioles prospect going into 2020, highlighting his athleticism but noting that the lack of power could be an issue for him. That seems to have played out in his minor league time so far. After the minors were canceled in 2020, Hernaiz spent 2021 in Class-A, hitting six home runs in 94 games. He did steal 22 bases but his .277/.333/.358 batting line was a bit below average, with his wRC+ coming in at 92. In 2022, he shot up three levels, going from Class-A to High-A and Double-A. He got into 105 games between those three levels and stole 32 bases with 12 home runs. His combined batting line of .273/.341/.438 resulted in a 112 wRC+. He’s split his time between second base, third base and shortstop and will slot into Oakland’s infield prospect mix. He struggled in his first 13 Double-A games and will likely head back to that level to start this season. He’ll be Rule 5 eligible at the end of the upcoming season.
The O’s have plenty of infield prospects, with the likes of Gunnar Henderson, Coby Mayo, Joey Ortiz, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg and Connor Norby some of the exciting youngsters in the system. It seems they felt they could part with Hernaiz and still be in good shape there, whereas the A’s have continued to bolster their farm by subtracting from their major league club. Without Irvin, their rotation will consist of offseason signees Shintaro Fujinami and Drew Rucinski, incumbents Paul Blackburn and James Kaprielian, as well as a huge pile of unestablished options who will be jockeying for playing time as the season rolls along.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported the deal before the official announcement (Twitter links).
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Orioles Designate Darwinzon Hernandez For Assignment
The Orioles announced that they have designated left-hander Darwinzon Hernandez for assignment. His roster spot goes to fellow lefty Cole Irvin, whom the club acquired from the A’s in a trade.
Few pitchers in the game can match the 26-year-old Hernandez’s ability to miss bats — evidenced by a 32.3% strikeout rate in 85 1/3 innings at the MLB level. However, even fewer struggle with their command to the same extent as Hernandez, who’s also walked 17.7% of his opponents as a big leaguer. He nonetheless managed a sharp 3.17 ERA with the Red Sox from 2020-21, but the 2022 season was a nightmare; Hernandez was shelled for 17 runs (16 earned) in just 6 2/3 innings with Boston this past season. The Sox designated him for assignment earlier in the winter, and the O’s picked him up in a trade sending cash back to Boston. Overall, he has a 5.06 ERA during his 85 2/3 frames in the Majors.
Even with that poor command, Hernandez could intrigue other clubs. Controllable, hard-throwing lefties who avoid hard contact and have a minor league option remaining aren’t necessarily easy to come by. The Orioles will have a week to trade Hernandez or attempt to pass him through outright waivers. In the event that he goes through waivers unclaimed, the Orioles could assign Hernandez outright to their Triple-A affiliate, thereby keeping him in the organization without the need to dedicate a 40-man roster spot to him.
Orioles, Austin Voth Avoid Arbitration
12:21pm: The Athletic’s Dan Connolly tweets that Voth agreed to a $1.85MM salary for the upcoming season, which was the midpoint between the $2MM sum at which he filed and the team’s $1.7MM. The option is valued at $2.45MM but can increase by as much as $500K based on performance incentives for the 2023 season.
11:30am: The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve agreed to a one-year contract with right-hander Austin Voth. The deal, which avoids an arbitration hearing, also contains a club option for the 2024 season.
Claimed off waivers out of the Nationals organization on June 7, Voth immediately turned a corner with the O’s. The former fifth-round pick had long held potential and looked like a breakout candidate in D.C., but despite some brief glimpses of potential he was never able to establish himself as a consistent member of the Nats’ rotation or bullpen. Time will tell whether he’s able to do so in Baltimore, but he’s off to a good start.
In 83 innings following that waiver claim, Voth pitched to a sharp 3.04 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate, a strong 7.2% walk rate and a tidy 1.08 HR/9 mark. He’s unlikely to sustain an 82.4% left-on-base rate that’s 10 percentage points higher than league-average — only eight pitchers (min. 80 innings sustained a rate at that level in 2023) — but fielding-independent marks still peg him in the low-4.00 range.
Heading into 2023, the 30-year-old Voth could compete for a rotation spot in Baltimore. He started 17 games for the O’s after being acquired, and the team hasn’t done much to supplement its rotation this winter. The Orioles have effectively replaced Jordan Lyles with Kyle Gibson for the same cost, but there have been no further additions. Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish, Bruce Zimmermann, Mike Baumann, Spenser Watkins and top prospects DL Hall and Grayson Rodriguez will all get consideration for innings this season — though the O’s are reportedly still exploring potential moves to bolster the starting staff.
Even if Voth doesn’t win a rotation spot this spring, he’ll be assured a spot in the bullpen. He’s now on a guaranteed salary for the upcoming season, and because he’s out of minor league options, he can’t be sent to the minors without first being exposed to waivers. Given how well he pitched after being claimed last time around, he’d surely be claimed if the O’s tried to pass him through waivers themselves.
The club option on the contract doesn’t extend Baltimore’s control over Voth. He was already controllable via arbitration for three seasons, so the option merely serves as a means of giving the club some possible cost certainty on his next arbitration salary. If the option is declined, he’d still be under team control, but the two sides would then go through the arb process all over again — or else Voth could simply be non-tendered. As things currently stand, he won’t qualify for free agency until after the 2025 campaign.