Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Orioles Rumors

Orioles Claim Daniel Johnson

By | at

The Orioles announced that they have claimed outfielder Daniel Johnson off waivers from the Giants. The latter club designated him for assignment last week. The O’s also selected the contract of right-hander José Espada and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk. Their 40-man roster was at 39, meaning they needed to open one spot. They did so by designating righty Houston Roth for assignment.

The O’s clearly like Johnson. They signed him to a minor league deal ahead of the 2024 season. He was called up in September of last year but only got into one game before being optioned back down to the minors. He was outrighted off the roster at the end of the season and elected free agency. He signed a minor league deal with the Giants this year and got selected to the big league roster in June. He was designated for assignment a few days ago and the O’s have taken the opportunity to bring him back.

Johnson’s major league track record is still fairly limited. He has 126 plate appearances dating back to his 2020 debut with a .193/.238/.336 slash. The O’s are presumably more interested in his minor league track record. From the start of 2023 to the present, he has 1,236 minor league plate appearances with a combined .267/.333/.469 line and 107 wRC+. He also has 54 stolen bases in that time, though has been caught stealing 19 times in the process.

Ahead of the deadline, the O’s subtracted from their outfield by trading Cedric Mullins, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn. Since then, they lost Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill to the injured list. That leaves them with a current outfield mix of Jeremiah Jackson, Dylan Carlson, Greg Allen, Jordyn Adams and Ryan Noda. Johnson could jump right into that group, though he’s also optionable for the rest of the year and could end up with Triple-A Norfolk.

As for Espada, he signed a minor league deal with the O’s a couple of weeks back. The fact that he has been added to the 40-man roster but optioned to the minors suggests that there was some kind of opt-out or upward mobility clause in the deal. The O’s seemingly don’t have an immediate big league roster spot for him but also didn’t want him to get away, so they’ve added him to the 40-man.

Since joining the O’s, he has tossed six Triple-A innings, allowing four earned runs via four hits and two walks while striking out eight. He has just one inning of big league experience, which came with the 2023 Padres. In the minors, he has generally been able to miss bats but also miss the strike zone. He was with the Padres on a minor league deal until being released recently, when he signed with the O’s. Between the two organizations, he has thrown 43 1/3 innings on the farm this year with a 3.74 earned run average, 37.1% strikeout rate and 11.8% walk rate.

In addition to their aforementioned outfielders, the Orioles also traded away a number of relievers at the deadline. Bryan Baker, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez and Andrew Kittredge were all sent out the door in July, opening up bullpen opportunities. Espada isn’t getting called up today but his roster spot puts him in good position to get called up later.

As for Roth, he was just selected to the roster a couple of weeks ago, in the wake of the Domínguez trade. He was optioned down to the minors a few days later before appearing in a game, so he’s still looking to make his major league debut.

With the trade deadline having passed, he is destined for the waiver wire in the coming days. Somewhat similar to Espada, his minor league work features strikeouts and walks in big numbers. Primarily a starter earlier in his career, he has worked exclusively as a reliever since the start of 2024. In that time, he has thrown 92 innings on the farm with a 2.93 ERA, 30.1% strikeout rate and 11.3% walk rate.

He still has a full slate of options and almost no service time. If any other club is interested enough in his minor league work to put in a claim, he could be a cheap depth arm for the foreseeable future.

Photo courtesy of Eakin Howard, Imagn Images

Mike Elias Discusses Possible Prospect Promotions

By | at

2025 is going to be a lost season for the Orioles. They fell back in the standings early and eventually sold off multiple players ahead of the trade deadline. For the remainder of the season, the focus is on giving time to players who could help in the future. Despite that, notable prospects like Samuel Basallo and Dylan Beavers haven’t been called up to get their feet wet in the big leagues. In an interview with Danielle Allentuck of The Baltimore Banner, general manager Mike Elias didn’t deny that the calendar might be a consideration.

“I think we have to be aware of the rules and, in general, systems that are in place that benefit players and benefit organizations,” Elias said. “You just kind of hope that that stuff synchronizes well with whatever the baseball need or player development need is.”

