- The Orioles have selected infielder Paul Janish’s contract from Triple-A, per a team announcement. He’ll fill in for reserve infielder Ryan Flaherty, who went on the disabled list with a right shoulder strain. The defensively adept Janish is in his third season in the Orioles organization, but he has collected just 28 plate appearances with the O’s to this point. While Janish got off to a .255/.364/.378 start this season in 118 PAs with Norfolk prior to his promotion, he’s only a .216/.284/.289 hitter in 1,277 major league trips to the plate.
Orioles Rumors
Craig Gentry Accepts Outright Assignment
- Craig Gentry accepted his outright assignment to the Orioles’ Triple-A affiliate, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweets. Gentry was outrighted off Baltimore’s 40-man roster earlier this week, and he had the option of rejecting that assignment to become a free agent, though he has clearly chosen to remain in the organization. The veteran outfielder hit .162/.256/.270 in 44 plate appearance for the O’s this season.
Orioles Acquire Left-Hander Alex Katz From White Sox For Two International Pool Slots
The Orioles have acquired left-hander Alex Katz from the White Sox in exchange for international signing bonus slots #45 and #75, the club announced (Twitter link). The total value of those slots adds up to $756.3K (from Baseball America, here is the full list of slot values for the 2016-17 signing period, which ends on June 15).
A 27th-rounder for the Sox in the 2015 draft, Katz has a 3.09 ERA, 10.1 K/9 and 2.65 K/BB rate over 102 innings in the minors, appearing as a reliever in all but one of his 62 career games. Katz has shown a propensity for keeping the ball in the park, as he has surrendered only two homers during his career. Katz has yet to pitch above the Class-A level, and the Orioles announced that the 22-year-old will be assigned to their Class-A affiliate.
This is the third trade in six weeks that has seen the O’s deal away international signing slots in exchange for players, after April deals that brought right-hander Damien Magnifico to the team from the Brewers and southpaw Paul Fry from the Mariners. The Orioles have rather notoriously spent little on international free agents in recent years (as Baseball America’s Ben Badler recently noted in a severe critique of the club’s practices), so it makes sense that the team would look at its int’l bonus slots as trade chips.
The deal is also notable from Chicago’s end, as the team just spent between $25MM-$30MM in an agreement with Cuban outfielder Luis Robert. Since the Sox had to far exceed their bonus pool limit to make the signing, they owe a 100 percent overage on every dollar spent above their pool threshold. Increasing the size of that pool by $756.3K, therefore, saves the White Sox some money.
Michael Bourn Can Opt Out Of O's Deal On Monday
- Monday is Michael Bourn’s opt-out date in his minor league contract with the Orioles, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun reports. Bourn suffered a broken finger that sidelined him through most of Spring Training, which led the outfielder and the Orioles to agree to a new minors deal after Bourn opted out of his original pact. There isn’t an obvious spot for Bourn on the big league roster, with Trey Mancini, Seth Smith, Joey Rickard and Hyun Soo Kim providing the O’s with solid corner outfield depth. Kim, however, hasn’t hit much or seen a lot of action this season; Bourn could replace Kim as a left-handed hitting option while adding much more speed and defensive ability.
Orioles Designate Francisco Pena
The Orioles have designated catcher Francisco Pena for assignment, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the roster by righty reliever Stefan Crichton.
Pena, 27, remained on the roster yesterday despite the fact that starting backstop Welington Castillo was activated from the disabled list. However, he survived only 24 hours, as the O’s understandably decided not to carry three catchers and deploy a six-man bullpen for more than a day. Though Baltimore may not relish the thought of losing Pena via outright waivers, he’s out of minor league options, thus making a DFA the only means by which the team can attempt to stash him back in Triple-A.
The son of five-time All-Star and four-time Gold-Glove-winning catcher Tony Pena, Francisco has totaled just 57 plate appearances in the Majors in parts of four seasons. He’s demonstrated a bit of power in that time, batting .241/.268/.407 with three homers, but he’s also punched out in nearly a third of his Major League plate appearances. The younger Pena is a career .249/.295/.452 hitter in parts of five Triple-A seasons.
Pena has halted 31 percent of stolen base attempts against him in Triple-A (plus a solid 5-for-9 showing in his limited big league time) and has drawn consistently above-average marks for his framing efforts in the minors (via Baseball Prospectus). That skill set could make him appealing to clubs, though his lack of minor league options means that any team to claim Pena on waivers or acquire him via trade will have to carry him on the 25-man roster.
Orioles Release Juan Francisco
- The Diamondbacks have released veteran lefty Brian Matusz. Once a fixture in the Orioles’ pen, Matusz has struggled to regain his footing over the past two seasons. He was hit hard in nine MLB frames last year and was off to a rough start with the D-backs organization. Through 17 2/3 innings at Triple-A, he carried a 6.11 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9.
