Orioles Rumors

Orioles Claim Corbin Martin, Recall Kyle Stowers

By Steve Adams | May 13, 2024 at 1:23pm CDT

1:23pm: Baltimore will option top outfield prospect Heston Kjerstad to Norfolk to make room for Stowers, tweets Ghiroli.

12:50pm: The Orioles announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Corbin Martin off waivers from the Brewers. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s 40-man roster had an open spot and is now at capacity. It seems as though this will be just one of multiple moves for Baltimore today, as Britt Ghiroli of The Athletic also reports that the O’s are calling up outfielder Kyle Stowers from Norfolk. The team has yet to announce that move or any corresponding transactions.

Martin, 28, was a second-round pick of the Astros in 2017 who went from Houston to Arizona as one of the headline pieces in 2019’s Zack Greinke blockbuster. His career trajectory has been impacted by injuries — Tommy John surgery most notably. Martin pitched in the big leagues in 2019, 2021 and 2022 but has just 57 2/3 MLB frames under his belt. He’s limped to a 6.71 earned run average in that time, fanning a well below-average 19% of his opponents against a weighty 13.6% walk rate.

Entering that 2019 season in which he was traded, Martin ranked 78th and 81st on the respective top-100 prospect lists published by Baseball America and MLB.com. He was touted as a high-probability mid-rotation arm, having just wrapped up a season that saw him toss 122 innings of 2.51 ERA ball with a 25.5% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate between High-A and Double-A. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early July and was included in the aforementioned Greinke trade just weeks later — a deal that was completed and filed just seconds before the deadline. Martin missed the entire 2020 season as a result and hasn’t looked the same in any of his post-surgery seasons.

In parts of three seasons since that ligament reconstruction, Martin has pitched to an ERA north of 6.00 in Triple-A. Hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League caveat notwithstanding, that type of performance simply doesn’t measure up to his prior promise. He was tagged for 21 runs in 16 big league innings with Arizona in 2021, posted a 6.08 ERA in 77 frames with the D-backs in 2022, and missed the entire 2023 season after suffering a torn tendon in his latissimus dorsi during spring training.

More concerning than the poor ERA marks was the evaporation of Martin’s command post-elbow surgery. The 7.3% walk rate he posted in 2018 feels like a distant memory. Martin issued a free pass to 11.4% of his opponents in 2021-22 (MLB and Triple-A combined). He walked a massive 13 of 50 opponents thus far in 2024 (26%).

All of those struggles aside, it’s not entirely surprising to see the Orioles claim Martin. Baltimore general manager Mike Elias was the Astros’ scouting director in 2017 when they selected Martin with the 56th overall pick in the draft and paid him a $1MM signing bonus. Elias is keenly familiar with Martin — both as the pitcher he was shaping up to be prior to his injuries and as a person.

As for Stowers, he’ll return to the big leagues for a third straight season. He hit fairly well in a small sample of 98 plate appearances in 2022 before floundering through a 2-for-30 stretch at the plate in the majors last season. The lefty-swinging 26-year-old is out to a .240/.315/.541 start in Norfolk this season and has already socked 11 home runs in 165 trips to the plate.

Contact remains something of an issue, as Stowers is still punching out in just shy of 27% of his plate appearances against a 7.9% walk rate. Nonetheless, he’ll add some left-handed pop to Baltimore’s outfield mix for the time being. Stowers has spent the bulk of his pro career in right field but has experience in all three spots and has spent more time in center this year (115 innings) than either right field (89) or left field (54).

East Notes: Riley, Rodriguez, Poche, Winker

By Mark Polishuk | May 12, 2024 at 10:30pm CDT

Austin Riley left tonight’s game in the fourth inning with what the Braves described as left side tightness. The removal was specifically cited to be “a precaution,” so there isn’t yet any indication that Riley may have suffered an oblique-related injury. Speaking with reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) afterwards, Riley said he felt the side soreness during batting practice but didn’t inform the team because he didn’t think the issue was too much of a concern.