That answer was in response to a question about whether Basallo and Beavers might be called up later in the season, once the club can keep them as rookies heading into 2026. That’s significant due to the prospect promotion incentives. Under the PPI rules, a player can earn his club an extra draft pick under certain conditions. The player has to be on two of three top 100 prospect lists between Baseball America, MLB Pipeline and ESPN. If such a player is called up early enough in a season to earn a full year of service time, then goes on to win Rookie of the Year or finish top three in MVP or Cy Young voting prior to qualifying for arbitration, the club gets an extra draft pick just after the first round.

The PPI rules were put in place to combat service time manipulation. Previously, it was common for players to be kept in the minors early in a season even if they were clearly ready for the big leagues. If a player wasn’t called up until late April, the player’s path to free agency would be delayed by a year, a clear benefit for the team.

Now, however, it seems that late August in the new late April. It has now become common for clubs to promote these players late enough in a season to get some experience but keep rookie status going into the following campaign. A player exhausts rookie eligibility by spending 45 days in the big leagues or logging 50 major league innings or 130 at-bats. A team can therefore promote a player in the second half of August, keep the innings or at-bats below the relevant threshold and keep the potential of earning a future draft pick on the table.

The O’s have gone down this road before. They promoted Gunnar Henderson in late August of 2022, the first year of the PPI rules. He got into 34 games and stepped to the plate 116 times, keeping his rookie status for 2023. He went on to win Rookie of the Year, netting the O’s an extra draft pick in 2024, which they used to take Griff O’Ferrall 32nd overall. The Diamondbacks did essentially the same thing with Corbin Carroll.

Players like Shea Langeliers, Brett Baty, Cade Cavalli, Hunter Brown, Yainer Diaz, Ken Waldichuk, Spencer Steer, Oswald Peraza, Triston Casas, Josh Jung, Ezequiel Tovar, Logan O’Hoppe, Francisco Alvarez and Bo Naylor were also promoted in late August, September or October of that year. In 2023, players like Masyn Winn, Nolan Schanuel, Noelvi Marté, Parker Meadows, Everson Pereira, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Wicks, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jasson Domínguez, Austin Wells, Ronny Mauricio, Connor Phillips, Jordan Lawlar, Evan Carter, Pete Crow-Armstrong, Heston Kjerstad and Junior Caminero got calls in the final 45 days of the season. In 2024, the list included Jace Jung, Dylan Crews, Rhett Lowder, Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Kumar Rocker, Jackson Jobe and Kevin Alcántara.

That’s not to say that all of those players were intentionally held down due to the PPI rules, but it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that late-season promotions are now the norm. If a team is considering a promotion for a player in the summer, they have an incentive to wait. That waiting could potentially hurt the team, though the club may not care in some cases. Many clubs are often out of contention by this part of the schedule, as the Orioles are now.

It’s unfortunate for the players, who could otherwise get up earlier and get a bit more time in the big leagues. But if there’s a line somewhere, teams are going to find ways to be on the beneficial side of it, as Elias essentially admitted.

Waiting until late April or May is still a possibility but teams can be burned that way. The flip side of the PPI rules is that a player can earn a full service year even if not promoted early enough. The Pirates promoted Paul Skenes in May of last year but he won Rookie of the Year anyway, earning himself a full service year. The O’s also experienced this when Adley Rutschman finished second in 2022 Rookie of the Year voting, though his promotion was delayed by a spring training injury. Being held down for a few extra weeks in the summer isn’t ideal, but the players surely prefer this to the pre-PPI setup.

The comments from Elias line up with the aforementioned patterns of prospect promotions. We are sure to see a large number of prospects called up in late August and in September. It seems likely that Basallo and Beavers will be two of them.

Basallo, 20, is already one of the top prospects in baseball. Baseball America has him at #7 and MLB Pipeline at #8. ESPN did a top 50 update in May with Basallo in the #13 spot. He has 23 home runs in just 73 Triple-A games this year, leading to a .279/.384/.612 line. There are still some questions about whether he can stick at catcher or if he’s destined for a move to first base, though he’s still quite young and could make further improvements with his defense. Assuming the O’s make a point of not exhausting his rookie status, he’ll be a lock to be PPI eligible in 2026.

Beavers, 24, is more of a borderline case. BA currently has him in the #83 spot but he’s not on MLB Pipeline’s list. He is slashing .305/.422/.526 in Triple-A this year with 18 home runs, a 16.5% walk rate and 22 stolen bases. His PPI eligibility will depend upon how those top 100 lists are shuffled between now and Opening Day.

