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Orioles Designate Joey Rickard, Select Sean Gilmartin

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The Orioles announced today that they have designated outfielder Joey Rickard for assignment. That creates a roster opening for the team to select the contract of lefty Sean Gilmartin.

Both of these players are former Rule 5 picks who managed to stick it out in the majors with their new teams. In each case, the initial hope faded over the long term.

Rickard, 28, has slashed just .203/.304/.347 in his 135 plate appearances on the season and hasn’t fared much better over the scope of his MLB career. As for Gilmartin, he has bounced around and failed to find steady work in the majors since a strong rookie year. He has pitched to a 2.48 ERA with 9.9 K/9 and 2.7 BB/9 in 36 1/3 Triple-A frames in 2019.

Adam Jones Opens Up About Invoking 10-And-5 Rights

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To the casual baseball fan, 10-and-5 Rights are little more than an annoyance that get in the way of otherwise stimulating trade content in July, but for players, this rarely-achieved benchmark represents a kind of hallowed ground. Ten years of MLB service time and five with the same organization provide players a full no-trade clause, a distinction that Adam Jones celebrated in Baltimore with a party thrown for him by his wife, writes The Athletic’s Brittany Ghiroli. After interviewing Jones about the process that brought him to Arizona, Ghiroli walks us through Jones’ mindset as he maneuvered a uniquely tumultuous calendar year for the Orioles’ long-time star.

Jones invoked his veto power to block a trade to Philadelphia last season, choosing stability and comfort in playing out his final contact in Baltimore where he played 11 seasons and accrued 31.6 rWAR. When a player like Jones rejects the opportunity to join a contender, many are quick to denounce the move as meddlesome, obstinance, or a signal of waning competitive drive. But players around the league supported Jones with texts of both congratulations and thanks. At season’s end, of course, Mike Elias took over the show in Baltimore and Jones heard nothing but crickets from Baltimore’s front office and ownership.

Jones’ saga is typical of the struggle facing veteran players these days (and Ghiroli’s piece is well worth a read). After being in-part vilified for invoking his well-earned right to stay in Baltimore, he received no interest as a free agent. Yet not even half a season later (now that he no longer controls his destiny), Jones could once again be in high-demand. This after receiving no interest as a free agent until a Steven Souza Jr. injury opened up playing time in right field for the Diamondbacks. His humbling offseason led to a resurgent season thus far for Jones, who brings a .279/.326/.488 line into play against the Nationals today.

At 33-years-old, Jones has the reputation of a player in decline largely because of a too-long stay in centerfield, but offensively he has remained much the same player he was in his prime. For his career, Jones carries a .278/.318/.458 line with 278 career home runs. He is not a superstar, but perhaps the poster boy for baseball’s undervalued middle class. Come the postseason, non-elites like Cody Ross, David Freese and Steve Pearce have often made the difference for championship clubs, and yet front offices around the league overlooked players like Jones and Hunter Pence – veteran clubhouse leaders whose on-field contributions in 2019 have so far outpaced the projections of their decline.

International Transactions: 6/13/19

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Here’s the latest on some international transactions news from around baseball…

