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Orioles Make Several Roster Moves

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The Orioles announced a flurry of moves this afternoon, including the news that infielder Domingo Leyba has been claimed off waivers from the Diamondbacks and optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.  Infielder Ramon Urias and right-hander Travis Lakins have been called up from Norfolk, and righty Hunter Harvey has been activated off the 60-day injured list.

To create roster space, right-hander Shawn Armstrong and lefty Brandon Waddell were designated for assignment.  (Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reported earlier today that Waddell was being DFA’ed.)  Additionally, infielder Pat Valaika was placed on the bereavement list.

Leyba was designated for assignment just two days ago.  The 25-year-old went hitless (with two walks) in 24 plate appearances for Arizona this season, following a very respectable .807 OPS over his first 30 career big league PA in 2019.  This wide range of production comes on the heels of a solid .290/.347/.434 slash line in 2624 PA in the minors as part of the Diamondbacks’ and Tigers’ farm systems since 2013.  Leyba put up particularly big numbers with Arizona’s Triple-A team in 2018-19, though the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League environment might have played a role considering his more modest career output in previous years.

Harvey suffered a left oblique strain in mid-March, and is now set to finally make his 2021 debut.  Injuries have pretty much been the story of Harvey’s career since being selected 22nd overall in the 2013 draft, as his MLB resume consists of only 15 total innings in 2019-20.  Even that small sample size still hints at some promise, however, as Harvey’s fastball sits in the high 90’s and he has struck out 17 of his 63 batters faced.  Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told The Athletic’s Dan Connelly and other reporters that Harvey will be used in a variety of bullpen roles, with seemingly no concession made to his injury history — he’ll be deployed “like a regular piece in the bullpen,” Hyde said.

Since being claimed off waivers from the Mariners in April 2019, Armstrong has been something of a workhorse out of the Baltimore pen, appearing in 85 games and tossing 89 1/3 innings.  The results weren’t always there, however, as Armstrong had a 5.34 ERA during his stint in the orange and black.  Armstrong is out of minor league options, so the O’s had no choice but to designate him and expose him to a potential waiver claim.

Waddell was a waiver pickup himself, selected by the Orioles off of the Twins’ roster in early May.  He has pitched in only one game for the O’s and two games for Triple-A Norfolk, as Kubatko notes that Waddell was delayed by the intake process required by COVID-19 protocols.  A longtime member of the Pirates’ minor league system, Waddell has seen MLB action with the Bucs, Twins, and Orioles over the last two seasons, with a 6.48 ERA over 8 1/3 total career innings in the big leagues.

Minor MLB Transactions: 5/31/21

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The latest minor moves from around baseball:

  • The Orioles have released left-hander Josh Rogers, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com tweets. Rogers, soon to turn 27, was part of the return the Orioles received from the Yankees in a July 2018 trade centering on reliever Zack Britton. He wasn’t regarded as a high-end prospect at the time, and his stock took a hit when he underwent Tommy John surgery in July 2019. Rogers did appear in the majors with the Orioles during his first two seasons with the organization, but he could only muster an 8.65 ERA in 26 innings. While Rogers has returned to the mound at the Triple-A level this season after his TJ procedure, his struggles continued before the O’s cut him loose, evidenced by a 7.79 ERA in 17 1/3 frames.

Rockies Claim Rio Ruiz, Designate Bret Boswell

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The Rockies announced that that infielder Rio Ruiz has been claimed off waivers from the Orioles.  Infielder/outfielder Bret Boswell has been designated for assignment to create roster space for Ruiz.

Ruiz was a waiver claim himself back in December 2018, when the Orioles plucked him away from the Braves.  Ruiz has been a regular in his two-plus seasons in Baltimore, appearing in 213 games and receiving 718 plate appearances, but he has hit only .220/.292/.380.

Third base has been Ruiz’s primary position, both with the Orioles and in three previous seasons with the Braves.  However, Ruiz has also seen action at both second base and third base, so he brings some versatility to Colorado’s depth chart.  The Rockies have a lot of right-handed hitters on their bench, though Ruiz has actually hit lefty pitching better than righties over his career.

Boswell was selected out of the University of Texas in the eighth round of the 2017 draft.  After posting some big numbers in his first two pro seasons, Boswell spent the 2019 season with the Rockies’ Double-A affiliate, but hit a modest .219/.290/.397 over 404 PA.

Orioles Option Travis Lakins, Recall Brandon Waddell

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The Orioles optioned right-hander Travis Lakins to Triple-A on Sunday, recalling Brandon Waddell to take his roster spot, per Rich Dubroff of Baltimorebaseball.com.

Lakins seemed to have made himself an indispensable piece of Baltimore’s bullpen in 2020 with a 2.81 ERA over 25 2/3 innings. The former Boston reliever has been less stellar this season through 16 appearances covering 14 2/3 innings. The 26-year-old owns a 7.36 ERA/6.42 FIP and 41.9 percent groundball rate. He’s neither striking out many hitters (17.9 percent strikeout rate) nor limiting free passes enough (16.4 percent walk rate).

