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Jahmai Jones

Orioles Release Jahmai Jones

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June 4: Jones cleared waivers and was released. He is now a free agent.

June 3: The Orioles announced they’ve placed infielder Jahmai Jones on unconditional release waivers. The 29 other clubs will have an opportunity to put in a claim. If he passes through unclaimed, he’ll be a free agent.

This was the likely outcome once the O’s designated Jones for assignment over the weekend. The 24-year-old underwent Tommy John surgery last week and will miss the remainder of the season. By rule, injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers. When the O’s designated Jones for assignment, they committed to either trading him or releasing him.

Jones suffered the injury while on optional assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He could’ve been placed on the minor league injured list but would’ve continued to occupy a spot on the 40-man roster for the rest of the season. Baltimore could’ve recalled him and placed him on the MLB 60-day IL to free a 40-man roster spot, but doing so would’ve required paying him at the prorated portion of the $700K league minimum salary for the rest of the year.

Rather than do so, Baltimore will run the risk of losing Jones on waivers or via free agency. It’s not out of the question another team places a claim and is willing to pay Jones the big league minimum — the Giants snagged Luis González from the White Sox last summer in a similar circumstance, for instance — but it’s also possible he simply clears waivers. In that event, the O’s could try to re-sign Jones on a minor league deal, but he’d be free to explore similar arrangements with other teams.

The Orioles acquired Jones over the 2020-21 offseason in the deal that sent starter Alex Cobb to the Angels. The former second-round pick and well-regarded prospect hit .149/.208/.194 over 26 big league games last year. He’d had a .212/.339/.343 line through 118 plate appearances with Norfolk prior to the injury.

Orioles Designate Jahmai Jones, Select Cody Sedlock

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves prior to today’s doubleheader with the Red Sox, including the news that right-hander Cody Sedlock’s contract has been selected from Triple-A.  Infielder Jahmai Jones was designated for assignment to create room on the 40-man roster, and righty Beau Sulser was optioned to Triple-A.  Additionally, right-hander Denyi Reyes was also called up as the 27th man for the doubleheader.

Jones is headed for DFA limbo just a day after the Orioles announced that the infielder underwent Tommy John surgery.  Jones became injured while in the minors, and thus couldn’t be moved to the 60-day injured list unless the O’s officially added him to the big league roster.  In designating him for assignment, the Orioles could simply be looking to remove Jones from their 40-man roster without that official call-up, and the team is betting that another club won’t make a claim on Jones given that he’ll miss the rest of the season recovering.

This will be the first Major League opportunity for Sedlock, who was selected with the 27th overall pick of the 2016 draft.  Sedlock’s progress was slowed by elbow and shoulder problems, as well as thoracic outlet syndrome, though Sedlock was able to avoid TOS surgery.  Between injuries and the canceled 2020 minor league season, Sedlock has only 371 1/3 innings under his belt over parts of six professional seasons.

Making his Triple-A debut in 2021 and continuing with Norfolk this season, Sedlock has only a 5.13 ERA over 59 2/3 innings, with a 25.75% strikeout rate and 9.1% walk rate.  Working mostly as a starter throughout his career, Sedlock could be used as a swingman or long reliever in Baltimore, depending on how the Orioles choose to juggle their pitching mix as the team navigates a busy stretch of the schedule.

Orioles’ Jahmai Jones Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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The Orioles announced this afternoon that second baseman Jahmai Jones underwent Tommy John surgery (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). While the team didn’t provide a timetable for his recovery, it seems likely he’ll miss the remainder of this season and hope to be ready for next Spring Training.

It’ll go down as a lost season for Jones, who didn’t play in the majors. He tallied 112 plate appearances with Triple-A Norfolk, hitting .212/.339/.343 with two home runs and stolen bases apiece. Jones walked at a strong 11.9% clip while only striking out in 19.5% of his plate appearances, but he didn’t make much impact on contact. The right-handed hitter posted just a .131 ISO (slugging minus batting average) with a .257 average on balls in play.

Jones was more effective during a longer run with Norfolk last season. He came to the plate just under 300 times and hit .243/.337/.431 with 11 homers, earning a late-season big league call. The 24-year-old didn’t play well in his brief MLB action, but he seemed to have a good chance to get back to the majors with a solid showing this year. Unfortunately, the elbow procedure will prevent that from happening.