  • The Blue Jays signed Cuban right-hander Yosver Zulueta and Dutch right-handers Jiorgeny Casimiri and Sem Robberse in some late additions before the end of the 2018-19 international signing period, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi writes.  Toronto acquired an extra $1.5MM of bonus pool funds in spring trades of Kendrys Morales to the A’s and Dwight Smith Jr. to the Orioles, which accounted for these three Jays signing (Zulueta received “the majority of their spending room,” as per Davidi).
  • The Orioles signed Dominican center fielder Stiven Acevedo to a contract with a $275K bonus in April, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes.  Acevedo’s birthday (August 2, 2002) made him a bit of an odd man out for the first batch of signings last July 2, as other teams committed most of their pools to players who were already 16 years old.  This left him available for Baltimore, who felt like Acevedo would have received a bonus of $1MM+ had he waited for the next international signing period this coming July 2.  Acevedo is already 6’4″ and 185 pounds despite his young age, “with feel for the barrel, not much swing-and-miss and the chance to grow into some power,” according to Meoli.  The piece is well worth a read for a full overview of the Orioles’ 2018-19 international signing endeavors, as the team has finally started to focus on the int’l market under new GM Mike Elias (and in the final weeks of former front office boss Dan Duquette’s tenure) and the O’s now seem positioned to be major players in the 2019-20 signing period.  In total, the O’s spent $2.167MM since last July 2, despite a signing pool that both rose and shrunk rapidly after multiple trades and pursuits of such high-profile prospects as the Mesa brothers.
  • Austin Bibens-Dirkx is no longer a member of the Uni-President Lions of the Chinese Professional Baseball League, the team announced (hat tip to Rob of CPBLStats.com)  Bibens-Dirkx wished to return to the United States to be with his wife as the couple expects a baby within the coming days.  Bibens-Dirkx posted a 5.27 ERA over 114 1/3 innings for the Rangers in 2017-18 before signing with the Uni-Lions in the offseason.  His time in the CPBL carries its share of struggles, as Bibens-Dirkx posted a 5.28 ERA and 1.26 WHIP 46 innings.

Mark Trumbo Has Setback In Rehab Process

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Mark Trumbo has been shut down for the next seven-to-ten days after receiving a PRP injection in his right knee, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com).  Trumbo has yet to play this season after undergoing knee surgery last September, and between his 60-day injury list placement and maximum injury rehab period, Trumbo was on pace to return to the roster this weekend.

Instead, however, the veteran slugger will continue to rest his knee, and “there’s not a real timetable” on when Trumbo could make his 2019 debut, according to Hyde.  “It was progressing well and is progressing well. He just felt some soreness yesterday, but he was running better and he was playing in the field and swinging the bat pretty well. Just felt some soreness yesterday, so we got him an injection and he’s going to be out a little while longer,” the manager said.

After a rough 2017 season, Trumbo provided above-average (107 wRC+, 108 OPS+) production in hitting .261/.313/.452 with 17 homers over 358 plate appearances for the Orioles in 2018.  A quicker return from knee surgery and a repeat of that performance could have created a slim chance that the Orioles would’ve been able to move Trumbo at the trade deadline and get a little of his $13.5MM salary for 2019 off the books.  Now, however, it doesn’t seem too likely that Trumbo will be back in Baltimore’s lineup before July, giving him little time to audition both his bat and his health for any interested teams.

When Trumbo is able to play, it’s also unclear as to how much time he’ll see in the lineup.  The Orioles already have Chris Davis obligated to receive some first base/DH at-bats, and the rebuilding team would obviously prefer to give Trey Mancini, Dwight Smith Jr., and Renato Nunez continued playing time in the corner outfield and DH spots, respectively.  With Trumbo set for free agency this winter, he isn’t a part of the Orioles’ long-term plans.

O’s GM Elias Discusses Trade Availability Of Trey Mancini

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Orioles GM Mike Elias addressed the media today regarding an unfortunate development for the team’s pitching staff. The conversation also drifted into the upcoming trade deadline — Elias’s first at the helm of the Baltimore baseball operations department.

In particular, as Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com covers, the rookie GM discussed the potentially tricky issue of how to handle young outfielder Trey Mancini. The 27-year-old has been the club’s most productive player this year, as Elias readily volunteered. Mancini is controllable through 2022 and will reach arbitration for the first time this fall.

Elias looked to walk a line in his comments, inviting offers while also making clear that he’s not going to just take whatever he can get for the team’s best trade chip. “We’re not looking to part with Trey,” said Elias. “That said, as I’ve said all along, we’re open to anything.”

Elias called Mancini “an integral part of this team.” He also left rather a wide door in discussing what it would take to make a deal. Rather than suggesting that the club would need to be overwhelmed or specifying the type of return he’d want, Elias said a trade would at least be possible if his front office “feel[s] that what we’re getting back is better for the organization than what we’re giving up.”

The rebuilding O’s are focused on the future, giving them ample reason to consider deals while Mancini is in good form. (After all, he wasn’t in 2018.) But it’s not the only option by any stretch. There is still some time left to enjoy Mancini. It never hurts to have at least one popular, homegrown star to please the fans that show up and help bridge to a new period of competitiveness.

