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Orioles Notes: Anderson, Mancini, Hays

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Brady Anderson, who formerly served as the Orioles’ vice president of baseball operations, is “stepping aside” and leaving the organization, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko reports (via Twitter). Anderson, Gary Rajsich and Brian Graham were entrusted with interim oversight of the baseball operations department in Baltimore following the dismissal of GM Dan Duquette last winter, and less than a year later, the entire trio is gone from the organization. Rajsich’s contract wasn’t renewed for the 2019 season, while Graham was fired not long after new GM Mike Elias was hired.

Under the previous front-office regime, Anderson had seemingly risen to a fairly prominent standing. It’s been widely reported that he played a major role in the team’s signings of both Alex Cobb and Andrew Cashner late in the 2018-19 offseason, although the Cobb signing has gone particularly awry. His role under Elias had been considerably less integral from a baseball operations vantage point, though; Anderson served in an advisory role with the team’s conditioning and fitness programs, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun. Whatever role the Orioles might’ve had in mind for him in 2020, if any, it seems that Anderson instead preferred to explore potential new opportunities.

A couple more notes out of Baltimore…

  • Another 100-loss season hasn’t swayed Trey Mancini’s commitment to the Orioles, writes Meoli in a separate column. The Orioles’ 2019 leader in home runs (35), Mancini says that his desire to remain in Baltimore has “never wavered at all.” The 27-year-old slugger, who’ll turn 28 next March, likes the direction the team is headed under Elias & Co. and has firmly bought into the Orioles’ rebuilding efforts. Mancini’s own improvement at the plate has been one of the biggest positives with regard to the club’s future outlook. His 2018 season yielded an ugly .242/.299/.416 batting line, but Mancini erupted with a .291/.364/.535 batting line to go along with those 35 homers in 2019. He also improved his walk rate by 2.4 percent and cut his strikeout rate by three percent. He’ll be in for quite the pay increase this winter in his first offseason of arbitration eligibility and is under club control through the 2022 season. However, Mancini has been vocal about hoping to remain in Baltimore, so perhaps the two sides will discuss the possibility of a longer-term arrangement next spring.
  • Outfielder Austin Hays had been slated to play in the Arizona Fall League, but the Orioles have “changed their plans” for the resurgent top prospect, MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets. Hays won’t play in the AFL after all, but the 24-year-old certainly looks to have rebuilt his stock with a bounceback year. Injury limited Hays to just 75 unproductive games in 2018, but he suited up for 108 games across four minor league levels and the Majors in 2019. Hays reemerged at the MLB level in September, hitting .309/.373/.574 with four home runs in 75 plate appearances down the stretch. He’ll head into Spring Training as one of the favorites (if not the favorite) to open the 2020 season in center field.

AL Notes: Carrasco, Thornton, Castro, Trumbo

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Carlos Carrasco’s health situation was one of MLB’s most-followed off-field storylines in 2019. Stunningly diagnosed with leukemia this summer, Carrasco made a heartwarming return to the mound September 1 in Tampa Bay and has made ten appearances out of Cleveland’s bullpen since. The 32 year-old father of five verbalized the ups-and-downs of the past five months in an emotional piece for the Players’ Tribune, emphasizing the importance of leaning on his wife Karelis, other family, and friends- inside and outside baseball- for support along the way. Encouragingly, the well-respected Carrasco says he’s “back to feeling 100%” and no doubt figures to be a foundational piece for both the Indians and the Cleveland community at large in the future. The moving and courageous piece, in which Carrasco discusses the gutwrenching decision he and Karelis confronted of whether to tell their children of his diagnosis, is worth a full read.

