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Orioles, Jake Cave Avoid Arbitration

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The Orioles announced that they have agreed to terms with outfielder Jake Cave on a contract for 2023. The financials of the deal are not yet publicly known. Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun reports that it’s a split contract, meaning Cave’s salary will be dependent on how much time he spends in the majors. Additionally, the club announced that right-hander Chris Ellis and catcher Aramis Garcia both rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency.

Cave, 30 next month, was originally drafted by the Yankees but was traded to the Twins before making his major league debut. He spent at least some time with the Twins in each of the past five seasons. His first few campaigns were quite encouraging, as Cave hit .262/.329/.466 over 2018 and 2019, producing a wRC+ of 111. It’s been a rough go since then, however, with Cave’s line dropping to .206/.262/.351 since the start of 2020. That amounts to a wRC+ of only 70 in that stretch.

Cave was outrighted in the 2021-22 offseason and spent most of his time in Triple-A before being selected back to the bigs in August. He had encouraging results for St. Paul, hitting .273/.370/.509 for a wRC+ of 130 in 85 games, though he wasn’t able to bring that up to the big league team.

Nonetheless, Baltimore must have been intrigued, as they grabbed Cave off waivers in mid-October. That was after the season was done, meaning Cave has yet to suit up for the O’s. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a salary around $1.2MM, though he and the club will steer clear of a hearing by agreeing to a figure well ahead of time.

Cave still has one option year remaining, which it seems the O’s intend to use given the split nature of his deal. The current Baltimore outfield consists of Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Kyle Stowers. The club also has a highly-regarded outfield prospect in Colton Cowser, who finished 2022 at Triple-A and could be ready for an MLB debut in 2023. In order to accommodate Cowser, it’s possible that the O’s swing a trade of one of their existing outfielders. Since prospects often take some time adjusting to MLB pitching, it’s sound strategy to have an experienced depth option like Cave on hand. Stowers also has just 34 games in the big leagues on his ledger and isn’t a lock to hold down a job going forward, adding another reason to prioritize a depth option.

As for Ellis and Garcia, they were each outrighted off Baltimore’s roster on the weekend but were eligible to elect free agency. In Garcia’s case, he has more than three years of MLB service time whereas Ellis qualified for free agency by having a previous career outright.

Orioles Outright Aramis Garcia and Chris Ellis

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The Orioles have announced that they have outrighted catcher Aramis Garcia and pitcher Chris Ellis to Triple-A Norfolk. They now have 39 players on their 40-man roster.

Garcia was claimed from the Reds on October 15th, and quickly passed through the Orioles’ waivers. He was projected to earn only $800K during his first trip through arbitration, but Cincinnati opted to cut him loose with Tyler Stephenson entrenched as the team’s primary catcher. Garcia dealt with a left middle finger sprain during the 2022 season that forced him to the 60-day injured list, limiting the former second-round pick to 47 games where he slashed a weak .213/.248/.259 with a single homer. The 29-year-old has a better track record in Triple-A, where he has hit .264/.329/.447 across parts of four seasons.

The Orioles primarily relied on a combination of Robinson Chirinos and Anthony Bemboom to supplement Adley Rutschman in 2022. With Chirinos’ impending free agency, it is likely that Garcia will join Bemboom in competing for a backup catcher position in the spring, with the defeated remaining a depth piece in Triple-A.

Ellis, a former third-round pick, underwent season-ending arthroscopic shoulder surgery in early May after dealing with shoulder inflammation. He struggled in his two starts this year, pitching only 4 1/3 innings and allowing 5 runs while walking 6 batters before being placed on the injured list. Ellis is arbitration-eligible after the 2024 season.

Nevertheless, Ellis had a strong start to his Orioles career in 2021 after being waived by the Rays. With the Birds, he made six starts (25 1/3 innings) and pitched to a 2.49 ERA. However, advanced metrics weren’t so bullish, giving Ellis a high 5.22 FIP due in part to his low 15.2% strikeout rate and a high 12.4% walk rate. Additionally, Ellis has a career 6.02 ERA in 318 2/3 innings at the Triple-A level across parts of six seasons.