If that’s the path that Elias takes, then it certainly would make sense for the club to check in on the possibility of an extension. It doesn’t sound as if talks have occurred to this point, but Elias said that it’s “certainly a thought that’s crossed my mind.” Labeling Mancini a player the team would like to keep “around for the long haul,” the new chief baseball decisionmaker certainly opened the door to that possibility without setting any expectations. Mid-season deals for younger players are rather rare, but some chatter over the winter or next spring would hardly be surprising — if Mancini remains in Baltimore.

Alex Cobb To Undergo Season-Ending Hip Surgery

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Orioles right-hander Alex Cobb will miss the remainder of the 2019 season due to season-ending hip surgery, general manager Mike Elias announced to reporters Tuesday (Twitter links via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). The operation will fix an impingement in his right hip, and Kubatko adds that Cobb might also undergo a procedure on his knee.

Cobb, 31, is in the second season of a four-year, $57MM contract that has blown up in Baltimore’s face to this point. The longtime Rays right-hander got out to a poor start in 2018 but at least gave the club some cause for optimism when he posted a 2.59 ERA and 42-to-18 K/BB ratio in 66 innings down the stretch. That solid stretch of games was only enough to push his overall ERA to 4.90, though, and he was limited to 12 1/3 innings due to a lumbar strain in 2019 prior to today’s announcement.

In all, Cobb has given the Orioles 164 2/3 innings of 5.34 ERA ball over the course of 31 starts since signing his deal. A decent showing in the first half of the year might’ve been enough to allow the Orioles to shed a portion of his contract’s remainder, but that now looks all but impossible. The O’s will have to hope that Cobb can return to health in 2020, if for no other reason than to help soak up innings for a club that is quite thin in terms up upper-level pitching depth in the minors.

Cobb is still set to be paid $14MM in 2020 and $15MM in 2021, but a portion of those salaries are deferred and will be paid out in annual increments from 2023-32.

Orioles Acquire Tom Eshelman From Phillies

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The Orioles have acquired right-hander Tom Eshelman from the Phillies in exchange for international bonus allocations, per announcements from both clubs. Eshelman has been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk for the time being.

Eshelman, 24, was a second-round pick by the Astros back in 2015 (when Baltimore GM Mike Elias was with Houston) and landed with the Phillies by way of the Ken Giles trade in the 2016-17 offseason. Eshelman opened the season in Double-A Reading and struggled to a 6.28 ERA in 28 2/3 innings, but he did so with strong K/BB numbers that led metrics like FIP (3.79) and xFIP (2.98) to forecast better days on the horizon. The Phillies bumped him up to Triple-A Lehigh Valley, and Eshelman responded well. In four starts there (26 innings), he’s notched a 2.77 ERA with a 23-to-5 K/BB ratio and a 48.6 percent ground-ball rate.

While Eshelman is Norfolk-bound for the time being, it’s not difficult to see him emerging as an option at the Major League level in the near future. Between the 2017-19 seasons, he’s made a total of 48 starts at the Triple-A level, so he has plenty of upper-minors experience. And the Orioles’ rotation has performed dreadfully as a collective unit, posting a 5.42 ERA that ranks 26th in the Majors as well as an MLB-worst 5.87 FIP.

Manager Brandon Hyde said about three weeks ago that the front office had been exploring various avenues to add some rotation depth to the organization, and acquiring Eshelman certainly fits that mold. He wasn’t considered to be among the top prospects in the Phillies’ system but gives the Orioles the type of fairly advanced arm that they’re lacking in the upper levels of a farm system that’s still being rebuilt (and will be for the next few years).

Currently, the Orioles are deploying Andrew Cashner, Dylan Bundy, John Means, David Hess and Gabriel Ynoa, but the latter two of that quintet have struggled in particular. Veteran righty Alex Cobb remains sidelined by a back injury, while Nate Karns is on the shelf indefinitely due to a flexor strain. The alternatives in Triple-A are collectively underperforming, as each of Josh Rogers, Luis Ortiz and Chandler Shepherd has an ERA over 7.00.