Though Atlanta has an impressive 24-13 record, Riley is one of a few Braves stars who have yet to really get rolling at the plate. A top-seven finisher in NL MVP voting in each of the last three seasons, Riley has hit only .245/.319/.388 over his first 163 plate appearances, with just three home runs. The power dropoff is unusual since Riley’s advanced metrics are largely similar to previous seasons, though since Riley has also shown some streakiness in past years, a breakout might be just around the corner if he is healthy. Losing Riley for any stretch of time would hurt Atlanta’s lineup, though the newly-acquired Short might have a sudden path to regular lineup if Riley does need to hit the injured list.

More from the NL and AL East divisions….

Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez came out of a 30-pitch bullpen session today feeling “great,” he told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters. Rodriguez’s 15-day IL stint due to shoulder inflammation retroactively started on April 30, so Wednesday would be his first day eligible for activation, though it seems as though he’ll be out for at least a little beyond that date. Rodriguez figures he’ll throw another bullpen session and then it isn’t yet certain if he’ll need a rehab start or not before returning to Baltimore’s rotation. With a 3.71 ERA in his first 34 innings, Rodriguez is one of several Orioles pitchers performing well this season, giving the O’s a nice problem to sort out once everyone is healthy.
Mid-back tightness sent Colin Poche to the Rays’ 15-day IL on April 24, and he had to halt his throwing program to receive “a second cortisone-type shot, a more impactful kind for which he had to undergo anesthesia,” Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes. The plan is for Poche to start throwing again on Wednesday, and this setback might push his IL activation into June. Poche was a quality workhorse out of the Rays’ bullpen in 2022-23, but he has struggled to a 6.75 ERA in 9 1/3 innings so far this season.
Jesse Winker had to make an early exit today, as Winker’s back spasms forced the Nationals to pinch-hit for the outfielder in the sixth inning of today’s 3-2 loss to the Red Sox. Winker told the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden (X link) and other reporters that his back was sore even prior to the game, but the issue got worse after he dove for a Rob Refsnyder line drive single in the bottom of the fifth. Though he has greatly cooled off since a very strong start to the season, Winker’s .235/.350/.386 slash line and four homers over 157 PA still translates to a 114 wRC+, representing a nice bounce-back from a very disappointing 2023 campaign. It seems like Winker will miss a game or two at least, and a 10-day IL stint might be necessary if the spasms persist.

Dylan Bundy Retires

By Nick Deeds | May 12, 2024 at 8:50am CDT

Veteran right-hander Dylan Bundy hasn’t pitched professionally in nearly a year, and in an interview with MASN’s Roch Kubatko this morning revealed that he has retired from baseball. The veteran right-hander pitched in parts of eight seasons in the majors with the Orioles, Angels, and Twins.

Drafted fourth overall by Baltimore out of high school in the 2011 draft, Bundy was long a consensus top prospect in the sport. He flew threw the minor leagues to make his big league debut in September of 2012 at the age of 19, throwing 1 2/3 scoreless innings across two appearances in the brief cup of coffee. Unfortunately, injuries would keep him from returning to the big leagues for several years after that. Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery back in 2013, and rehab cost him that whole season as well as the first half of 2014. Bundy then made just eight starts in 2015 due to shoulder issues.

The right-hander finally re-emerged at the big league level in 2016 at the age of 23. He split time between the Orioles’ starting rotation and bullpen throughout his rookie season, pitching to an above-average 4.07 ERA and striking out 21.9% of batters faced. That performance was enough to earn Bundy a rotation spot entering the 2017 season, and he delivered a solid back-of-the-rotation season for the Orioles with a 4.24 ERA and a 4.32 FIP in 169 2/3 innings of work. The highlight of Bundy’s 2017 campaign came on August 29, when he struck out 12 batters in a complete game shutout of the Mariners that saw him surrender just one hit and two walks.

Bundy was the club’s Opening Day starter in 2018 and remained with the Orioles through the end of the 2019 season as a dependable starting pitcher, ultimately posting a roughly league average 4.67 ERA with a 4.75 FIP and 602 strikeouts during his tenure in Baltimore. Bundy’s time with the Orioles came to an end in December of 2019, when he was traded to the Angels in a deal that sent a package of four youngsters to Baltimore, including current Orioles starter Kyle Bradish.

While the 2020 season was cut to just 60 games by the COVID-19 Pandemic, Bundy nonetheless went on to post the best season of his career during the abbreviated season. In 11 starts with the Angels, the righty pitched to a strong 3.29 ERA (138 ERA+) with an excellent 27% strikeout rate in 65 2/3 innings of work. The strong performance earned Bundy a ninth place finish in AL Cy Young award voting that year, and his sterling 2.95 FIP ranked behind only Shane Bieber, Zack Greinke, and Framber Valdez among AL starting pitchers.

