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Orioles Release Danny Valencia

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The Orioles announced today that they have released veteran infielder/outfielder Danny Valencia. He had been designated for assignment recently.

Clearly, the O’s weren’t able to find a taker for any of the remainder of Valencia’s $1.2MM salary. Some of that could still be offset at the league-minimum rate, if Valencia catches on elsewhere.

While he’s limited to playing in the corners, and carries unexciting overall offensive numbers, Valencia could still appeal to teams that are considering specialized bench bats down the stretch. He has a long history of success against left-handed pitching.

Orioles Designate Danny Valencia, Select Cedric Mullins

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The Orioles announced today that they have designated infielder Danny Valencia for assignment. The move will make way for outfielder Cedric Mullins, whose contract was selected.

Valencia, 33, joined the Baltimore organization on a minors deal but had played a fairly significant role on the roster for much of the season. Over 282 plate appearances, he carries a .263/.316/.408 batting line — good for an exactly league average 100 OPS+ (albeit only a 93 wRC+).

Though he has mostly lined up at third base, Valencia has also spent time in right field for the O’s. He’s not generally regarded as much of a defender, and the advanced metrics have reflected that reputation this year.

It’s perhaps not out of question that a contending organization in search of a bench threat against left-handed pitching could put in a claim. As he has for much of his career, after all, Valencia has bludgeoned opposing southpaws this year. He’s also earning a palatable $1.2MM salary for the season.

As for Mullins, the diminutive 23-year-old will make his MLB debut. He has steadily ascended the ladder since joining the Orioles organization as a 13th-round pick in 2015. This season, he knocked around Double-A pitching before earning a promotion to the highest level of the minors, where he carries a .267/.332/.425 slash with five home runs and a dozen steals over 267 plate appearances.

Orioles Notes: Jones, Payroll, Valencia, Rickard

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As a pending free agent on a rebuilding team, Orioles center fielder Adam Jones is a logical trade candidate leading up to Tuesday’s non-waiver deadline. While the 32-year-old has drawn interest on the trade market this month, he’s more likely than not to finish the season in Baltimore, Dan Connolly of The Athletic hears (subscription required). “Multiple” clubs have asked the Orioles whether Jones would be willing to waive his 10-and-5 rights and accept a trade, but the “sense” is he’ll stay where he is, Connolly writes. Even if Jones does remain with the O’s through the season, that doesn’t necessarily mean the team will re-sign the longtime franchise linchpin over the winter, Connolly notes.

More from Baltimore…

  • Unsurprisingly, general manager Dan Duquette announced Saturday that the rebuilding O’s are primed to cut spending at the major league level over the next couple years, Rich Dubroff of BaltimoreBaseball.com relays. “We’re going to invest enough to develop a competitive major league team, and I would expect the club will take the payroll down next year and the year after and reinvest those resources,” said Duquette. The Orioles’ Opening Day payroll this year checked in a bit under $149MM, per Cot’s, placing them just above the middle of the pack in spending. Baltimore’s hopes of contending blew up in its face, though, and now the club’s at the beginning of a teardown. Fortunately, Duquette revealed that the Orioles will look to “invest heavily in the foreign market” after largely ignoring it to this point – an ownership-driven call that has garnered widespread criticism. Of course, with Duquette’s contract up at season’s end, it’s unclear whether he’ll play any part in the Orioles’ rebuilding efforts heading into 2019. Neither Duquette nor manager Buck Showalter, another soon-to-be free agent, gave direct answers when asked about their futures, according to Dubroff.
  • Third baseman/outfielder Danny Valencia has been a decent buy-low pickup for Baltimore after signing a minor league deal in March, but he’s not drawing much trade interest, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. The righty-swinging journeyman has offered league-average offense across 265 plate appearances this year (.268/.321/423 with nine home runs), and he has typically posed a threat against left-handed pitchers. But Valencia’s not a strong defender, Kubatko observes, which is likely hampering his market. In the event Valencia’s not dealt this month, he could still end up as an August trade candidate if teams are continuing to look for bench help, per Kubatko.
  • Outfielder Joey Rickard faces long odds of returning to the Orioles next year, in part because their “system seems packed with outfielders,” Dubroff writes. An Oriole since they selected him in the 2015 Rule 5 Draft, the 27-year-old Rickard has picked up 687 major plate appearances since 2016 but has batted just .247/.295/.370 and posted a replacement-level fWAR. Considering he has minor league options left and still has four arbitration-eligible seasons remaining, the Orioles could keep Rickard at the Triple-A level or try to find a taker via trade if they’re uninterested in continuing to use a 40-man spot on him.