 

Orioles Select Denyi Reyes

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The Orioles announced this morning they’ve selected righty Denyi Reyes onto the big league club. Travis Lakins Sr. was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk in a corresponding move, with Chris Ellis transferred from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list to clear space on the 40-man roster.

Should manager Brandon Hyde deploy Reyes during his MLB stint, he’d be making his major league debut. This isn’t the first time he’s made it onto a 40-man roster, however. Formerly a Red Sox’s prospect, Reyes occupied a spot on Boston’s 40-man from 2018-20. The Sox added him to the roster to keep him from being taken in the Rule 5 draft, and he spent the 2019 season with their Double-A affiliate in Portland. In January 2020, Boston designated Reyes for assignment and passed him through outright waivers without giving him a look against big league hitters.

Baseball America slotted the 6’4″ hurler the #18 prospect in the Boston farm system during his first winter on the 40-man. While he only worked with an 89-92 MPH fastball and a bevy of fringy secondary offerings, the outlet credited his plus control and ability to keep hitters off balance. For the most part, that profile has been reflected in his minor league numbers. Reyes carved up low minors hitters and has almost never walked batters at any level, but he didn’t miss many bats at Double-A in 2019 and struggled with the home run ball during his second crack there last year.

Reyes qualified for minor league free agency at the end of last season, and he signed a non-roster deal with Baltimore during Spring Training. He’s made three starts with Norfolk, allowing 11 runs in 12 innings. The 25-year-old has fanned an impressive 15 hitters while doling out just three free passes in that time, though, and the O’s will add him to the big league staff. Reyes adds a multi-inning option for Hyde in advance of a likely bullpen game this afternoon against the Cardinals.

Ellis’ transfer to the 60-day IL was a matter of when, not if. The 29-year-old righty underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last week. Re-signed to a minors contract over the winter, Ellis made two big league starts.

Orioles’ Chris Ellis Undergoes Season-Ending Shoulder Surgery

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Orioles right-hander Chris Ellis will miss the rest of the 2022 season after undergoing arthroscopic shoulder surgery today, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including The Baltimore Sun’s Andy Kostka).  Dr. Keith Meister performed Ellis’ surgery today in Arlington.

It’s a rough outcome for Ellis, as arthroscopic procedures usually take the form of “clean-up” procedures, or at least less-serious types of surgeries that can allow a pitcher to return after perhaps 2-3 months, depending on the situation.  In this case, however, there was obviously enough wrong with Ellis’ shoulder to require a lengthy recovery period.  Ellis was also placed on the 10-day IL with right shoulder inflammation late last season, so it could be that his injury has lingered for some time.

Ellis elected free agency after being outrighted off Baltimore’s 40-man roster last year, and he re-signed with the club on a new minor league deal in mid-March.  The O’s selected the righty’s contract on April 19 and he made two starts that differed wildly in quality.  After tossing 4 1/3 shutout innings against the Athletics on April 19, Ellis didn’t record a single out while allowing five earned runs to the Angels on April 24.  That latter start saw Ellis removed from the game in the first inning due to shoulder problems, and he was placed on the IL two days later with what was termed as shoulder inflammation.

The 29-year-old Ellis has a 3.12 ERA over 34 2/3 career innings in the majors, pitching in parts of the 2019, 2021, and 2022 seasons with the Royals, Rays, and Orioles.  (Ellis didn’t pitch in 2020 due to the canceled minor league season.)  He has bounced around to several other organizations during his eight pro seasons, and was part of the trade package sent by the Angels to the Braves in the Andrelton Simmons trade back in November 2015.  Ellis had only 62 official days of Major League service time prior to the 2022 season, and he’ll continue to amass more service time once the Orioles place him on their 60-day injured list.