- The Orioles cut ties with third baseman Juan Francisco. Still just 29 years of age, the six-year MLB veteran hasn’t seen the majors since 2014 — which is also the last year in which he accumulated any playing time with an affiliated organization. Over 1,091 total trips to the plate in the majors, he owns a .236/.297/.439 slash with 48 long balls.
[SOURCE LINK]
Orioles Outright Craig Gentry
The Orioles announced that veteran outfielder Craig Gentry has been outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk in order to clear a spot on the active roster for Welington Castillo, who has been reinstated from the disabled list. The 33-year-old Gentry will have the option of rejecting that outright assignment in favor of free agency if he wishes.
[Related: Updated Baltimore Orioles depth chart]
Castillo’s return means that Baltimore is now carrying three catchers, as both Caleb Joseph and Francisco Pena (the latter of whom is out of minor league options) remain on the big league roster. And, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli points out, this move also means that Baltimore will (presumably briefly) utilize a six-man bullpen. Certainly, it seems likely that the O’s will look to get back to a seven-man bullpen in the near future.
Gentry, long a light-hitting defensive standout, has appeared in 33 games for the O’s this season but received just 44 plate appearances, with the result being a lackluster .162/.256/.270 batting line. Gentry’s struggles at the plate in limited action aren’t a new development, as he’s endured similar difficulties both 2015 and 2016.
Prior to that, he turned in a solid four-year stretch with the Rangers and A’s, during which he batted a combined .278/.353/.355 (plus 75 stolen bases in 87 attempts). The right-handed-hitting Gentry has a track record of posting useful numbers against left-handed pitching and could remain with the O’s as a depth option or latch on with a new club in need of some defensive-minded outfield depth.
Buck Showalter Not Worried About Dylan Bundy's Workload
- Orioles righty Dylan Bundy has already thrown 51 2/3 innings in 2017, meaning he’s nearly halfway to the career-high 109 1/3 professional frames he tossed last year. That could be a problem for the recent Tommy John surgery recipient, Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com points out. However, despite both Bundy’s innings total and the fact that he has amassed no fewer than 99 pitches in any of his eight starts, manager Buck Showalter isn’t overly concerned about the 24-year-old’s workload. “We’re careful. There is nobody more careful,” said Showalter. “I’m very proud about the health of our pitchers. It’s by design. It’s walk around and talk to them. Knowing their backgrounds. But to try to evaluate someone’s health on how many pitches or innings he’s thrown from one year to the next is a big excuse. It’s more about knowing the evidence and the person. Believe me, I’m concerned about it. I’ll put our track record of that part of it. … We’re watching everything Dylan does.”
Orioles Sign Adam Walker
The Orioles have signed first baseman/outfielder Adam Walker to a minor-league deal, according to Rock Kubatko of MASNsports.com (via Twitter). Walker was evidently cut loose by the Braves, who had claimed him off waivers from the O’s over the winter.
Walker, 25, took a ride around the league on the waiver wire before settling in Atlanta, where he ended up being outrighted. But the Braves didnt see much out of the high-power, high-K slugger. Through 99 plate appearances, split between Triple-A and Double-A, he managed just 11 base hits and eight walks while going down 39 times by way of strikeout.
Though there’s no questioning Walker’s power — he has handily topped twenty home runs in each of his full minor-league seasons — it’s highly questionable whether he’ll ever make enough contact and draw enough walks to make it to the majors. With a lifetime .305 on-base percentage in the minors, and little in the way of value on the bases or in the field, he’ll have to make strides to earn his way onto the O’s roster. That said, the Baltimore organization has perhaps relied more on such players than any team in baseball in recent years, so it seems a rather ideal fit for Walker.
Zach Britton Expected To Be Out For 6 to 8 Weeks
5:03pm: Britton will not pick up a ball for at least ten days, Ghiroli tweets. But he says he expects to be ready to return on the early side of the estimated timeline.
4:30pm: Orioles lefty Zach Britton is expected to miss approximately 45 to 60 days of action, as MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli reports (Twitter links). Britton has already been placed back on the 10-day DL with what the team has described as a forearm strain.
Britton, who established himself last year as one of the game’s truly elite relievers, has been cleared of structural issues. But the fact that his forearm ailment recurred after an initial rest-and-rehab effort obviously suggested a need for more cautious handling.
The estimated timeline seemingly builds in a lengthy period of rest. As Ghiroli reports, the plan is for Britton to be shut down for some time to allow the forearm to “completely calm down.”
Baltimore hopes to get the ace closer back by the All-Star break. Given that timeline, the organization ought to be able to assess his status before making any plans for the trade deadline. Of course, with Brad Brach providing excellent work in Britton’s stead — he has a 2.41 ERA and eight saves through 18 2/3 innings on the year — it’s unlikely the O’s will be in the market for a closer this summer.