Orioles Rumors: O’Day, Jones, Britton, Valencia

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Orioles righty Darren O’Day had been pitching well enough this season to be counted among Baltimore’s many trade chips, but the hamstring strain he suffered this week could alter that scenario. As MLB.com’s Britt Ghiroli writes, O’Day has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 hamstring strain, and while the injury won’t require surgery, there’s also no timetable for his return. With just over a month until the July 31 non-waiver deadline, that’s certainly not a promising outlook. Of course, given O’Day’s $8MM salary both this year and next, it’s also possible, if not likely, that he’d clear revocable waivers in August and could be marketed to other clubs that month. In 20 innings for the O’s this season, O’Day has a fairly pedestrian 3.60 ERA but an excellent 27-to-4 K/BB ratio.

More from Baltimore…

  • The Orioles haven’t approached Adam Jones about an extension, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Rich Dubroff of PressboxOnline.com tweets that the team also hasn’t asked Jones about the possibility of waiving his 10-and-5 rights that grant him full veto power over trades, either. Jones recently chatted with the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli about the unfamiliar situation in which he finds himself — both as a trade candidate and as an impending free agent.
  • Meanwhile, Zach Britton hasn’t exactly been doing much to bolster his trade value of late, blowing a pair of saves in the past week and bloating his ERA to an ugly 7.04. GM Dan Duquette, however, expressed some patience with the once-dominant closer and suggested that other clubs are likely doing the same (via Kubatko). “I think Zach needs to pitch a little bit,” said Duquette. “He didn’t have the benefit of the spring training period, so I think he needs to pitch a little bit for clubs to take a look at him and for him to get back to his previous high level.” I took a look at Britton’s trade candidacy last week, exploring the myriad reasons that his actual trade value may not line up with his name value.
  • The Sun’s Eduardo A. Encina was among those to speak with Britton following his most recent blown save, and the closer was blunt in expressing his frustration. “I don’t think there’s been a game yet where I’ve felt, ‘OK, that’s it from every pitch,’ so you’ve just got to find a way to get to that point,” Britton told reporters. The lefty spoke at length about the difficulty he’s had in consistently repeating his best delivery as he’s struggled in his return from a surgically repaired Achilles tendon.
  • Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com writes that Danny Valencia is likely the one minor league pickup who’s played his way into trade chip status for the Orioles. Valencia swatted his eighth homer last night and is hitting .292/.358/.485 through 193 plate appearances in his second run with the Orioles. Valencia has been slightly tougher on lefties than on righties, but he’s hitting all pitchers quite well this season. Even if his track record against right-handers isn’t as strong as his 2018 output, though, Valencia has long been a thorn in the side of left-handers, hitting them at a .311/.370/.494 clip. As Connolly observes, there are numerous postseason contenders with deficiencies against left-handed pitching (most notably including the Nationals and Brewers). Meoli spoke with Valencia yesterday about his production against right-handers and his strong all-around season. He also spoke with Trey Mancini about Valencia’s positive influence in the clubhouse and work with younger players in 2018.

AL East Notes: Red Sox, Jones, Orioles, Sanchez, Blue Jays

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It’s still early in the season relative to the league’s non-waiver trade deadline at the end of July, so with the disclaimer that trade are still subject to change before then, Evan Drellich of NBC Sports Boston reports that the Red Sox “have an eye on” adding a reliever and a right-handed hitter to complement the team. Drellich points out that these types of additions would not mean “mortgaging” the team’s already-thin farm system, as the addition of a righty-bat would likely be an infielder to balance out the club’s lefty-heavy group. He also cites some troubling statistics about the usage and performance of pinch-hitters for the club, signaling that a backup plan for Dustin Pedroia could help the team in matchup situations. The veteran was seen as likely to resume baseball activities shortly after returning to the DL on June 2nd, but still has yet to be cleared for such activities three weeks later.