  • Turning to strictly on-field matters across the American League, it seems Trent Thornton has pitched his way into the Blue Jays’ rotation plans for 2020, writes Kaitlyn McGrath of the Athletic. The rookie overcame a dreadful start to his MLB career to log a team-high 154.1 innings, working to a 4.84 ERA with pedestrian strikeout (22%) and walk (9%) rates. As McGrath notes, Thornton’s changeup has given him problems in the past and developing consistency with the offering will be among his offseason priorities. Thornton’s profile doesn’t scream future ace, but his durability and high-spin fastball and curveball make him a logical fit for a Toronto rotation that is lacking in certainty and rich in opportunity.
  • Another rookie who could be positioned for playing time on a rebuilding team is Tigers infielder Willi Castro. A September call-up, Castro hasn’t gotten off to an especially rousing start to his MLB career. He has, though, impressed manager Ron Gardenhire, who tells Chris McCosky of the Detroit News Castro will have a chance to compete for the Tigers’ shortstop job in spring training. The 22 year-old, whom Detroit acquired from Cleveland in 2018 for Leonys Martín, ranks as Detroit’s #11 prospect, per Baseball America. He hit a solid .301/.366/.467 this season in his first extended action in Triple-A.
  • On the opposite side of the service time spectrum is Orioles DH Mark Trumbo, who discussed the forthcoming end of his three-year contract with Baltimore Baseball’s Rich Dubroff. The 33 year-old tells Dubroff he’ll take some time off at the end of the season and gauge how his body feels before determining if he wishes to come back in 2020. So continues a pattern of noncommital responses on his future from Trumbo, who has been hampered by right knee problems for the last year-plus. That injury history means Trumbo will probably have to settle for a minor-league contract with a spring training invite if he does decide to give playing another go.

AL Notes: Tigers, Paxton, Cease, Orioles

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Although Tigers manager Ron Gardenhire has indicated his desire to return to the club next season, the fate of his coaching staff may yet be up in the air, according to Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group. With the season coming to a close, general manager Al Avila and company are apparently still faced with decisions regarding the status of the team’s staff, with announcements to come at season’s end. As The Athletic’s Cody Stavenhagen speculates, that certainly makes it seem like changes are coming, though of course any relevant announcements will have to wait. Gardenhire previously expressed his hope that his staff would remain intact for 2020, the final year of his contract. That group includes familiar faces like Rick Anderson and Steve Liddle, as well as Lloyd McClendon and Ramon Santiago. However, after such a dreadful year in all facets of the game, the front office will certainly look critically at the coaching.

From elsewhere around the American League…

  • Yankees fans shook their heads in disbelief as starter James Paxton left yesterday’s game after just one inning. However, it seems that the team managed to avoid yet another significant injury; Paxton underwent an MRI this morning that revealed nothing but nerve irritation, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. His removal from the game was merely a precaution and is not expected to affect his availability in the approaching ALDS. The club has faced questions all year about postseason pitching, and an injury to Paxton—the team’s most reliable starter in the second half—would have sent the New York faithful spiraling.
  • White Sox pitcher Dylan Cease has been diagnosed with a Grade 1 hamstring strain, according to James Fegan of The Athletic. He was scratched from his schedule start on Thursday, and of course won’t pitch again this season. While the two-to-four week timeline that comes with the injury is of little significance at this time of year, it’s nonetheless good to hear that the promising rookie will be at full health before too long. He’s had some growing pains as a rookie but has shown some encouraging signs, striking out 81 batters in his first 73 innings as a big-leaguer. With 141 1/3 innings between several levels, he’s also amassed his biggest workload as a pro.
  • It’s no secret that Orioles pitching has come up short this year, but first-year pitching coach Doug Brocail expected some struggles when he took the job last winter. As he and a new front office regime attempt to build a pitching staff from the ground-up, Brocail offers some insight into the state of the organization in an interview with Dan Connolly of The Athletic (subscription required). There’s a long way to go for the team, but Brocail is seeing marginal improvements with rookie general manager Mike Elias trying to play catch-up after inheriting last year’s MLB-worst roster. With the emergence of John Means and the continued growth of the organization’s analytics department, there are some positive takeaways from his first year on the Baltimore staff.