Photo courtesy of Tim Heitman, Imagn Images

Orioles Sign Greg Allen To Major League Deal

By | at

The Orioles announced that they have signed outfielder Greg Allen to a major league deal. A roster spot was vacated earlier when infielder/outfielder Vidal Bruján was claimed off waivers by Atlanta. Allen had been with the Cubs on a minor league deal but was released a few days ago, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. The O’s also reinstated first baseman Ryan Mountcastle from the 60-day injured list and recalled outfielder Jordyn Adams. Those two will take the spots of outfielders Colton Cowser and Tyler O’Neill. Cowser has been placed on the seven-day concussion IL, retroactive to August 7, and O’Neill on the 10-day IL, retroactive to August 6, due to right wrist inflammation. The O’s had 40-man vacancies for Mountcastle, so no corresponding move was required in that regard.

Allen has been playing fairly well for Triple-A Iowa this year, with a .270/.355/.440 line and 105 wRC+ in 231 plate appearances. He also stole 11 bases while playing all three outfield positions. Given that solid performance, it’s possible he opted out of that pact, rather than simply being released.

Regardless, the result is he gets an opportunity with the O’s. He has had big league chances before but without much success, having slashed .231/.300/.340 in 828 plate appearances from 2017 to 2023. However, he stole 48 bases in that time and got some strong marks for his glovework in the outfield.

The O’s opened up some playing time in their outfield recently. Ahead of the deadline, they traded both Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn to the Padres, in addition to flipping Cedric Mullins to the Mets. Calling up Heston Kjerstad would have made sense but he’s been shut down due to fatigue, per Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner.

Lately, Coswer, O’Neill, Jeremiah Jackson and Dylan Carlson have been sharing the outfield time. With Cowser and O’Neill now heading to the IL, Allen and Adams give them some other outfielders who can factor into the mix. Allen is out of options, so if the O’s want to remove him from the active roster at any point, he would need to be removed from the 40-man entirely.

As for Mountcastle, he’s looking to put a nice finish on what has otherwise been an awful year. He hit .246/.280/.348 in 52 games before a hamstring strain sent him to the IL at the end of May. The O’s can retain him for 2026 via arbitration but he likely needs to show them something good down the stretch for that to be a possibility. He is already making $6.787M this year. His results this year will hurt his earning power but he would be due at least a nominal raise.

He came into this year with a career .265/.316/.450 batting line and 111 wRC+. If he can hit like that for a few weeks, perhaps the O’s will bring him back next year. He’s in the designated hitter spot tonight with Coby Mayo playing first base.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

Braves Claim Vidal Bruján

By | at

The Braves have claimed infielder Vidal Bruján off waivers from the Orioles, according to announcements from both clubs. Bruján had not been designated for assignment by the Orioles but it appears they tried to quietly sneak him through waivers. Atlanta had an open 40-man spot and used it to scoop him up. He is out of options, so they will need to make a corresponding active roster move once he reports to the team. Baltimore’s 40-man count drops to 37.

Bruján, 27, has changed jerseys a number of times in the past few years. He was traded from the Rays to the Marlins ahead of the 2024 season, then to the Cubs ahead of 2025. This month, he’s gone to Baltimore and now Atlanta via waiver claims.

The moves are a reflection of the fact that he was once a notable prospect who hasn’t yet delivered on his potential. He exhausted his final option year in 2023, which pushed him into fringe roster territory. He has only hit .193/.260/.273 in 598 big league plate appearances across five separate seasons. However, teams keep grabbing him, each hoping to be the one to benefit from a breakout.

Before exhausting his options, he always hit in the minors. From 2021 to 2023, he slashed .273/.357/.450 for a 110 wRC+ at the Triple-A level with a 10.6% walk rate and 16.4% strikeout rate. But since he’s been out of options, he’s been stuck in part-time bench roles. He only got 278 plate appearances with the Marlins last year. The Cubs only sent him to the plate 47 times in over three months on the roster. The O’s seemingly only claimed him to try to pass him through waivers later, as they put him back on the wire a few days after claiming him, despite already having open roster spots.

Perhaps Atlanta will also try to pass him through waivers but they could also give him a few weeks of regular playing time to see if it helps him get in a groove. They are playing out the string on a lost season, currently 14.5 games back of a playoff spot.