As for the Phillies, they’ll add a bit of money — no amount was specified — to add a few more international players to their minor league ranks in the coming days. The 2018-19 international signing period comes to a close on June 15, but this swap should give them more funds to add a bit more talent to the lower levels of the system. International signing slots need to be traded in $250K increments, so the Phils picked up at least that much in this deal — and quite possibly more, given Eshelman’s proximity to the Majors.

Minor MLB Transactions: 6/8/19

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We’ll use this post to track some minor moves around the majors…

  • The Yankees placed Masahiro Tanaka on paternity leave so he could be with his wife for the birth of their second child, the team announced. He will miss his scheduled start on Sunday. Lefty Nestor Cortes Jr. has been called up from Triple-A in the meantime. This will be Cortes Jr.’s second stint with the big league club this season. He made four appearances in May, soaking up eleven innings as a long man with a 4.91 ERA. He is 2-2 with a 3.86 ERA in Triple-A, making six starts and one appearance out of the pen. Cortes could certainly slide in for a spot start on Sunday, but the Yankees have not yet made that determination. Tanaka leads the Yanks in innings pitched with 76 1/3 across 13 starts. He is 3-5 with a 3.42 ERA (4.09 FIP). He should be ready to rejoin the club by Tuesday.
  • The Rangers have called up lefty Joe Palumbo from Double-A, while David Carpenter has been designated for assignment, per MLB Roster Moves. Palumbo, 26, will be making his major league debut after pitching to a 3.38 ERA across nine starts for the Frisco RoughRiders. Carpenter, 33, made just one appearance with the Rangers after collecting a 1.76 ERA in 15 appearances for their Triple-A club. The veteran righty has pitched for the Astros, Blue Jays, Braves, Yankees and Nationals, though his lone appearance with the Rangers on Tuesday was his first in the majors since 2015. He owns a solid 3.74 career ERA, earned across 219 career appearances from 2011 to 2015.
  • The Orioles recalled Evan Phillips from Triple-A after optioning Branden Kline yesterday as they continue to seek personnel to get outs out of their bullpen, per MLB.com’s Joe Trezza (via Twitter). Phillips has struggled to find a foothold in the big leagues with a 9.85 ERA across 21 appearances, including a 6.92 ERA in 12 appearances for Baltimore this season. He came to Baltimore from Atlanta as part of the Kevin Gausman deal at last year’s deadline. Kline, for his part, heads to Triple-A with a 5.89 ERA in 15 appearances, though he has been particularly ineffective of late. He was tagged with an earned run in each of his last five appearances, taking two losses in that span. Of the ten pitchers who have pitched out of the Oriole bullpen and made at least 10 appearances on the season, only Gabriel Ynoa (4.96 ERA, 4.92 FIP), Paul Fry (3.51 ERA, 4.67 FIP), and Shawn Armstrong (1.93 ERA, 4.57 FIP) can boast an ERA under 5.00. Although, amongst those in that same group, Phillips actually holds the lowest FIP on the season at 3.76, helped by 11.8 K/9.

Orioles Likely To Place Dwight Smith Jr. On Injured List

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TODAY: Smith is indeed going on the seven-day concussion IL, the club announced. Outfielder Anthony Santander takes his spot on the active roster.

YESTERDAY: The Orioles expect to place outfielder Dwight Smith Jr. on the injured list, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters after Thursday’s loss to the Rangers (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com and Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com). Smith crashed into the left field wall in the fourth inning, eventually forcing him to exit the game.

“He’s going to be out for a while,” Hyde said. “He’s going through concussion protocol, they’re going to X-ray his shoulder up here that he banged in the wall and he’s holding his jaw. It was like a car wreck.

The 26-year-old Smith has been one of last-place Baltimore’s best offensive players this season, which admittedly isn’t saying much. Still, Smith has perhaps given the Orioles better offensive production than they could have hoped for when they acquired him from the division-rival Blue Jays in early March.