Jonathan Villar’s Second-Half Surge

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Jonathan Villar’s name was barely kicked around the rumor circuit prior to this year’s trade deadline, with the Cubs standing out as the only team reported to have shown much interest. That doesn’t mean that Villar wasn’t discussed with other clubs, of course. But when an affordable veteran ($4.825MM) with only one and a half seasons of control remaining on one of the game’s worst teams doesn’t change hands at the deadline, it’s likely that interest in him was generally tepid.

Jonathan Villar | Raj Mehta-USA TODAY Sports

Really, there weren’t many infielders who changed hands at all on this year’s trade market. Jesus Aguilar, Scooter Gennett and Tony Kemp were traded largely for depth purposes. Prospects like Mauricio Dubon, Nick Solak and Josh Rojas were moved as hopeful long-term pieces. Among established middle infielders, Eric Sogard might’ve been the most consequential player traded. (Freddy Galvis later changed hands via August waiver claim.)

It stands to reason that not many teams were keen on making middle-infield upgrades, but that won’t be as true in the winter when all 29 other teams are taking a fresh look at their roster. And Villar has been nothing short of brilliant since the deadline passed, which certainly can’t hurt the Orioles’ chances of finding a team willing to part with some future in exchange for his final season of club control.

Villar, 29 next May, was already in the midst of a solid season in late July. On the morning of July 31, he carried a .266/.329/.425 batting line, 13 home runs and 23 steals on the season. For a middle infielder with ample experience at both positions — even if he’s not a great defender at either — that’s respectable output. Villar had a 98 wRC+ at that point, whereas the league-average second baseman was at 93. Essentially, Villar had been about five percent better than an average-hitting second baseman and about two percent worse than an average shortstop (100 wRC+ in 2019).

Since that time? Villar has improved across the board. He’s hitting .295/.364/.524 with 11 homers, nine doubles, three triples and 16 stolen bases (in 19 tries). Villar has punched out a slight bit more over the season’s final two months, but his overall strikeout rate on the season (24.9 percent) has improved for the second straight year since his career-worst 30.3 percent in 2017. His average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and launch angle are all below average but have all improved for the second straight season. And while Villar isn’t the burner one might expect for someone with his stolen-base totals, he’s been highly efficient across the past two seasons, going 74-of-88 in that regard (84.1 percent).

Thanks to the strength of his second half, Villar’s offensive output (108 wRC+) now checks in 15 percent better than the average second baseman and eight percent better than the average shortstop. Like many switch-hitters, he’s been better from one side of the plate (116 wRC+ as a lefty, 94 as a righty), but he hasn’t been completely overmatched regardless of which batter’s box he stands.

Villar earned $4.825MM in 2019, and he’ll take home a solid raise on that sum thanks to his workload (159 games, 700 plate appearances at the moment) and his career-best counting stats. But even if Villar matches the 89 percent raise he received in arbitration last year, his salary will still clock in at about $9.125MM. Compare him, at that rate, to the rest of the rest of the free-agent class, and Villar looks like a sound one-year pickup before qualifying as a free agent himself next winter. That’s nearly the same price at which Brian Dozier ($9MM) signed with the Nationals this past winter after an off year and only slightly more than Jonathan Schoop ($7.5MM) received from the Twins. Villar’s four wins above replacement (4.0 bWAR, 3.9 fWAR) outweigh that pair of veterans combined.

This could be a peak year for Villar, but he’s now been worth at least two wins in three of the past four seasons, making his 2017 flop with the Brewers look more and more like an outlier. The free-agent market at shortstop has a pretty intriguing rebound candidate in Didi Gregorius and a defensive stalwart in Jose Iglesias. Dozier, Schoop and perhaps Mike Moustakas will headline the options on the other side of the bag. It’s not an elite class.