Bruján has primarily played the middle infield spots but also the infield corners and in the outfield. Third baseman Austin Riley is currently on the injured list with an abdominal strain. Right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. has been shelved by a calf strain. Nacho Alvarez Jr. has been getting some playing time at third lately to cover for Riley but Alvarez is now hurt as well, dealing with some side soreness.

The club has also gotten very little from the middle infield this year. Shortstop Nick Allen is a great defender but he has a career .214/.267/.275 batting line. Second baseman Ozzie Albies has great career numbers but a dismal .225/.304/.325 line this year.

Atlanta can perhaps find some playing time for Bruján in there as the season is winding down. Bruján is slated to cross three years of service time by the end of the campaign, meaning he would qualify for arbitration. He looks like a non-tender candidate right now but could perhaps convince the club to keep him around if he shows signs of life in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher, Imagn Images

Padres Notes: Payroll, Miller, Sears

By and | at

The Padres’ flurry of deadline dealings brought Mason Miller, JP Sears, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Laureano, Nestor Cortes, Will Wagner and Freddy Fermin to San Diego. The slate of new acquisitions addressed major deficiencies in left field and behind the plate to varying levels while also deepening the pitching staff. It was another frenetic deadline for the Friars — one that was complicated not only by a lack of depth in the farm but also some financial constraints. The Padres operated with minimal payroll flexibility in the winter, and it seems ownership’s budgetary crunch carried over to the deadline.

Ronald Blum of the Associated Press reports that the Orioles and Brewers both sent substantial cash considerations to the Padres in the respective trades involving O’Hearn, Laureano and Cortes. Baltimore sent $3.324MM to San Diego, while Milwaukee included $2.169MM in cash. The combined $5,493,300 the Padres received in that pair of trades effectively pays the trio of O’Hearn, Laureano and Cortes down to the prorated league minimum for the remainder of the season. Each of the other four players acquired by the Padres (Miller, Sears, Wagner, Fermin) was earning scarcely more than the $760K minimum as a pre-arbitration player.

The Padres are still more than $25MM north of the luxury tax threshold, per RosterResource, so the influx of cash won’t help them stay under the tax threshold (or even out of the second penalty tier). It does, however, mean the Padres barely added anything to their actual cash payroll for the 2025 season. That’s seemingly been the bigger concern than the luxury threshold anyhow. Nick Pivetta’s four-year contract, for instance, came with a $13.75MM average annual value but pays him just $4MM in 2025 (a $1MM salary and $3MM signing bonus).

San Diego’s actual cash payroll sits a bit above $213MM. It’s not clear what sort of payroll expectations ownership will have for the 2026 season, but there’s already more than $166MM in guaranteed money on next year’s books. That doesn’t include the $6.5MM club option on Laureano, which seems like a lock to be exercised.

That number also fails to account for arbitration raises. Each of Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon and Gavin Sheets will be due raises on this year’s salaries ($4.8MM, $2MM and $1.6MM, respectively). Miller, Sears, Fermin and righty Bryan Hoeing will be arbitration-eligible for the first time. Miller, in particular, will be in line for a notable salary. Closer Robert Suarez has a two-year, $16MM player option he’s likely to decline this winter, however, which would subtract an $8MM salary from the books.

Between Laureano’s option and the slate of arbitration raises, San Diego’s payroll can be reasonably expected to climb close to $200MM before making a single addition. Assuming Suarez indeed opts out, the Padres would be looking at a payroll in the $190-192MM range. If the goal is a payroll in the same realm as this year’s $213MM mark, that doesn’t leave a ton of additional space. Then again, each of Miller, Laureano, Fermin, Wagner and Sears proactively addressed some 2026 needs, and the Padres expect to welcome Joe Musgrove back to next year’s rotation after he missed the 2025 season due to Tommy John surgery.

Due to that financial situation, the Padres presumably had to include more prospect capital in their deadline trades than if they didn’t need the other club to eat significant money. That’s a notable element as the Padres have traded away a large number of prospect in previous deals, so their farm system hasn’t been considered especially strong lately. Coming into this year, MLB.com ranked their farm 25th out of the 30 teams in the league, with Baseball America putting the Friars 26th.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Padres’ lack of impact talent was initially a roadblock in the Miller talks. Rosenthal notes that Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller tried to line up a three-team deal. He asked the A’s to tell him which prospects they wanted from other clubs, with the goal of then acquiring those players to send them to the A’s for Miller. There were rumors the Padres were considering trading majors leaguers like Dylan Cease or Suarez, so perhaps Preller could have traded one of those guys for the prospects he needed to get Miller.