Waddell was only recently claimed from the Minnesota Twins. A former starter in the minors, Waddell saw a jump in his strikeout rate as he began transitioning into a relief role during the 2019 season. The 26-year-old southpaw has just 7 1/3 innings of Major League experience split between the Twins this season and the Pirates in 2020.

Orioles Activate Anthony Santander From Injured List

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1:56PM: The Orioles have officially reinstated Santander from the injured list.

8:16AM: Anthony Santander is set to make his return to the Orioles lineup, as manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) that Santander will be activated from the injured list prior to today’s game with the Nationals.  Outfielder Ryan McKenna was optioned to Triple-A yesterday, so a place is open for Santander on the active roster.

Santander hit the 10-day IL on April 21 due to a sprained ankle, so he’ll get back to action after exactly one lost month.  The injury only added to an overall rough start for Santander, who has a .196/.230/.321 slash line and two home runs over his first 62 plate appearances.

It was a far cry from the impressive numbers posted by Santander in 2020, when he hit .261/.315/.575 with 11 home runs in 165 PA before an oblique injury ended his season in early September.  Should Santander get back to that level of production, it will give Baltimore a pretty nice starting outfield combination given that Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays are both hitting well.  A return to form would also certainly revive trade interest in Santander, and though he is controlled through the 2024 season, a trade prior to the July 30 deadline can’t be entirely ruled out if the rebuilding Orioles got a tempting offer.

Chris Davis Out For Season

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Orioles first baseman and designated hitter Chris Davis will miss the rest of the season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left hip, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Recovery time is projected to be four to five months.

Shortstop Richie Martin is also out for the time being with a non-displaced fracture in the radius bone of his left wrist, per Kubatko. The Orioles expect him to return after somewhere between eight and twelve weeks.

The Orioles had already gone the first month and a half of the season without Davis because of a lower back strain. Now, in light of this news, it will go down as another lost season for the former star. Baltimore re-signed Davis to a seven-year, $161MM contract prior to the 2016 season, but the move has blown up in the club’s face. Now 35 years old, Davis hit an atrocious .196/.291/.379 with 92 home runs over 2,118 plate appearances from 2016-20. The Orioles owe him annual salaries of $23MM through 2022.

This will also count as a year to forget for Martin, whom the Orioles took from the Athletics in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft. Martin totaled 309 PA as an Oriole in 2019 and hit .208/.260/.322 with six home runs and 10 stolen bases. He hasn’t played in the bigs since then.

Orioles Designate Rio Ruiz For Assignment

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The Orioles have designated infielder Rio Ruiz for assignment and selected the contract of infielder/outfielder Stevie Wilkerson, per a club announcement.

The 26-year-old Ruiz was a 2012 fourth-rounder of the Astros and a prospect of some note in both the Astros and Braves organizations. Baltimore claimed him off waivers from Atlanta in the 2018-19 offseason and has given him a fairly lengthy look in the infield, but to this point, Ruiz simply hasn’t capitalized on that opportunity.

Dating back to 2019, Ruiz is hitting just .220/.292/.380 through 718 plate appearances. The O’s have given him some run at each infield position other than shortstop, but he hasn’t been able to string together a particularly productive stretch. The 2021 season, in particular, has been a tough one for Ruiz, who is batting just .167/.250/.300 through 101 trips to the plate. The Orioles will have a week to trade Ruiz or pass him through outright waivers.

The 29-year-old Wilkerson is a familiar face for O’s fans, having spent parts of two seasons in a utility role for Baltimore. He’s a a .219/.279/.365 hitter in 410 plate appearances and has played every spot on the diamond other than catcher and first base — including 5 1/3 innings of mop-up duty on the mound in 2019.

East Notes: Means, Mets, Yankees, Strasburg

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The Mets made an attempt to acquire left-hander John Means from the Orioles during the offseason, but Baltimore rebuffed New York, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network. The Mets surely weren’t alone in trying to acquire Means, who’s making a minimal salary this year and still has three years of arbitration control remaining. Means proved himself as a capable mid- to back-of-the-rotation starter from 2019-20, but he has taken his game to an entirely different level this season. The 28-year-old has pitched to a microscopic 1.21 ERA with impressive strikeout and walk percentages of 28.0 and 5.3, respectively, over 52 innings. This has been a May to remember for Means, who no-hit the Mariners on the 5th and then tossed six scoreless innings against the team that wanted him, the Mets, this past Tuesday.