Villar may not be elite himself, but he’s a solid regular player who’ll come with an affordable price tag. The Orioles aren’t going to receive a king’s ransom for him by any means, but he’s also someone who should command a decent prospect or two in return. In retrospect, some team probably should’ve paid that price back in July.

AL Notes: Orioles, Yandy, BoSox, Wilson, Mariners

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Orioles executive VP John Angelos seemingly put an end to any speculation that the team could be moved, as he told a collection of Baltimore business leaders today that the O’s would remain in the city “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.”  After the panel discussion was over, Angelos reiterated to Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun that “our partnership group is all local, people that are heavily invested now and indefinitely in the city and the future of this city, and that’s just real. The Orioles are a Baltimore institution. The Orioles will be in Baltimore, be in Maryland. That’s the beginning and the end as far as I’m concerned.”

John and Peter Angelos, the sons of Orioles managing partner Peter Angelos, have mostly taken over the regular operations of the franchise as their father is in advanced age and is reportedly dealing with health issues.  Rumors swirled that the family could be looking to sell the team to a buyer that could potentially take the Orioles to a new city, with Nashville mentioned as a potential destination.  Technically, Angelos’ comments didn’t address the possibility that his family could still sell the Orioles, though even if this avenue was pursued, it seems clear that the club would only be sold to someone committed to remaining in Baltimore.

Some more from the American League…

  • Yandy Diaz is hoping to return from the injured list for either the postseason or for the tail end of the Rays’ regular season, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports (Twitter link).  Diaz hit .270/.343/.480 with 14 homers over 344 plate appearances this year, but he has been out since July 22 due to a hairline fracture in his left foot.  Diaz has already suffered one setback in his recovery from the injury, though he worked out at Tropicana Field today.  The Rays would have to make a 40-man roster move if they did activate Diaz, as he has been on the 60-day IL.
  • The Red Sox are “aiming for the biggest names” in their search for a new general manager/head of baseball operations, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal writes (subscription required).  The major pressure and seemingly very short leash associated with the job, however, could make some executives hesitate about taking one of the sport’s marquee jobs.  Both Dave Dombrowski and Ben Cherington were fired after less than four years on the job, despite the fact that both men built World Series-winning rosters.  That lack of long-term security (even in the face of on-field success) might not appeal to executives who would have to move their families to, and perhaps from Boston, in short order.  There’s also the challenge of having to juggle the team’s big payroll while adding young talent, and also remaining in contention at all times.
  • Royals bullpen coach Vance Wilson is expected to be a managerial candidate this offseason, MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand tweets.  “Some executives believe he absolutely has a future as a manager,” Feinsand writes about the 46-year-old, who may be best known for an eight-year playing career with the Mets and Tigers from 1999-2006.  Wilson worked as a manager at three different levels of Kansas City’s farm system for seven seasons before moving into his current role as bullpen coach in November 2017.  It stands to reason that the Royals themselves would have interest in speaking to Wilson about their own managerial vacancy, potentially replacing the retiring Ned Yost.

AL East Notes: Moreland, Jays, Hays

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First baseman Mitch Moreland’s time with the Red Sox is on the verge of ending, Pete Abraham of the Boston Globe suggests. The soon-to-be free agent is likely on his way out of Boston in favor of a “younger and cheaper” option, per Abraham, who lists Michael Chavis and prospect Bobby Dalbec as immediate possibilities. While Moreland’s position, age (34) and production won’t lead to a particularly lucrative trip to free agency, he’s not fretting about the open market right now. “It was bad the last two times I went into free agency and I came out of it with a job,” Moreland told Abraham. “I’m not really worried about it yet. I just want to enjoy this last week with these guys. It’s a great group. I’ll worry about the rest when I get there.” Moreland, who has earned $18.5MM on a pair of deals with the Red Sox since 2017, is finishing up an injury-limited year. He owns a .246/.325/.502 line with 18 home runs in 317 plate appearances thus far.