However, the A’s didn’t want to take that complicated route and wanted to just deal directly with one club. They got interest from clubs like the Yankees, Phillies and Mets, but those clubs weren’t willing to surrender their top prospects. Specifically, Rosenthal notes that the Phillies weren’t willing to include Andrew Painter while the Yanks wouldn’t part with Spencer Jones or George Lombard Jr.

The Padres were eventually able to get the deal done, despite their weak farm system, by including top prospect Leo De Vries. They also included pitching prospects Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez but De Vries was the key piece to getting the deal done. Having now traded De Vries and several other prospects, the Friars will presumably have an even weaker farm system in next year’s rankings, but that is seemingly a price they were willing to pay in order to build a winning team here in 2025.

As for Sears, the other player who came to San Diego alongside Miller, he may be viewed more as depth than a key piece of the club’s push this year. He started for the club on Monday, allowing five earned runs in five innings against the Diamondbacks, before getting optioned to Triple-A yesterday.

Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune notes that Sears may not be recalled in the remainder of the season, unless someone gets hurt. Michael King is on the injured list but has begun a rehab assignment, having thrown 3 1/3 innings in his first rehab start on Sunday. Once he’s healthy, the rotation will be Cease, King, Pivetta, Cortes and Yu Darvish. That would leave Sears in a depth role alongside guys like Randy Vásquez, Kyle Hart and Matt Waldron.

Going forward, however, the path to a role opens up. Each of Cease, King and Cortes are impending free agents. Musgrove should fill one of those vacancies but that still leaves space for Sears to carve out a role in next year’s rotation.

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

Terrin Vavra Accepts Outright Assignment With Orioles

By | at

The Orioles announced that infielder/outfielder Terrin Vavra has cleared waivers and been assigned to Triple-A Norfolk. He has the right to reject this assignment and elect free agency but the O’s say he has accepted and will report to the Tides.

Vavra, 28, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in the offseason. He has seemingly been the club’s “break glass in case of emergency” player. He was selected to the big league roster in May when Ramón Laureano hit the injured list. The next day, the O’s signed Cooper Hummel. Vavra did not appear in a game before being designated for assignment, clearing waivers and accepting an outright assignment.

Ahead of the deadline, the O’s traded Laureano, Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins and Ramón Urías, opening up a lot of playing time on the position player side of things. Vavra got selected back to the roster on Friday. He got put into Saturday’s game as a pinch hitter, lining out in his one plate appearance. He was designated for assignment again on Sunday when the O’s grabbed Ryan Noda off waivers.

He’ll now return to his role as a non-roster depth player. He brings a bit of experience to the table, as he has appeared in 68 big league contests, though his recent lineout is his only action since 2023. He has a .252/.329/.302 batting line and 84 wRC+ in the big leagues.

He put up some strong numbers earlier in his minor league career but hasn’t been as impressive lately. He underwent shoulder surgery in 2023 and has a .241/.343/.342 line and 91 wRC+ on the farm since then. He has at least some experience at every position on the diamond, including one inning of Triple-A mop-up work on the mound.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim Rico Garcia

By | at

The Orioles have claimed right-hander Rico Garcia off waivers from the Mets, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. The latter club designated him for assignment earlier this week. The O’s have multiple 40-man roster vacancies from their deadline dealings. Garcia is out of options, so the O’s will need to make a corresponding active roster move whenever he reports to the team.

Garcia, 31, has been a fringe bullpen arm for the two New York clubs this year. He signed a minor league deal with the Mets in the winter and got called up in early July. He later went to the Yankees and then back to the Mets via waiver claims.

Around the transactions, his results have been quite good. He has thrown 15 1/3 innings over nine big league appearances this year, with a 3.52 earned run average. His 30% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 45.9% ground ball rate this year are all above-average figures.