Other news and notes from around a topheavy AL East division…

  • Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun takes a look at the situation of Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who’s enjoying one of his best calendar months in years. Per Meoli, Jones isn’t concerned about all the resulting trade chatter surrounding him. “I can’t let it bother me. I’m in a different part of my life to where I’m not anticipating a $150 million, $200 million, $300 million offer this offseason. I’m more just, ’Let me go be a pro, do what I do best,’ and that’s play the game hard and live with the result. All the other stuff, all the projections and this and that, that’s all whatever.” Notably, Jones is well aware that he “holds all the cards” in regards to where (or if) he’s traded, as the veteran’s been with the O’s long enough to qualify for ten-and-five rights.
  • Speaking of the Orioles, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com takes a look at what the club’s infield (and roster) could look like post-Machado, if and when the veteran is shipped to another club. Kubatko notes that where fellow infielder Tim Beckham plays will depend upon whether or not the O’s get a major-league ready shortstop as part of the return for their superstar (if the don’t, Beckham seems likely to take over the position). In addition to all this speculation, Kubatko adds that Danny Valencia could see time at third in that case, but has also played himself into potential trade-chip status.
  • Young Blue Jays hurler Aaron Sanchez left last night’s game with a finger contusion, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports, noting that his departure throws a question mark into Toronto’s rotation. It’s not clear at this juncture whether Sanchez’ current finger issue is in any way related to the blister-related issues that limited him to just 36 innings last season, though reports of a contusion would seem to make that improbable. With so many moving parts on the Jays’ pitching staff, the Davidi wonders how the rotation alignment will shake out; there’s been some suggestion that Jaime Garcia could move to the bullpen with Marcus Stroman and Sam Gaviglio set to return from the DL and paternity list soon, respectively.

Orioles Designate Four Players, Set Opening Day Roster

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The Orioles set their Opening Day roster Thursday, announcing that they’ve designated right-handers Alec Asher, Stefan Crichton, Michael Kelly and Jesus Liranzo for assignment. Their 40-man spots will go to Pedro Alvarez, Colby Rasmus, Craig Gentry and Danny Valencia. Mark Trumbo and Gabriel Ynoa, meanwhile, will open the season on the 10-day DL. Right-hander Alex Cobb will open the year in Double-A as he ramps up after signing late in Spring Training.

Asher, 26, appeared in 24 games for the O’s last season, including six starts, totaling 60 innings of work with a 47-to-23 K/BB. While Asher showed that he can work out of both the rotation or bullpen in multi-inning stints, he struggled to a 5.25 ERA and yielded 10 homers in last year’s 60 frames with the O’s. Asher does sport a quality 3.75 ERA in 170 1/3 innings of Triple-A work, where he’s averaged 6.4 K/9 against 2.1 BB/9. He has also has a minor league option remaining, so he could make sense for a team in need of some rotation depth.

Crichton, also 26, debuted with the Orioles last year, though he tossed just 12 1/3 innings in the Majors. In that brief sample, he yielded 11 runs on a whopping 26 hits and four walks with eight strikeouts and a 46 percent ground-ball rate. The former 23rd-rounder did average better than 94 mph on his heater in the bigs, though, and he logged a strong 3.02 ERA with 9.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and 0.38 HR/9 in 47 2/3 Triple-A innings. He has a pair of minor league options remaining.

The 25-year-old Kelly has never appeared in the big leagues, but he nonetheless scored a Major League contract from the O’s this past offseason on the heels of a strong Double-A showing with the Padres’ San Antonio affiliate in 2017. The former No. 48 overall pick worked to a 2.89 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9 with a 44.2 percent ground-ball rate in 89 Double-A innings before being roughed up in his second go-around at the Triple-A level (albeit in an extremely hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League setting).

Liranzo, 23, also comes without big league experience, but Baseball America ranked him 19th among Orioles farmhands this offseason. Liranzo isn’t lacking for velocity and has the upside of a quality bullpen piece, but he’s struggled with control throughout his pro career, including last season when he averaged six walks per nine innings pitched and posted an unsightly 4.85 ERA in 65 Double-A innings with the Orioles’ Bowie affiliate.

Each of Alvarez, Gentry and Valencia have been with the Orioles before. Alvarez’s stay with the team could be directly tied to Trumbo’s rehab, as each projects primarily as a DH. A brief experiment with Alvarez as an outfielder didn’t prove fruitful for the O’s last season, and they’re largely set at the infield corners as well. Gentry can back up at all three outfield spots and provide some speed off the bench, while Valencia provides a right-handed complement to Chris Davis as well as some insurance at third base and in the outfield corners.

As for Rasmus, it seems likely that he’ll receive fairly regular reps in right field after signing a minor league contract this winter. He showed well in a limited sample with the Rays last season before incurring an injury and ultimately stepping away from the game to be with his young family midway through the ’17 season.