In his first extensive look in the majors, Smith has hit .249/.296/.462 (98 wRC+) with 11 home runs, a .213 ISO and four steals on five attempts across 243 plate appearances. Smith has not complemented his respectable offensive output with quality defense, however, as evidenced by his minus-5 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-3.3 Ultimate Zone Rating and minus-6 Outs Above Average.

The Orioles replaced Smith on Thursday with Stevie Wilkerson, who could take over as their main left fielder if the former does go on the IL. Should Smith miss time, Baltimore would likely summon an outfielder from the minor leagues to take his roster spot. The team’s 40-man outfielders in the minors include Joey Rickard, Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and one of its top prospects, Austin Hays.

Draft Notes: Leiter, Mets, Allan, Cubs, Rutschman

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The Yankees called a familiar name with their 20th-round selection, drafting high school pitcher Jack Leiter.  The right-hander is the son of former Yankees pitcher and broadcaster Al Leiter, and is considered one of the top arms of the entire draft class.  Were it not for the younger Leiter’s commitment to attend Vanderbilt in the fall, he “would have gone [in the] top 10 picks, easy” a scout tells MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link).  (The consensus among pundits wasn’t quite that lofty, though he was seen as a high-end draft prospect.) It isn’t unusual for teams to take a flier of a pick on such prospects just to see if they could be enticed to begin their pro careers early, and despite the past ties between the Yankees and the Leiter family, both Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand believe Jack Leiter will indeed head to Vanderbilt.  Cooper doesn’t think the Yankees have the bonus pool budget available to offer Leiter anything close to his asking price to forego his college commitment, while Feinsand counters any suggestion of a possible wink-wink deal between Leiter and his dad’s old team by noting that the senior Leiter currently works for the Mets as an advisor in the baseball ops department.

As the draft officially comes to an end for another year, here’s more news and notes from the 2019 class…

  • The Mets selected high-school right-hander Matthew Allan with the 89th overall pick, an intriguing part of a strategy by the team to focus their efforts “into largely a three-player draft,” J.J. Cooper writes for Baseball America.  Allan is another of the draft’s top high-school arms, but reportedly wanted a $4MM bonus (greater than the slot price for all but the top 14 picks) to turn pro rather than attend the University of Florida.  The 89th overall pick only carries a $667.9K recommended price, though the Mets drafted all college seniors (who have less negotiating leverage) in rounds 4-10 to potentially carve out space in their bonus pool.  By saving money on those picks and perhaps even on first-rounder Brett Baty, the Mets could have enough to meet Allan’s price.  Matt Ehalt of Yahoo Sports also reports that Allan’s actual demand is “not near the $4MM that has been thrown out,” so the team could have even more breathing room.
  • The Cubs haven’t had much success in developing their own pitchers in recent years, and their pick of right-hander Ryan Jensen with the 27th overall selection represents how the team is adjusting its thinking in trying to solve this problem, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian writes.  “Ryan Jensen certainly hits the nail on the head in terms of things that I’ve talked about that we probably avoided,” Cubs senior VP of player development and amateur scouting Jason McLeod told Bastian and other reporters.  Jensen has had mechanical issues during his time at Fresno State, and at only 6’0″ tall and 180 pounds, the righty doesn’t cut an imposing figure on the mound.  The young hurler had two important supporters, however, in Cubs area scout Gabe Zappi and pitching coordinator Brendan Sagara, plus McLeod was himself impressed watching one of Jensen’s starts in person on May 16.
  • Reports from the night prior to the draft suggested that the Orioles were still considering multiple options as the first overall pick, and GM Mike Elias indeed told reporters (including MLB.com’s Joe Trezza) that “the first four picks were all under significant discussion from us at one point or another.”  Rather than take Bobby Witt Jr., Andrew Vaughn, or JJ Bleday, the O’s instead stuck to expectations and chose top-rated prospect Adley Rutschman.  “There are pros and cons with every player profile and every player. We like to work our way through all of that and ultimately decided for the long-range benefit of the organization that this was the right pick,” Elias said.  It’s hard to argue with the choice, given that Rutschman was widely seen as the top talent available in this year’s class (and perhaps in many years).  Elias praised his new player as “a team leader on and off the field” and “a future fixture for this organization.”
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