That’s a small sample of work and he may not be able to maintain it over a larger time frame, particularly the control. Before getting called up, he tossed 30 1/3 Triple-A innings with a 4.45 ERA, 27.4% strikeout rate, 14.8% walk rate and 34.2% ground ball rate. He walked 11.5% of minor league batters faced last year and 17.2% in 2023. Put together, he has a 13.7% walk rate in 119 2/3 minor league innings dating back to the start of 2023.

Even if his major league numbers regress a bit, he’s a sensible flier for the O’s. They stripped down their bullpen ahead of the deadline, trading away Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto and Andrew Kittredge. They have also lost Félix Bautista, Scott Blewett and Colin Selby to the injured list in recent weeks.

Those trades and injuries have opened up lots of opportunities in the Baltimore bullpen. As the club plays out the string on this lost season, they can pick up guys like this and give them auditions down the stretch. If things go well with Garcia, he can be cheaply retained beyond this season. He’ll finish 2025 with less than two years of service time, meaning he still won’t have qualified for arbitration and will be controllable for five more seasons.

Photo courtesy of David Frerker, Imagn Images

Grayson Rodriguez To Undergo Season-Ending Elbow Debridement Surgery

By | at

Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez is done for the year. Manager Tony Mansolino informed reporters today, including Jake Rill of MLB.com, that the righty will undergo an elbow debridement surgery and will miss the remainder of the season. General manager Mike Elias mentioned a few days ago that this was a possible outcome, which is now confirmed. It’s possible Rodriguez will be ready for the start of the 2026 season.

In the short term, the impact for the Orioles is minimal. 2025 is already going to be a lost season for the club. They are 51-61, putting them 8.5 games back of a playoff spot. The front office made a number of sell-side moves ahead of the deadline, flipping out several veterans for prospects.

For the long-term picture, it’s certainly worrisome. While everything is apparently fine with Rodriguez’s ulnar collateral ligament, his recent injury history keeps mounting. In 2023, between the majors and the minors, he tossed 163 1/3 innings. Last year, shoulder problems limited him to 116 2/3 innings. This year, elbow and shoulder problems have wiped out his entire campaign. He started the season on the IL due to elbow inflammation. While on the IL, he suffered a lat strain. By July, the shoulder was fine but the elbow soreness shut him down again. Now he’s going under the knife.

It’s a notable situation for the O’s to monitor. They had hoped for a pairing of Rodriguez and Zach Eflin to be a strong one-two punch atop their rotation this year but that didn’t happen. In addition to the aforementioned injuries for Rodriguez, Eflin also missed time and has a 5.93 earned run average on the year.

Going into next year, Eflin is an impending free agent. That’s also true of Tomoyuki Sugano. The O’s flipped out another impending free agent when they traded Charlie Morton to the Tigers. Going into 2026, the ideal outcome would be for Rodriguez and Kyle Bradish to be at the front of the group. However, Bradish is still recovering from last June’s Tommy John surgery. He has begun a rehab assignment but hasn’t gotten back on a big league mound yet.

Though the O’s will be hoping for comebacks from those two, they are surely aware they can’t rely on those. Bradish only pitched 39 1/3 innings last year. He might be able to come off the IL and make a few more starts down the stretch but won’t be able to shoulder a huge workload. Rodriguez will be coming off a completely lost season. Guys like Trevor Rogers, Dean Kremer and Cade Povich will also be in the mix but aren’t front-of-the-rotation type guys.

Perhaps the front office will be motivated to be more aggressive in addressing the rotation this coming winter. A year ago, with new ownership in place, many wondered if the O’s would get aggressive in bolstering their rotation ahead of 2025. Instead, they gave one-year deals to Sugano and Morton, neither of which worked out especially well.

Going into 2026, the club will be looking to put this nightmare season in the rear-view mirror. Doing so with their current rotation mix will be a challenge. That’s especially true with greater uncertainty now surrounding Rodriguez.

Photo courtesy of Tommy Gilligan, Imagn Images

Orioles Claim Vidal Brujan, Carson Ragsdale

By | at

The Orioles have claimed infielder Vidal Brujan off waivers from the Cubs and right-hander Carson Ragsdale off waivers from the Giants, according to a team announcement. Brujan is out of options and must be added to the big league roster but has not yet reported. Ragsdale, meanwhile, was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. The Orioles’ 40-man roster now stands at 37, so no corresponding 40-man moves are necessary.