The strong performance during the shortened season earned Bundy Opening Day starter honors for the second time in his career, but the righty struggled badly throughout the 2021 campaign and eventually found himself moved to the bullpen in late June. After returning to the swing role in which he started his MLB career, Bundy performed a bit better with a decent. 4.21 ERA in nine appearances (five starts) through the rest of the summer before his season came to a premature end in late August thanks to a shoulder strain.

Bundy went on to pitch for the Twins in 2022 after signing a one-year deal with the club. He made 29 starts for Minnesota, though he struggled to a relatively pedestrian 4.80 ERA and 4.66 FIP as his strikeout rate dipped to just 15.8%. That left Bundy to sign a minor league deal with the Mets during the 2022-23 offseason, though he made just six starts for Triple-A Syracuse before being placed on the injured list in May of that year and eventually being released from the Mets that July.

In his interview with Kubatko, Bundy discussed his decision to step away from the game, noting that “nothing was feeling good” during his stint in the Mets organization last year as he sat just 87-88 with his fastball, which had averaged 91.7 mph throughout his big league career. After departing the Mets last summer, Bundy decided to stay home for the rest of the 2023 season and while he considered returning to pitching during the offseason, he ultimately decided to step away from the game. Kubatko added that Bundy has now begun work as a real estate agent for Ary Land Company in his hometown of Sperry, Oklahoma.

In all, Bundy pitched 910 2/3 innings in 190 appearances across eight big league seasons. He finishes his career with 852 strikeouts, 54 wins, and a 4.74 ERA. We at MLBTR congratulate Bundy on a fine playing career and wish him all the best in retirement.

Orioles Notes: Kimbrel, Bullpen, Rotation

By Anthony Franco | May 10, 2024 at 9:54pm CDT

The Orioles locked down a 4-2 win over the Diamondbacks tonight, pulling to an AL-best 25-12 record. The victory, which included some interesting decisions from Brandon Hyde, featured 4 1/3 scoreless innings from the bullpen behind Cole Irvin.

Baltimore’s skipper called upon Craig Kimbrel to pitch the seventh inning with the team holding a one-run lead. Kimbrel retired Blaze Alexander, Kevin Newman and Ketel Marte in order. Jacob Webb, Cionel Pérez and Yennier Cano followed in relief to secure the victory.

It’s the first time this season that Kimbrel has entered a game before the ninth inning. The nine-time All-Star has hit a rough patch of late, failing to finish off save opportunities against the Reds and Nationals in his previous two appearances. After the game, Hyde demurred when asked whether Kimbrel was being pulled from the closer job. The manager said Kimbrel’s role is “day to day” and that he hoped to get the scuffling right-hander a different look this evening (X link via Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun).

Even if the O’s decide to move away from Kimbrel as a full-time closer, he’s clearly still among their most important relievers. Protecting a one-run lead in the seventh is a high-leverage spot — although it did come against the 8-9-1 hitters in the Arizona batting order. Webb and Cano have arguably been Baltimore’s two best relievers this year, so they’re probably better suited than Kimbrel to take on the middle of an opponent’s lineup.

The O’s signed Kimbrel to a $13MM free agent deal with the hope that he’d solidify the ninth after Félix Bautista’s Tommy John procedure. Kimbrel has technically gone 8-11 in save opportunities, but his two previous appearances — in which he didn’t complete the ninth inning but was pulled before the O’s relinquished the lead — aren’t considered blown saves. Kimbrel had only successfully locked down the game in one of his last five tries.

Including tonight’s performance, he owns a 4.40 ERA through 14 1/3 innings. Kimbrel has punched out 22 of 62 batters faced (an excellent 35.5% rate) but he has also walked nearly 15% of his opponents. He’d walked between 10 and 11% of hitters in each of the previous two seasons with the Dodgers and Phillies. While Kimbrel had a couple rough outings in the postseason with Philadelphia, he went 23-28 on save opportunities with a 3.26 ERA during the regular season last year.