Article XX(B) Free Agents Update: Saturday

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Major League Baseball’s collective bargaining agreement contains a provision that allows certain free agents who are signed to minor league contracts to receive a $100K retention bonus if they are not on the team’s 25-man roster or the Major League disabled list five days prior to the season.

Free agents who qualify for this distinction are those who have at least six years of Major League service time and had a Major League contract expire at the end of the previous season, but signed a minor league deal ten or more days prior to Opening Day.

The deadline for teams to decide on these players is today at 11am central time. By the deadline, teams with these players in camp need to decide whether to:

  1. Add the player to their 25-man roster or Major League disabled list (or agree to do so in writing).
  2. Pay the player a $100K retention bonus to keep him in the organization beyond the deadline and send him to the minors.
  3. Grant the player his outright release from the minor league contract so that he may pursue opportunities with other teams.

We’ll use this post to keep track of the Article XX(B) free agents whose respective teams have elected option one or two; in other words, players who won’t be released for the time being. The most recent updates are on top.

  • Miguel Montero has been informed that he’ll make the Nationals as the club’s backup catcher, according to Jamal Collier of MLB.com. He’ll earn a $1.3MM base salary, as outlined in the details of the pact he signed with the club on February 1st. Montero beat out young backstop Pedro Severino in a camp battle for the role.

Earlier…

AL East Notes: Pomeranz, Davis, Valencia, Arroyo

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The results of Red Sox lefty Drew Pomeranz’ recent MRI showed a flexor strain, Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald reports on Twitter. Jen McCaffrey of MassLive.com says that Pomeranz describes the strain as “mild” and isn’t too worried about it. Mastrodonato later tweeted that every player who had a flexor strain last season missed at least six weeks, with one exception – Pomeranz. Last year’s injury caused him to spend 10 days on the DL. It should be strongly noted that all of this is simply one year’s worth of statistics, and we’ve yet to hear any announcement on Boston’s plans for their starter. Pomeranz pitched to a 3.32 ERA across 30 starts last season for the Red Sox, striking out just over a batter per inning while posting a 43.2% ground ball rate. He’s slated to become a free agent following the 2018 season.

Elsewhere in the American League’s Eastern Division…

  • Speaking of injuries, Orioles first baseman Chris Davis had an MRI on his right forearm, but it turns out that there’s no structural damage. Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun was first with the news on Twitter. Manager Buck Showalter had previously described the concern with Davis as a “flexor mass” issue (via Dan Connolly of baltimorebaseball.com). The Orioles will be hoping that Davis can stay healthy and bounce back this year after a rough 2017 season during which he homered 26 times but struck out in a whopping 37.2% of his plate appearances en route to a more pedestrian performance overall. He’ll enter the 2018 season at the age of 32; it’s the third year of a seven-year contract with Baltimore that guarantees him a total of $161MM.
  • In other Orioles news, the recently-signed Danny Valencia has no plans to go to the minors if the team opts not to add him to the major league roster, according to a piece by Rich Dubroff of pressboxonline.com. “I have nothing to prove down there,” Valencia said. “I’ve been a productive big leaguer… Obviously, you want to be in the big leagues and I think it’ll all work out.” Valencia had been reasonably productive for the Blue Jays and A’s across the 2015-2016 seasons, posting 3.2 fWAR while hammering 35 homers during that span. It’s tough to peg the value of his performance as a Mariner last year, however, as formulas like bWAR, fWAR and WARP varied greatly in their outputs.
  • Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times details the story of how new Rays infielder Christian Arroyo was raised by a single mother. Kim Arroyo worked ten-hour shifts on the casino floor at Hard Rock in order to support her son. But as he grew up, she still managed to find the time to play catch with him and throw batting practice. Kim says she had lots of help from family and friends, but Christian made clear the wealth of credit his mother deserves for what she did for him, and the values she instilled in him while she was raising him. “She did everything she could to make sure we never were struggling, and I never knew we were,” he said.

Orioles Sign Danny Valencia To Minor League Deal

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SATURDAY, 8:18am: The signing is now official.

FRIDAY, 10:44am: USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets that Valencia’s deal comes with a $1.2MM base salary and an additional $3MM worth of possible incentives.

10:20am: The Orioles have agreed to a minor league contract with corner infielder/outfielder Danny Valencia, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link). Valencia is represented by the MVP Sports Group. He’ll take his physical tomorrow, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link).