Brujan, 27, was a top-100 prospect in the Rays’ system for many years. He failed to establish himself at the big league level in Tampa, however, and hit just .157/.218/.221 across 99 games (272 plate appearances) between 2021 and 2023 for the club. Prior to the 2024 season, Brujan was shipped alongside reliever Calvin Faucher to the Marlins in a trade and he was able to take on a larger role with a rebuilding Miami club. With regular playing time available to him, his performance modestly improved. He remained a below-average contributor overall, however, with a 73 wRC+ despite a 19.4% strikeout rate and a 9.0% walk rate.

Those solid discipline numbers were outweighed by a complete lack of power, less impressive speed on the basepaths than his days a prospect would’ve otherwise indicated, and a lackluster BABIP. While Brujan was versatile enough to hold onto a bench role for the Marlins, he was shipped to the Cubs last offseason in the Matt Mervis trade. He held onto a bench role with Chicago throughout the first half and had value on paper as a player who could help hold down third base while Matt Shaw developed in the minor leagues while also spelling Pete Crow-Armstrong in center field. Unfortunately, the fit didn’t work out as well in practice as Brujan posted an atrocious 43 wRC+ in 36 games and was designated for assignment just before the trade deadline.

Ragsdale, meanwhile, is a 27-year-old right-handed starter. He was added to the Giants’ 40-man roster last November to protect him from the Rule 5 draft after he posted a strong 3.49 ERA in 14 starts at the Double-A level that year, but a career ERA north of 5.00 at Triple-A in conjunction with a 19.9% strikeout rate against a 13.0% walk rate at the level this year left Ragsdale as little more than a depth starter for a club with a number of viable young arms. San Francisco designated him for assignment to make room for top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt on the roster prior to the trade deadline.

Now, both players are ticketed to join the Orioles organization. Brujan figures to join the club’s active roster within the next couple of days and could serve as a versatility utility option for the infield after Ramon Urias was traded to Houston prior to the deadline this past week. Ragsdale, meanwhile, could make his big league debut at some point down the stretch to help the Orioles eat innings amid injuries to key arms like Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez, particularly after Charlie Morton was shipped off to Detroit.

Orioles Designate Terrin Vavra For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles have designated infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment, per a team announcement. The move makes room on the active roster for first baseman Ryan Noda, who the club claimed off waivers from the White Sox yesterday.

Vavra, 28, was a third-rounder selected by the Rockies back in 2018. He was dealt to the Orioles prior to his big league debut as part of the Mychal Givens trade back in 2020 and then made his big league debut two years later. In 40 games with Baltimore that year, Vavra impressed with a roughly league average .258/.340/.337 slash line while playing both second base and the outfield. Vavra broke camp with the Orioles in 2023 but made it into just 27 games, hitting poorly in 56 plate appearances before he was shelved due to a shoulder strain. That shoulder injury eventually turned out to be a labrum tear, and Vavra underwent surgery to repair his shoulder in September 2023.

Vavra has barely appeared in the majors since. He returned to action at the Triple-A level early last year but was DFA’d and claimed by the Mariners over the summer. He didn’t make a big league appearance with Seattle, however, and was eventually outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster in September before he re-signed with the Orioles on a minor league deal. He’s been selected to the active roster twice this season, but didn’t make an appearance in the majors in the first of those call-ups. In the second, he got one pinch-hit appearance and lined out. Vavra’s work in 59 games with Triple-A Norfolk has left something to be desired this year, as he’s posted a lackluster .247/.354/.341 slash line across 203 trips to the plate.

If Vavra goes unclaimed on waivers, he’ll be able to either accept an outright assignment and return to Norfolk or elect free agency and become eligible to sign with any of the league’s 30 clubs. Vavra’s departure from the roster makes room for Noda, who was plucked off waivers from the White Sox yesterday. The 29-year-old was a Rule 5 pick by the A’s back in 2023 and impressed over 128 games, slashing .229/.364/.409 with 39 extra-base hits and a 15.6% walk rate over 495 trips to the plate. He’s hit just .124/.266/.202 in 52 games since then, but with Ryan O’Hearn now in San Diego and the Orioles buried in the standings at this point Baltimore has little to lose by giving Noda a chance as a lefty bench bat who can chip in at first base and in the outfield, filling a role similar to the one O’Hearn had been brought in to plug before he broke out with the club back in 2023.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top