Orioles Designate DJ Stewart For Assignment

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The Orioles announced this evening they’ve designated outfielder DJ Stewart for assignment. The move clears a 40-man roster spot for right-hander Chris Ellis, who has been selected back to the majors. Baltimore optioned righty Marcos Diplán yesterday to clear space on the active roster.

Stewart has been in the Baltimore organization since they selected him 25th overall in the 2015 draft. A left-handed hitter with quality plate discipline and some power, he once profiled as a potential everyday left fielder. Stewart performed well up through Double-A, although his offensive production trended down once he hit Triple-A Norfolk for the first time in 2018.

Despite a .235/.329/.387 showing with Norfolk that year, Stewart got his first MLB call. He only appeared in 17 games, but he’d tally more than 100 trips to the plate in each of the next three seasons. Stewart hit seven homers with a massive 17.9% walk rate in 31 outings in 2020, but he’s otherwise posted below-average numbers. Last season, he tallied a career-high 318 trips to the plate and hit .204/.324/.374, popping 12 homers while walking nearly 14% of the time but striking out in 28% of his trips to the dish.

Paired with a lack of defensive value, Stewart’s low batting average eventually squeezed him out of the outfield mix in Baltimore. The O’s optioned him early this season, and they’ve now bumped him from the 40-man roster entirely. They’ll have a week to trade him or try to run him through waivers.

Ellis made six starts for Baltimore last season after they claimed him off waivers from the division-rival Rays. He posted a 2.49 ERA in 25 1/3 innings, but neither his 15.2% strikeout rate nor 12.4% walk percentage indicated he’d sustain that kind of run prevention. The O’s outrighted him off their 40-man roster at the end of the season, but Ellis quickly returned on a minor league pact.

So far this year, he’s made just one start with Norfolk. He worked four scoreless, hitless innings with five strikeouts and a walk. Ellis will take the ball tonight against the A’s for his first big league outing of the season.

Orioles Re-Sign Chris Ellis To Minor League Deal

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The Orioles announced that they have re-signed right-handed pitcher Chris Ellis to a minor league pact. It’s the team’s second minor league pitcher signing in three days, after signing right-handed pitcher Conner Greene to a deal on Monday.

The 29-year-old pitched part of last season with the Orioles after a mid-season claim out of the Rays’ DFA purgatory. Ellis started six games down the stretch for a rebuilding Baltimore team, posting a cool 2.49 ERA in 25 plus innings.

As the minor league deal indicates, there was trepidation around the league that Ellis was a pitcher who could be counted on to repeat last season’s performance with the Orioles. After all, the right-hander pitched to a 6.32 ERA at the Triple-A level with the Rays in 2021, a mark that’s only slightly higher than his career 6.09 ERA through 314 plus innings at the level.

A starter with consistently below average strikeout and groundball rates is unlikely to offer much upside moving forward, but if nothing else Ellis can serve as a source of bulk innings for a team with a shaky pitching core. A fastball with above average spin, plus a track record that includes looks from six different organizations suggests though that there may be more talent for Baltimore to tap into yet.

Orioles Announce Series Of Outrights

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NOVEMBER 5: The O’s formally announced the outrights of Severino, Diplan and Greene on Friday evening. Additionally, Baltimore announced that right-handers Chris Ellis and Spenser Watkins and catcher Nick Ciuffo have cleared waivers. Ellis has already elected minor league free agency, and Watkins and Ciuffo will also have that right.

Ellis made six starts for the O’s after being claimed off waivers from the Rays. He worked to a 2.49 ERA in 25 1/3 innings but did so with underwhelming peripherals after struggling in Triple-A. Watkins posted an 8.07 ERA over 54 2/3 frames during his first major league action. Ciuffo appeared in just two big league games at the very tail end of the season.

NOVEMBER 3: The Orioles have outrighted catcher Pedro Severino and right-handers Marcos Diplan and Conner Greene to Triple-A Norfolk.  According to MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko, all three players will elect free agency rather than accept the outright assignment.