Hyde could take a broadly flexible approach to the entire pitching staff. Beyond potentially shuffling the high-leverage bullpen roles, he told reporters before tonight’s game that the team would consider moving to a six-man rotation when the schedule necessitates (relayed on X by Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Baltimore is off next Thursday before playing 14 straight through May 30. The following month is particularly grueling, as the O’s only have one day off in June (on 6/17).

Baltimore is currently operating with a five-man staff comprising Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish, John Means, Dean Kremer and Irvin. Right-handers Grayson Rodriguez and Tyler Wells are on the 15-day injured list. Rodriguez doesn’t seem far off from returning and will surely step back into the MLB rotation when healthy. With Irvin and Kremer pitching very well of late, there’s sense in moving to a six-man staff when Rodriguez is back given the upcoming heavy schedule.

MLBTR Podcast: Luis Arráez To San Diego, Other Marlins Trade Candidates And Discussing A Potential Automated Strike Zone

By Darragh McDonald | May 8, 2024 at 11:59pm CDT

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…

The Padres acquiring Luis Arráez from the Marlins (0:40)
Who else the Marlins might trade this summer (7:05)
What’s next for the Padres? (12:55)

Plus, we answer your questions, including…

When can we expect to see Paul Skenes called up by the Pirates and when do you think Jackson Holliday will be brought up again by the Orioles? (17:10)
I’m looking ahead at robo umps calling balls/strikes. Do you think it will dramatically affect counting stats for hitters while affecting pitchers stats negatively in the other direction? (20:55)
What measures can be implemented to stop teams like the Tigers from continually rebuilding and why do the Tigers hesitate to send struggling players to the minors? (31:50)

Check out our past episodes!

Mailbag: José Abreu Demoted, The Positional Surplus Myth, Erick Fedde’s Trade Value And More – listen here
Mailbag: Cardinals’ Troubles, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Bad Umpiring And More – listen here
Free Agent Power Rankings, Shohei Ohtani’s Stolen Money And The A’s Moving To Sacramento – listen here

The podcast intro and outro song “So Long” is provided courtesy of the band Showoff. Check out their Facebook page here!

Mets Designate Max Kranick, Claim Yohan Ramirez

By Steve Adams | May 6, 2024 at 1:43pm CDT

The Mets announced Monday that they’ve claimed right-hander Yohan Ramirez off waivers from the Orioles, who recently designated him for assignment. In a corresponding move, the Mets designated right-hander Max Kranick for assignment. The move to claim Ramirez comes less than a month after the Mets themselves designated Ramirez for assignment and traded him to Baltimore in exchange for cash. Ramirez is out of minor league options, so he’ll head right to the big league bullpen.

The revolving-door act with Ramirez isn’t entirely new for the 2024 Mets. He’s the second reliever to be designated for assignment and traded for cash, only to eventually return via waiver claim, joining Michael Tonkin in that regard. The Mets followed a similar course with Tonkin, trading him to Minnesota and quickly reclaiming him. That pattern could continue throughout the season. The Mets have very few bullpen pieces with minor league options remaining and will need to regularly cycle through different names in the last couple spots due to that lack of flexibility.

Ramirez, who turns 29 today, has pitched in eight games between the Mets and O’s this season. He’s logged 11 1/3 innings in that time and been rocked for 11 runs, though that’s obviously a tiny sample. The hard-throwing righty entered the season with a career 3.99 ERA in 124 big league frames between the Mariners, Guardians, Pirates and White Sox.

Ramirez has fanned a roughly average 23.1% of his career opponents in the big leagues, but his 12.4% walk rate is bloated well beyond league-average levels. He’ll give the Mets a fresh arm after using five relievers yesterday (the second straight day for Reed Garrett and Sean Reid-Foley). However, given the Mets’ handling of the final couple bullpen spots so far, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone if it’s a brief stay on the roster for Ramirez.

The Mets claimed Kranick, 26, off waivers from the Pirates back in January. He opened the season on the injured list due to a hamstring strain and was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse in late April upon being reinstated. Through his first seven innings in Triple-A this year, Kranick has allowed only two earned runs but has done so while issuing more walks (four) than strikeouts recorded (two). He’s also served up eight hits, including a pair of homers.

Coincidentally, both Kranick and Ramirez were with the Pirates last season — and at one point Ramirez was designated for assignment in order to make way for Kranick’s return to the roster after he’d recovered from 2022 Tommy John surgery. This time around, it’s Kranick giving way for Ramirez’s return to the pair’s current organization.