A former second-round pick, Jones broke into the professional ranks as one of the better prospects in the Angels’ farm system. Regarded as a possible bat-first second baseman and top-of-the-lineup presence, he appeared among Baseball America’s top 100 overall prospects entering the 2018 season. Jones started to struggle between High-A and Double-A that year, though, and his stock dipped. Los Angeles traded him to the Orioles over the 2020-21 offseason for starter Alex Cobb.

Jones will continue to occupy a spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster so long as he’s on the minor league injured list. The O’s could clear a roster spot by recalling him and placing him on the 60-day IL, although doing so would require paying him at the prorated portion of the $700K MLB minimum salary. Baltimore could also release him entirely or merely keep him on the 40-man all season. This is Jones’ final minor league option year, so he’ll have to break camp with the team next season or be designated for assignment if he holds his place on the roster until then.

Orioles Designate Cesar Valdez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced Wednesday that right-hander Cesar Valdez has been designated for assignment for a second time this season. Baltimore also recalled second baseman Jahmai Jones and righty Konner Wade from Triple-A Norfolk, optioned right-hander Joey Krehbiel to Norfolk and placed infielder Ramon Urias on the 10-day injured list due to a right adductor strain.

Valdez, 36, only had his contract selected back to the big league roster yesterday. It’ll be a daylong stint on the MLB roster for the righty, who pitched two-thirds of an inning in last night’s game and surrendered two runs (one earned) on a hit and a walk. Valdez has now been scored upon in six of his past seven Major League appearances and 12 of his past 19 dating back to June 1.

Up to that point, Valdez had emerged as an unlikely closer in Baltimore. The journeyman right-hander notched eight saves for the O’s through the season’s first five weeks and carried a 1.23 ERA into mid-May before a swift collapse cost him the closer’s gig and eventually his spot on the roster. Dating back to May 11, Valdez has been tagged for 28 earned runs on 51 hits and 11 walks with 28 strikeouts through 31 1/3 innings. The O’s will either place him on outright waivers or release waivers within the next couple of days.

Given the timing of the Urias IL placement, it seems quite possible that this injury will end his season. He’s somewhat quietly had a nice run as a utility option with the O’s since making his MLB debut last summer, as the 27-year-old has batted .286/.365/.425 with eight home runs and 16 doubles in his first 323 big league plate appearances. A .376 average on balls in play has surely helped his cause, but Urias also owns an impressive 25 percent line-drive rate and a 42.9 percent hard-hit rate.

Urias has split his time between second base, shortstop and third base, although he doesn’t have particularly strong grades. Still, his solid showing at the plate to date suggests he could be a bat-first utility option for the O’s moving forward.

Orioles To Designate Maikel Franco For Assignment, Claim Conner Greene From Dodgers

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2:10pm: The Orioles announced that Jones has been recalled, Greene has been claimed, Martin has been optioned and Franco has been designated for assignment. Kubatko now tweets that the Gutierrez move won’t become official until tomorrow, so it seems there’s some additional roster tweaking on the horizon.

1:30pm: The Orioles have also reclaimed right-hander Conner Greene off waivers from the Dodgers, tweets Dan Connolly of The Athletic. The O’s lost him to the Dodgers on waivers earlier this month but have now claimed him back after the Dodgers designated him for assignment themselves.

12:38pm: The Orioles will announce multiple roster moves today, reports Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com (Twitter link). Baltimore is set to designate third baseman Maikel Franco for assignment and option infielder Richie Martin to Triple-A Norfolk, per Kubatko. They’ll recall second baseman Jahmai Jones and third baseman Kelvin Gutierrez in their place.

Franco, who’ll turn 29 this week, has never really found his footing with the O’s after signing well into Spring Training. He’s been Baltimore’s primary third baseman this season, appearing in 104 games and totaling 403 plate appearances, but he’s mustered only a .210/.253/.355 slash with 11 home runs and 22 doubles in that time.

The O’s were surely hoping for something closer to Franco’s 2020 production, when he appeared in all 60 games for the Royals and batted .278/.321/.457 with eight homers and 16 doubles in 243 plate appearances. Kansas City still non-tendered Franco last winter rather than pay him a raise in arbitration — his second non-tender in as many years — and he lingered in free agency into Spring Training before finally settling on a one-year, $800K deal with Baltimore.

In an ideal setting, the Orioles probably would’ve enjoyed a few reasonably productive months out of Franco and subsequently flipped him at the deadline for whatever return they could get. His minimal salary would’ve made him an affordable addition even as a bench bat with a contending club. His general lack of production this season understandably dried up any real interest on the trade market.