  • Blue Jays outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. is out for the rest of the year with appendicitis, manager Charlie Montoyo told Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet and other reporters. While Gurriel struggled during a truncated second half (he just came back from a month-long absence because of a strained left quad), this will go down as an encouraging season for the 25-year-old. Gurriel slashed .277/.327/.541 line and swatted 20 homers in 343 PA, and he acquitted himself decently in his first experience as a major league outfielder (minus-2 Defensive Runs Saved, plus-0.3 Ultimate Zone Rating).
  • Third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., yet another young Blue Jays building block, surprised over the weekend when he suggested via an interpreter he has never lifted weights. It turns out that isn’t the case, though. Guerrero clarified his prior remarks on Monday, telling Alexis Brudnicki of MLB.com and other media through an interpreter: “They wrote that I never lifted weights before. That sounds like ’before’ — never even in the Dominican, the States, with the team, and that wasn’t what I was saying. I was very clear, and I said that I never lifted weights in the offseason in Dominican Republic. I did a lot of other things, conditioning things, but weights at the gym, never did it before” (Sportsnet’s Arash Madani, whom Guerrero made his comments to last week, has the full transcript of their original conversation). Guerrero went on to state that he’ll add a weight program to his regimen this offseason in order to better prepare for the grind of a 162-game schedule. The 20-year-old has played in a professional-high 133 games between the majors and minors this season, including 120 with Toronto.
  • After a couple injury-ravaged years, it appears outfield prospect Austin Hays is working his way into the Orioles’ season-opening plans for 2020. Hays has only played a couple weeks in the majors this year, but he has made the most of it, as Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com writes. Indeed, with a .314/.364/.627 line and four home runs in 55 PA since his Sept. 7 call-up, the 24-year-old is “making a really strong case that he can play here,” manager Brandon Hyde told Melewski. It’s not just Hays’ marvelous late-season offensive production that has turned heads, though, as Hyde noted “he’s shown us that he can play center field defense.”

AL Notes: Semien, Orioles, Astros

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For those actively searching for a player ready to assume Anthony Rendon’s former title as the game’s “Most Underrated” player, Athletics shortstop Marcus Semien is making a valid case for himself in 2019. As Martin Gallegos of MLB.com notes, Semien scored his 120th run of the season on Sunday, placing him just three runs behind Reggie Jackson 1969 record for most runs scored by an Athletic in a single season (link). Besides that possibly impending accomplishment, it’s important to note that the 28-year-old Semien has done more than just cross the plate in 2019. Among AL shortstops, his 32 homers place him 3rd, his 90 RBIs are good for 2nd, and his 7.2 WAR valuation places him behind only Houston’s Alex Bregman at his position. However you slice it, 2019 has been a banner year for the former Cal Bear, who will likely garner MVP consideration at season’s end.

Semien’s near-peerless production has been a large reason behind Oakland’s 2.0-game cushion on all Wild Card competitors. He’s likely due a sizable raise in his third trip through arbitration this offseason, as his $5.9MM salary this year represents one of baseball’s biggest bargains.