In 43 2/3 big league innings, Kranick has a 5.56 ERA. He’s fanned a below-average 17.9% of his opponents while issuing walks at a 10.9% clip that’s more than two percentage points north of the league average. A former 11th-round pick, Kranick has a solid track record in Triple-A, where he’s pitched in parts of four seasons and notched a 3.63 ERA through 24 appearances (23 of them starts). He’s fanned just 17.8% of opponents there as well but done so with much better command, evidenced by a 7.9% walk rate.

Kranick is in the last of his three minor league option seasons. He hasn’t had much big league success, but his optionability and Triple-A track record could earn him a look from a club in need of some rotation depth. In the next five days, Kranick will either be traded or placed on outright waivers or release waivers (both of which are a 48-hour process). He’s never been outrighted in the past, so if he clears waivers, the Mets will be able to assign him outright to Syracuse and retain his rights without needing to commit a 40-man roster spot to Kranick.

Orioles Reinstate Kyle Bradish, Designate Yohan Ramírez

By Darragh McDonald | May 2, 2024 at 9:35am CDT

The Orioles announced today that right-hander Kyle Bradish has been reinstated from the injured list and will start today’s game. To open a roster spot for him, righty Yohan Ramírez has been designated for assignment.

Bradish has been on the injured list all season and will be making his season debut today. While missing more than a month to start the year is less than ideal, it’s essentially a best-case scenario when considering where things stood a few months back. Bradish was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in the middle of February, which naturally led to worries about Tommy John surgery and an absence of more than a year.

But the righty receive a platelet-rich plasma injection and began a throwing program shortly thereafter. A few weeks later, general manager Mike Elias said that subsequent MRIs had shown “accelerated healing” of the ligament. Bradish began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago and made three starts, tossing 3 innings, then 3 1/3, then 5 frames.

Considering the scary diagnosis from the winter, seeing Bradish return to a big league mound just a few months later is just about the best outcome that could have been imagined. He had a huge breakout for the O’s last year, making 30 starts and finishing the year with a 2.83 earned run average. He struck out 25% of batters faced, walking opponents at a 6.6% rate while keeping 49.2% of balls in play on the ground. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting.

Getting that kind of production back in the rotation will be key for the Orioles, as their starting staff has been in constant flux this year. Both Bradish and John Means started the season on the injured list. Tyler Wells and Grayson Rodriguez have gone on the IL in recent weeks, though Means and Bradish have now both been activated. That leaves the club with a rotation of Bradish, Means, Corbin Burnes, Cole Irvin and Dean Kremer, with Albert Suárez likely bumped into a long relief role.

Despite the various injuries, the club has weathered the storm well. They are currently 19-11, one of the best records in baseball so far this year. Their starting staff has a collective ERA of 3.58 at the moment, which places them 10th in the majors.

The activation of Bradish will cost Ramírez his roster spot. It’s now possible that he will celebrate his birthday in DFA limbo, as he turns 29 on Monday. The righty has bounced around the league quite a bit in his career, having gone from the Mariners to the Guardians, Pirates, White Sox, Mets and Orioles over the past few years.

His stints with those last three clubs have each been fairly brief. The White Sox claimed him off waivers from the Pirates in September of last year. He was designated for assignment in December and traded to the Mets for cash. He lasted with the Mets through the winter but was designated for assignment just over a week into the season, going to the O’s in another cash deal.

Between the Mets and the Orioles, he has thrown 11 1/3 innings this year with an 8.74 ERA, though a lot of that ERA is due to a five-run outing for the Mets just before they cut him loose. He has struck out 22.2% of batters faced this year while walking 11.1%. He is out of options, so the only way for the O’s to clear him from the active roster was to remove him from the 40-man entirely.

They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He now has a career ERA of 4.39 in 135 1/3 innings, going back to his 2020 debut. His 23.1% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate are both around league average, though his 12.4% walk rate is on the high side.

Orioles Place Grayson Rodriguez On Injured List

By Steve Adams | May 1, 2024 at 12:45pm CDT

The Orioles announced Wednesday that they’ve placed right-hander Grayson Rodriguez on the 15-day injured list due to inflammation in his right shoulder. The move is retroactive to April 30. Rodriguez will be replaced by veteran lefty John Means, who has been reinstated from a stint on the 15-day IL himself. Means has yet to pitch this season while recovering from a left forearm strain.