Severino is the most experienced name of the trio, with parts of seven MLB seasons under his belt (the last three in Baltimore).  Severino was projected to earn $3.1MM in arbitration this winter, but was seen as a non-tender candidate following a season that saw him hit .248/.303/.383 with 11 home runs over 419 plate appearances.

The 28-year-old shouldn’t have much trouble catching on somewhere as a platoon partner or backup catcher.  As for the Orioles, Nick Ciuffo is the only catcher in the organization with Major League experience, but the O’s are expected to add another low-cost veteran backstop this winter, and star prospect Adley Rutschman is expected to make his MLB debut at some point in 2022.

Diplan made his Major League debut in 2021, with a 4.50 ERA over 30 innings out of the Orioles bullpen.  A veteran of seven minor league seasons with the Orioles, Twins, Brewers, and Rangers, 2021 was Diplan’s first season as a full-time reliever, though he had gotten an increasingly large share of bullpen work by 2019.  He showed some solid improvements to his strikeout and walk rates with Norfolk this season and even pitched in the Futures Game during All-Star week.

Greene also got his first taste of MLB action this year, posting a 7.11 ERA over 25 1/3 combined innings with the Orioles and Dodgers.  Beginning the season with the O’s, Greene was claimed on waivers by Los Angeles and then claimed back by Baltimore, all within the span of less than three weeks in August.  Greene has a live fastball, but he has yet to translate that heater into big strikeout numbers or even consistent results in the minors, with a 4.34 ERA over 729 2/3 career innings on the farm.

Orioles Place Anthony Santander On Injured List

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The Orioles announced they’ve reinstated left-hander Bruce Zimmermann from the 60-day injured list. He’ll start this evening’s game against the Red Sox. They’ve also recalled corner infielder/outfielder Tyler Nevin from Triple-A Norfolk and placed right-hander Chris Ellis and outfielder Anthony Santander on the 10-day IL. To create space on the 40-man roster for Zimmermann, Baltimore transferred lefty Keegan Akin, who underwent abdominal surgery last week, from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

Zimmermann is back after missing around two and a half months due to left biceps tendinitis. The 26-year-old appeared in twelve games (eleven starts) before going on the IL, tossing 59 2/3 innings of 4.83 ERA/4.48 SIERA ball. Zimmermann posted a below-average 20.2% strikeout rate and gave up nearly as much hard contact as any pitcher in baseball, but he pounded the strike zone and posted a ground-ball rate just a bit below the league average.

That’s not the most exciting production, but only John Means posted better numbers among O’s hurlers with 50+ innings this season. That looks to give Zimmermann a decent shot at landing a season-opening rotation spot next year, although the O’s front office will at least add a low-cost veteran option or two to that mix this offseason.

Santander’s season comes to a close a few days early because of a right knee sprain. The 26-year-old mashed in last year’s shortened campaign, but he couldn’t follow up on that over a larger body of work. Through 438 plate appearances, Santander hit .241/.286/.433. He hit for a decent amount of power for a third consecutive year, popping 18 home runs, but Santander’s tiny 5.3% walk rate and career-worst 23.1% strikeout percentage (excluding his 13-game rookie year) contributed to serious on-base issues.

This offseason, Santander will be eligible for arbitration for the second of four times. If tendered a contract, he’d be in line for a raise on this year’s $2.1MM salary. The Orioles have no guaranteed money on the books next season, so they could certainly shoulder a few million dollar tab for Santander. Still, that was true last offseason of Renato Nuñez — another low-OBP, power bat — and Baltimore elected to non-tender Nuñez. The front office will have to make a similar call on Santander this winter.

Orioles Claim Chris Ellis, Designate Cesar Valdez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve claimed righty Chris Ellis off waivers from the Rays and designated right-hander Cesar Valdez for assignment. Meanwhile, left-hander Ryan Hartman, who was designated for assignment earlier in the week, went unclaimed on waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk.