More notes from around the league on a quiet Sunday eve…

  • Yesterday, we passed along word of one dissatisfied ex-employee of Orioles GM Mike Elias’–namely, former special assignment instructor BJ Surhoff, who felt disrespected by Elias’ handling of his dismissal. Despite that bit of scuttlebutt, Elias is feeling good about his organization’s direction now that he’s had nearly a calendar year to direct its progress, as he told Roch Kubotko of MASN Sports in a wide-ranging interview (link).“When we came in here, the big league team (had) the worst record in the league last year,” Elias told Kubotko. “The farm system was ranked in the 20s…We had no real international scouting function, a minimalist analytics group. All of that’s changed. We’ve got our program going internationally. We’re signing players, we’re competing for players out there. We’re building towards a bigger analytics staff. The farm system’s taking a huge jump this year.” There are several other items of note in the article itself, among them his support of manager Brandon Hyde (who did ’Great’ in 2019, in Elias’ estimation) and his expectations for the club in 2020.
  • The Astros were finally able to pop the corks on champagne bottles that had remained on ice through Friday and Saturday, as Sunday saw the team capture its third consecutive AL West title. In a well-written piece from the Houston Chronicle’s Chandler Rome, manager A.J. Hinch credits mentality–not the team’s embarrassment of stars–as the source behind Houston’s success (link). “We just keep on keeping a winning culture, a winning mindset. We show up ready to play every day,” Hinch told Rome. “It’s the thing I’m most proud of. We just stay current in the moment.” Also of note in Rome’s article is a rundown of the club’s utter dominance of its AL West opponents in 2019; the club has won 32 out of its last 38 games at home against AL West competitors, en route to an overall 51-19 record against divisional foes this year.

AL Notes: Royals, Yankees, Hicks, Orioles, Kepler

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In a discussion with Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star, outgoing Royals owner David Glass reflects on his 20 years spent spearheading a Major League team, touching on a wide variety of subjects ranging from regrets, financial challenges, and the next chapter for the Royals. Glass offers some insight into the factors that led him to seek out John Sherman as the next Royals owner, including a desire to ensure the franchise remains in Kansas City. He speaks about the ups and downs of the last two decades, a time that saw the franchise emerge from some of its darkest moments to claim a World Series victory. He shares regrets and memories, as well as his philosophy for operating a small-market team. Finally, Glass gives a glimpse into his decision to forgo a bidding process, instead specifically targeting Sherman to take over the team in his wake, with the hope that the new ownership regime will keep the organization “basically intact.”

Let’s turn to other nuggets from the American League…

  • Yankees outfielder Aaron Hicks, still recovering from elbow issues, has begun to throw from 90 feet, per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. When we last heard from Hicks, a second opinion recommended several more weeks of rest after suffering a setback in early September. At this time, Hicks and the Yankees are still optimistic that he won’t require Tommy John surgery, though that’s not guarantee—he’s due for another evaluation shortly. However, the timeline has all but confirmed that Hicks won’t be ready to return at any point in the postseason.
  • Though there has been some clamoring for the Chris Davis era in Baltimore to end, Orioles general manager Mike Elias expects the 33-year-old to be back with the team in spring training 2020, tweets Dan Connolly of The Athletic. While Davis’s dreadful performance has certainly not earned him a spot in the team’s future plans, the reality remains that the ex-slugger is under contract for three more years, a span in which he’ll earn another $69MM. While internal options like Trey Mancini or minor-leaguer Ryan Mountcastle might make more sense, it appears that the club is committed to reforming its highest-paid player.
  • While there still isn’t a concrete timetable for the Twins’ Max Kepler to return to the lineup, he’s set to dial up his workload in the coming days, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune. Kepler, who hasn’t made a plate appearance for Minnesota since September 14, has been dealing with somewhat nebulous shoulder and back issues for months. One of the most productive hitters in the Minnesota lineup, it feels imperative that Kepler is available for postseason play. While the precise timetable remains unknown, it seems that ramping up his swings and hitting off a high-velocity machine is a step in the right direction.

Front Office Notes: Epstein, Red Sox, Orioles

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With recently returned Cubs closer Craig Kimbrel having issued another ninth-inning meltdown today–against the NL Central-leading Cardinals, no less–Chicago fans may feel disinclined to read today’s piece from Chicago Sun-Times scribe Gordon Wittenmeyer, which doesn’t pull any punches in evaluating the job done by team president Theo Epstein and his staff this year. In Wittenmeyer’s view, blame for the Cubs 2019 underachievement should be directed at ownership and Epstein’s front office–not underperforming players or maligned manager Joe Maddon. Wittenmeyer writes: “What’s clear is that the onus of this season’s shortcomings falls on the shoulders of Theo Epstein’s front office for free agency and player development failings and Ricketts ownership for failure to exercise the market advantage of franchise-record revenues to increase spending during a seize-the-moment competitive window.”