Here’s more on the Mets and a couple other East Coast clubs:

  • The Yankees announced Friday that designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton is dealing with tightness in his left quad. The issue sidelined Stanton on Friday, and he’s now “day to day, hopefully nothing more than that,” manager Aaron Boone told Bryan Hoch of MLB.com and other reporters. Stanton endured a pair of injury-ruined seasons from 2019-20, in which he played in 41 of a possible 222 games, but has mostly stayed healthy this year. The 31-year-old slugger has been in excellent form with a .282/.347/.534 line and nine home runs in 144 plate appearances.
  • Sticking with the Yankees, right-hander Luis Severino is at the “start of spring training mode” as he works his way back from February 2020 Tommy John surgery, Boone said Friday (via Marly Rivera of ESPN). Severino threw 23 pitches of live batting practice Friday and averaged between 96 and 97 mph. The 27-year-old was one of the game’s elite starters from 2017-18, leading the Yankees to sign him to a four-year, $40MM extension, though he totaled only 12 innings in 2019 as a result of shoulder problems and hasn’t pitched since. To its credit, New York’s rotation has done well this year without Severino; nevertheless, the team will surely be glad to welcome him back if he’s healthy.
  • Nationals righty Stephen Strasburg will make a Triple-A rehab start on Sunday, Mark Zuckerman of MASNSports.com tweets. Manager Dave Martinez said the hope is that Strasburg will go five innings and throw 75 to 80 pitches. Washington has barely gotten anything in 2021 from Strasburg, who’s in the second season of a seven-year, $245MM contract, as a result of shoulder inflammation. This is the second straight injury-limited year for the former World Series MVP, who has totaled just 15 innings since 2020.
  • Mets third baseman J.D. Davis and reliever Seth Lugo will soon begin rehab assignments at the Triple-A level, Bill Ladson of MLB.com writes. While the Mets hoped Davis would exit the 10-day injured list Saturday, he’s still not ready to come back since suffering a left hand sprain on May 1. The club has gone all season without Lugo, who underwent surgery to remove a bone spur in his right elbow in February. Lugo started in seven of 16 appearances last season, but he’ll return to a relief role when he rejoins the Mets, per manager Luis Rojas.

Braves Claim Jay Flaa

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The Braves announced Tuesday that they’ve claimed right-handed reliever Jay Flaa off waivers from the Orioles, who’d designated him for assignment over the weekend. The move fills Atlanta’s 40-man roster.

Flaa, who’ll turn 29 in a month, was selected to the big league roster for the first time in his career last month. The Orioles’ sixth-round pick in 2016, he made his MLB debut on April 27, tossing 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief with a pair of walks and a strikeout.

That was Flaa’s lone appearance before the Orioles designated him for assignment in order to open a roster spot for waiver claim Brandon Waddell. While Flaa has struggled in a total of 56 2/3 frames at the Triple-A level, he was excellent at both Double-A and Class-A Advanced while rising through the Orioles’ system. He’s tallied 260 1/3 professional innings since being drafted out of North Dakota State University, working to a 3.49 ERA with an above-average 26.7 percent strikeout rate but a somewhat bloated 11.2 percent walk rate.

Flaa’s fastball sat 93.2 mph in his lone MLB appearance, and he also showed a slider and splitter that day. Because he was selected to the MLB roster for the first time this year, he still has all three minor league option years remaining.

Latest Roster Moves From Twins, Orioles

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The Twins announced a trio of roster moves today. Right-hander Cody Stashak has been optioned to Triple-A, while Derek Law takes his place in the bullpen. Law had to be added to the 40-man roster, so infielder Travis Blankenhorn was designated for assignment.

After proving himself a solid option out of the bullpen for the Twins with 40 innings of 3.15 ERA baseball from 2019-20, Stashak has stumbled badly to start the season. Stashak is still missing bats at a good clip, striking out a robust 36.5 percent of hitters, but his walk rate has skyrocketed to 13.5 percent as well. Fielding Independent Pitching suggest decent work with a 4.20 FIP, but in terms of real world production, Stashak has allowed 10 earned runs in 10 2/3 innings.

If this is the end of Blankenhorn’s Twins’ tenure, it will be a somewhat ignominious one. The 24-year-old appeared in one game this season, pinch-running in extra-innings and scoring a run. He’d go on to make an error in the bottom of the inning on a play that would have ended the game. The A’s beat the Twins a batter later when Luis Arraez followed up Blankenhorn’s blunder with a throwing error of his own. Blankenhorn was a third round draft pick of the Twins in the 2015 draft, and he obviously has more to offer a Major League club than he’s had the opportunity to show this season.

If someone puts in a claim for Blankenhorn, it’ll be the second player lost on waivers by the Twins this week. The Orioles claimed left-hander Brandon Waddell off waivers from the Twins today, per Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). He has been assigned to Triple-A. Waddell was designated for assignment by the Twins yesterday to make room on the 40-man roster for Trevor Larnach.

In order to make the claim, the Orioles designated Jay Flaa for assignment, notes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports. Flaa logged 1 1/3 scoreless on April 27th for the Orioles in his only big league action of his career.

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