To this point, it’s unclear when Rodriguez hurt himself or how serious the injury is. He started Monday’s game and went 5 2/3 innings, throwing 101 pitches in the process. Until more information comes from the club, it can only be speculated as to how long he’ll out.

Regardless, it’s always a bit concerning when anything goes on with a pitcher’s throwing arm. Losing Rodriguez for any amount of time is a blow to the O’s since he has been in good form for quite a while now. His big league career got off to a rough start last year, as he had a 7.35 earned run average through 10 starts.

The Orioles optioned him to the minors and recalled him almost two months later, with Rodriguez posting good results since then. He had a 2.58 ERA after that recall last year and he has a 3.71 mark so far this year. Going back to that midseason call-up last year to today, he has a 2.93 ERA over 19 starts. In that time, he has a 24.4% strikeout rate, 7.3% walk rate and 46.7% ground ball rate.

Subtracting that kind of pitcher would hurt any rotation, but the O’s also have Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells on the injured list. Until today, Means was in that group as well. After today’s transactions, the healthy rotation consists of Means, Corbin Burnes, Cole Irvin, Dean Kremer and Albert Suárez.

Burnes is excellent but there are some question marks behind him. Irvin has a good ERA this year but iffy peripherals that suggest he’s not much different from past seasons. Kremer has a 4.19 ERA despite a .209 batting average on balls in play he won’t be able to maintain. Suárez has looked good in his three starts but it’s anyone’s guess if he can keep it going since he’s 34 years old and this is his first stint in the majors since 2017.

As for Means, he’s a big unknown himself. The lefty posted a 3.81 ERA with the O’s until requiring Tommy John surgery in April of 2022. He returned late last year and made four starts but didn’t make the club’s postseason roster due to some elbow soreness. He began this year on the IL and has been rehabbing in recent weeks, but with shaky results. He has thrown 18 2/3 innings for Triple-A Norfolk but with 18 earned runs allowed in that time.

It’s impossible to say what Means can provide for the club this year after hardly pitching at all in the previous two seasons and his poor results during his rehab, though he would be an asset if he could even get part of the way back to his pre-surgery form. Bradish is also nearing activation, which will give Baltimore another arm to bolster the group and could perhaps push Suárez into a long relief role in the bullpen.

Orioles Notes: Tate, Kimbrel, Norby

By Steve Adams | April 30, 2024 at 12:11pm CDT

The Orioles announced last night that right-hander Dillon Tate has been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk, thus opening a roster spot for lefty Cionel Perez to return from the injured list. Perez missed the past month with an oblique strain.

It’s a somewhat surprising move, if only because Tate hasn’t been optioned to the minors since the 2019 season. The right-hander has been a constant in Baltimore’s bullpen when healthy over the past several seasons, pitching to a combined 3.90 ERA with a sub-par 19% strikeout rate but strong 7.5% walk rate and borderline elite 58.3% ground-ball rate dating back to that 2019 campaign. He’s missed time along the way, including a season-long absence just last year while he battled a flexor strain.

Tate, 29, entered the current season with 4.048 years of big league service time and picked up another 32 days prior to yesterday’s option. He needs to accrue an additional 92 days of service in 2024 to reach five years and remain on track for free agency following the 2025 season. Once he does reach that five-year mark — whenever that may be — he’d also be granted the perk of needing to give his consent to be optioned again in the future.

For now, the O’s can continue to shuttle Tate back and forth if they see fit. He’s gotten out to a solid start in his return effort, pitching to a 2.84 ERA in 12 2/3 innings. Tate’s 12.2% strikeout rate is concerning enough on its own, but when coupled with a matching 12.2% walk rate it’s fair to question how long he can sustain the results he’s generated to date. His 61.1% grounder rate remains outstanding, but Tate’s average sinker velocity is down from 2021’s 95.5 mph peak all the way to 91.9 mph in 2024. Given the concerning K-BB profile and dip in velocity, it’s understandable if the Orioles want him to work on some things in Norfolk. He’d also pitched on consecutive days and was thus likely to be unavailable last night.