Wittenmeyer leaves little earth unscorched in this column, citing the club’s inability to develop impact pitching, unwillingness to spend beyond ownership-established thresholds, and in-house pressure regarding the need for early-season “urgency” as factors that dragged down this year’s Cubbies. The Cubs dropped today’s 9-8 decision to St. Louis and now fall to 6.0 games back in the NL Central race.

More notes concerning FO leaders and PD staffers from around the game…

  • When Dave Dombrowski was relieved of his post by the Red Sox on Sept. 8, many cited the club’s thinned-out farm system as a potential impetus for the leadership change. For those interested in investigating that theory first-hand, Alex Speier of The Boston Globe took the time to explore Dombrowski’s effect on the Boston farm in a subscriber-only piece today (link). Recent farm system rankings from Fangraphs and Baseball America have placed Boston’s system as 30th and 22nd in the game, respectively.
    In more Sox-related news, Jen McCaffery of The Athletic spoke with Red Sox assistant GM Eddie Romero regarding the organization’s decision to retain front office staffer Tony La Russa in the wake of Dombrowski’s ousting (link). La Russa’s title under Dombrowski had been “Special Assistant and Vice President of Baseball Operations”, but the club is in the process of how the club can augment the baseball legend’s role moving forward: “We think it will evolve into a lot more overall staff development, not just major league-focused,” Romero told McCaffery. “But those are things we’re still talking about and we’re excited with the prospect of Tony continuing to bring his vast experience and knowledge.” 
  • Former big leaguer B.J. Surhoff was one casualty of Orioles GM Mike Elias’ midsummer front office shakeup, and Surhoff, for one, does not appreciate the way Elias handled his dismissal. In a candid interview with Dan Connolly of The Athletic, Surhoff claims that he was relieved of his duties as special assignment instructor after only having spoken with Elias on one other occasion–the day Elias was introduced as O’s GM back in November. “Am I pissed? Yeah. I’m unhappy about what happened,” Surhoff told Connolly. “Do I have sour grapes toward the organization? Well, I don’t like the way things are being handled. I just don’t like how they’re treating people. I want that to be known.” Surhoff stressed to Connolly that he could not speak for the other 30-plus employees who were issued non-renewals by Elias this summer. One of those non-renewals, longtime Baltimore scout Dean Albany, has been hired as a special assignment scout by the Phillies organization after spending 20 years in the Orioles org, per a separate tweet from Connolly (link).

 

Orioles Outright Ty Blach To Triple-A

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The Orioles announced that Ty Blach has been outrighted to Triple-A, after the left-hander cleared waivers.  Blach was designated for assignment on Monday, clearing roster space for the O’s to claim Eric Hanhold away from the Mets.

Blach was himself a waiver claim for the Orioles back in August, though after coming from the Giants, Blach didn’t add much help to Baltimore’s rotation.  He posted an 11.32 ERA over five starts in an O’s uniform, surrendering six home runs over his 20 2/3 innings of work.  Between those struggles and a similarly rough performance in his brief time on the Giants’ big league roster in 2019, Blach has a cumulative 12.00 ERA over 27 total innings.

It marked a big step down for a pitcher who looked like a serviceable swingman in 2018, after he delivered a 4.25 ERA over 118 2/3 frames for San Francisco while starting 13 games and coming out of the bullpen on 34 other occasions.  Blach has never been a particularly hard thrower or a big strikeout pitcher (only a 4.91 career K/9), and while he had done a decent job of keeping the ball in the park in prior seasons, home runs became a larger issue for Blach both at the MLB and Triple-A levels in 2019.  He was far from the only pitcher to suffer through such a homer spike this season, though Blach’s pitch-to-contact arsenal made him particularly susceptible to the long ball.

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