The 33-year-old Valencia spent the 2017 season with the Mariners, for whom he logged a .256/.314/.411 slash with 15 home runs in an even 500 plate appearances. Valencia spent the vast majority of his time in the field at first base but also logged 51 innings in right field and another seven at his original position, third base.

Baltimore’s bench is anything but set at present, so Valencia could impress in camp and seize a spot as a right-handed-hitting complement to first baseman Chris Davis. His experience at all four corner spots would bring some versatility to O’s, who currently don’t have an established utility option on the roster. While Valencia isn’t a shortstop — a position at which most utility infielders are adept — the O’s have both Manny Machado and Tim Beckham as options there, which could lessen the need for that skill in a utilityman. Baltimore also has waiver pickup Engelb Vielma on the 40-man roster, and he’ll be among the names with whom Valencia is competing for a job.

This marks the second go-around for Valencia with the O’s. He also spent the 2013 season in Baltimore, hitting .304/.335/.553 with 14 homers in 170 trips to the plate. A veteran of eight Major League seasons, Valencia is a lifetime .269/.317/.427 hitter in the big leagues. He’s particularly strong against left-handed opponents, against whom he’s slashed .313/.370/.493 in 994 career PAs.

AL West Notes: Meyer, Miranda, Reddick, Rangers, Mariners

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Prior to acquiring Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer (plus some cash to offset Nolasco’s salary) in the trade that sent Hector Santiago to the Twins last summer, the Angels had the opportunity to trade Santiago to the Orioles for lefty Ariel Miranda, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. The Orioles were seeking a veteran arm for their rotation and dangled Miranda in talks with both the Angels and Mariners, ultimately flipping Miranda to Seattle in exchange for Wade Miley. Fletcher notes that the Halos were seeking more upside than Miranda brings to the table and felt that Meyer fit the bill. Indeed, the 27-year-old former first-rounder was a mainstay on Top 100 prospect lists throughout the industry several years ago, though shoulder injuries have derailed his career to date. Meyer will get a start for the Halos this week, while Nolasco has at the very least been a durable source of innings for manager Mike Scioscia. Miranda is currently in the Mariners’ rotation, though that’s out of necessity due to injuries throughout the Seattle pitching staff.

More from the American League West…

  • Though Josh Reddick is happy to be a member of the Astros and excited for the next four years in Houston, the right fielder said today on CSN Bay Area’s Athletics Insider Podcast that he hoped last summer to sign an extension with the Athletics (transcript via CSN’s Joe Stiglich, where readers can also find the full audio). “It was definitely somewhere I really wanted to make it happen,” said Reddick of Oakland. “Once we realized the numbers weren’t gonna line up, I think I knew deep down it wasn’t gonna happen because I didn’t hear back from them after I counter-offered what they offered me.” Reddick, who inked a four-year, $52MM deal with Houston this offseason, divulged that the A’s never offered a guaranteed four years in extension talks. He also expressed some lingering surprise that the A’s sold off so heavily in the 2014-15 offseason — the winter in which they dealt Josh Donaldson, Jeff Samardzija and Brandon Moss.
  • There are a few updates on some key injuries for the Rangers. Firstly, MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan writes that right-hander Tyson Ross is set to throw a two-inning simulated game in Seattle this weekend. Ross’ rehab from TOS surgery was slowed by back spasms, but he recently tossed a 30-pitch bullpen session without issue. He’ll need three to four starts before he’s ready to return to a Major League mound, Sullivan notes, making an early June return feasible. And third baseman Adrian Beltre could potentially beat Ross back to the big league club, as Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News tweets that general manager Jon Daniels said today that the team is optimistic about a late-May return for Beltre.
  • Though the Mariners optioned first baseman Dan Vogelbach back to Triple-A Tacoma fairly quickly after promoting him in late April, manager Scott Servais voiced a strong belief that the young slugger is still a part of the club’s future, per Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Via Dutton, Vogelbach said that he lost his timing after getting off to a hot start to the season in the minors. Dutton adds that Danny Valencia is in line for another “extended look” at first base, though Servais also added that Taylor Motter, who has showed surprising pop thus far, will also be mixed into the first base picture as well. The 32-year-old Valencia got off to a terrible start this season but entered play tonight hitting .240/.321/.560 over his past 28 plate appearances (an admittedly minuscule sample). MLB.com’s Greg Johns writes that the M’s remain confident in Valencia due to his track record, and as Johns notes, there are some encouraging Statcast numbers that point to a potential rebound.
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