Ellis, 28, pitched four shutout innings with seven strikeouts against the Orioles earlier this week. The Rays had selected him to the MLB roster in order to get a fresh arm in the ’pen, but it proved to be a one-off appearance for Ellis in spite of that fine work. The O’s, who currently have the game’s worst record, have top priority on the waiver wire.

Ellis has had a rough season in Triple-A, pitching to a 6.32 ERA in 57 innings with below-average strikeout and walk rates and 14 home runs allowed. He’s had a rough couple of seasons in Triple-A but has had some success at that level in the past and comes to the Orioles with a bit of pedigree. He’s a former third-round pick and well-regarded prospect who was included in a pair of trades for notable big leaguers (Andrelton Simmons and Jaime Garcia), and the Royals liked him enough to select him in the Rule 5 Draft back in the 2018-19 offseason as well.

The Orioles are a good landing spot for a pitcher like Ellis, who has had some success in the upper minors but has yet to get much of a real look in the Majors. The O’s can afford to give him a look in the rotation or try him out of the bullpen if they like. Ellis also has all three minor league options remaining, so he can give them flexibility both now and in future seasons — if he sticks on the 40-man roster.

Valdez, 36, became the Orioles’ unlikely closer after signing a minor league deal in January 2020 and working his way back to the Major Leagues for the first time since 2017. His career arc has been atypical, to say the least, as Valdez debuted as a 25-year-old in 2010 and then did not appear in the Majors again until that 2017 return. The 2020-21 seasons mark the first time that he’s ever pitched in consecutive MLB seasons. Between MLB stints, he’s pitched professionally in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Taiwan.

Valdez didn’t simply return to the big leagues in 2020 — he thrived. Upon debuting with the Orioles, he pitched 14 1/3 innings and held opponents to two earned runs on seven hits and three walks with a dozen strikeouts. His success carried into 2021, too, at least in the early portion of the season. Valdez pitched to a 2.50 ERA with a sterling 21-to-4 K/BB ratio through his first 18 innings this season, accumulating eight saves along the way. Valdez found that success in spite of a “fastball” that barely averages 85 mph, relying heavily on a 78 mph changeup he refers to as the “dead fish.”

It’s been a swift decline since late May, however. Valdez was tagged for three runs in consecutive outings late in May and hasn’t been able to right the ship. Dating back to May 24, Valdez has pitched 27 1/3 innings and allowed a whopping 24 runs on 41 hits (including eight homers) and nine walks with 23 strikeouts.

It’s possible another club will take a look at Valdez on outright waivers, as he’s not yet arbitration eligible. He’s out of minor league options, though, meaning any club who does place a claim will need to carry him on the active roster or else try to pass him through waivers a second time before being able to send him down.

Rays Designate Chris Ellis For Assignment

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The Rays have designated right-hander Chris Ellis for assignment, per a club announcement. His spot on the 26-man and 40-man rosters will go to lefty Ryan Yarbrough, who has been reinstated from the Covid-19-related injured list.

It’s surely a bitter pill to swallow for Ellis, who was selected to the big league roster just two days ago and promptly pitched four brilliant innings in his lone appearance with the club. The righty picked up his first big league win in yesterday’s game when he tossed the final four innings of the game and held Baltimore scoreless on three hits and a walk with seven strikeouts.

That said, Ellis has had a rough go of it in Triple-A this year, which made his promotion to the big league roster look likely to be a short-term stint. In 15 appearances (13 starts) with the Rays’ top affiliate in Durham, Ellis has posted a 6.32 ERA with slightly below-average strikeout and walk rates. He’s also served up 14 home runs in just 57 innings of work thus far in Triple-A.

Ellis, now 28 years old, had a strong Triple-A season in 2018 but has been hit hard both in 2019 and 2020 at that level. Still, he’s a former third-round pick (Angels, 2014) who has been well-regarded enough to be included in a pair of trades involving notable big leaguers — Andrelton Simmons and  Jaime Garcia — and was a Rule 5 Draft pick as recently as the 2018-19 offseason. The Rays will now place him on outright waivers or release waivers, giving all 29 other clubs the opportunity to claim him.

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