Tate’s demotion and Perez’s return shake up what’s been a middle-of-the-pack bullpen overall this season. Baltimore relievers rank 16th in baseball with a 3.88 ERA, although they sit fourth and sixth, respectively, with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate. That comes despite the absence of star closer Felix Bautista, who won’t pitch this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last October. Veteran Craig Kimbrel signed a one-year deal to take over as the closer and has generally pitched well, though he’s run into some troubles of late and is currently day-to-day with back discomfort after exiting his Sunday appearance.

Manager Brandon Hyde said yesterday that Kimbrel was feeling better than on Sunday and that the team remains hopeful he can avoid a trip to the 15-day injured list (X link via MASNsports.com’s Steve Melewski). The 35-year-old allowed just one earned run with a scintillating 17-to-2 K/BB ratio in his first 11 innings this season but has given up three runs on three hits and four walks over his last two appearances — all while recording only two outs. Kimbrel’s velocity held strong, but it’s clear he was struggling with his command over those two outings — quite possibly due to the current back ailment he’s facing. Time will tell whether the O’s make an IL move, but to this point that doesn’t appear to be in the cards.

One other topic weighing on the minds of Orioles fans at the moment is when top prospect Connor Norby might get his first look in the big leagues. Many thought that might’ve been the corresponding move when Jackson Holliday was optioned after his early struggles, but Baltimore instead brought back outfielder Ryan McKenna, who’s also been getting some infield work at second base to expand his versatility.

Norby may not have gotten the call just yet, but “his time is coming,” general manager Mike Elias tells Jacob Calvin Meyer of the Baltimore Sun. Elias notes that Norby, a 2021 second-rounder who’s been ranked among the sport’s top-100 prospects in the past, is still working to refine his defensive skills at both second base and in the outfield corners — the latter of which is newer to his skill set. The O’s played Norby in left field for just 58 innings in 2022 but ramped him up to a combined 258 innings between the outfield corners last season. He’s already logged 144 innings of outfield work this season, compared to just 69 at second base.

Elias didn’t place a specific timetable on Norby’s potential ascension to the big leagues. However, the 23-year-old is out to a nice .274/.346/.487 slash this season in Norfolk, having connected on six homers and six doubles to go along with a pair of steals. This year’s 29.1% strikeout rate is a bit concerning and possibly another contributing factor to Norby remaining in the minors; he fanned at just a 21.6% clip in 633 plate appearances there last season. Meyer chatted with both Elias and Norby’s former (and presumably future) teammate Colton Cowser about the promising prospect’s work ethic and long-term outlook, which O’s fans will want to check out in full.

AL East Notes: Kimbrel, Irvin, Kahnle, Whitlock

By Mark Polishuk | April 28, 2024 at 5:55pm CDT

Craig Kimbrel blew a save and was charged with the loss in the Orioles’ 7-6 defeat to the Athletics today, but the veteran closer’s health may be of greater concern. Kimbrel walked Darell Hernaiz and was then visited by the team trainer on the mound, but stayed in the game and allowed a homer to Kyle McCann. That prompted another trainer’s visit and Kimbrel’s departure, and manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) postgame that Kimbrel was dealing with some upper back tightness. The right-hander was still receiving treatment and it isn’t yet known if a trip to the injured list might be in order.

Kimbrel has failed to convert either of his last two save opportunities, marking his first blown save since his first appearances of the season. In between, he reeled off seven saves and a perfect 0.00 in 10 innings of work, and even today’s outing only boosts his ERA to 3.18 for the season. Overall, the 35-year-old has performed as expected after signing a one-year deal worth $13MM in guaranteed money last winter, as Baltimore was looking for a ninth-inning specialist after Felix Bautista was lost to Tommy John surgery. If Kimbrel needs some recovery time, Yennier Cano or Danny Coulombe are the likeliest candidates to move into closer duties, which would then necessitate another arm being shuffled into the bullpen. One possible relief candidate might be starter Albert Suarez, who is out of minor league options but has pitched so well in fill-in starter duty that the O’s likely don’t want to expose him to waivers in order to move him back to Triple-A. With Kyle Bradish and John Means nearing returns from the IL, the Orioles are in the enviable position of having too many good starters, yet as we’ve potentially seen with this Kimbrel situation, injuries have a way of quickly solving any surpluses.

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