The Orioles will now place Franco on either outright waivers or release waivers in the coming days. He’s unlikely to be claimed, as doing so would mean picking up the remainder of his salary, which recently jumped from $800K to $1MM when he recorded his 400th plate appearance of the season. Once he clears waivers, he can become a free agent and sign with any club for the prorated portion of the league minimum from that point through season’s end.

Jones, 24, was acquired in the offseason trade that sent righty Alex Cobb and cash to the Angels. The former second-round pick was once considered one of the best prospects in the Halos’ system and one of the top 100 prospects in all of baseball, but his stock had dipped in recent seasons.

After a hot start to the 2021 campaign, Jones has seen his bat tail off considerably in Norfolk. He posted a .311/.435/.516 line through his first 30 games with the Tides but has batted just .201/.257/.370 in 42 games since that time. Jones posted a .349 average on balls in play during the 30-game stretch to open the year and saw that mark fall to .242 over his next 42 games, but a climbing strikeout rate has also been a primary reason for his downturn in performance. Jones walked 22 times (16.8 percent) against 20 strikeouts (15.3 percent) over those first 30 games, but in his past 42 contests he’s fanned at a 29.2 percent rate against a greatly diminished 6.5 percent walk rate.

Recent slump notwithstanding, Jones ranks in the middle tier of the Orioles’ top prospects and will use the remainder of the 2021 campaign as an addition for a larger role next season. The Orioles’ infield is largely unsettled beyond first baseman Trey Mancini, so there should be plenty of opportunity for younger players to stake a claim to some more playing time. Jones does have some experience in center and in left as well. However, the O’s have used him primarily as a second baseman in 2021 and have a much more settled group on the outfield grass than the infield dirt.

Orioles Make Several Roster Moves

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The Orioles have placed first baseman Chris Davis on the 60-day injured list with a lower back strain, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The team also made the re-signing of left-hander Wade LeBlanc official. LeBlanc is in the mix for the Orioles’ rotation/long man role, while that is no longer the case for lefty Keegan Akin. The O’s optioned Akin, outfielder Jahmai Jones and infielder Richie Martin, per Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com, and they reassigned lefty Fernando Abad and first baseman/outfielder Chris Shaw.

Manager Brandon Hyde implied earlier this week that Davis could be headed for the long-term IL, so this news doesn’t come as any kind of surprise. Nevertheless, it’s the latest unfortunate development for the 35-year-old Davis, whose career has been an abject disaster since the Orioles re-signed him to a seven-year, $161MM contract before 2016.

When Davis received his deal, he had established himself as one of the game’s fiercest sluggers, as he smashed 53 home runs in 2013 – his lone All-Star season – and added another 47 in 2015. Davis was a 38-HR hitter in the first year of his deal, though he has totaled a mere 28 (none during an injury-limited 2020) with a .169/251/.299 in 929 trips to the plate since 2018. The Orioles have stuck with Davis during his massive on-field decline, and he still has another year on his contract after this one.

Orioles Notes: Sánchez, Jones, Zimmermann, Valdez

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The Orioles will have a pair of fresh faces up the middle this season with free agent additions Freddy Galvis and Yolmer Sánchez. Sánchez is a Gold Glove winner at second, but he’ll be pushed for playing time by the newly-acquired Jahmai Jones. Jones will work out in the outfield as well, but the Orioles view him as a second baseman, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. It was a bit surprising to see the Orioles net the former second round pick in exchange for Alex Cobb, as the former Angels farmhand was the top prospect in LA’s system as recently as 2017, per Baseball America. He was the 89th ranked prospect in all of baseball before the 2018 season.

On the pitching side, Baltimore made positive strides in 2020, finishing in the upper half of the league by fWAR and around the middle of the pack by measure of ERA (16th) and xFIP (18th). The struggle to allot rotation minutes remains a focal point, however. Bruce Zimmermann, for instance, hopes to make the rotation after seven debut innings in 2020. If Zimmerman doesn’t make the rotation, he could wind up in the pen as a bulk innings relievers, tweets Kubatko.

The same goes for César Valdez, notes Kukatko. Manager Brandon Hyde suggested that Valdez would be used in a number of different roles, but they will work to stretch him out in the spring in preparation for multi-inning stints and potentially turns in the rotation. The 35-year-old Valdez made nine appearances for the O’s in 2020 with a 1.26 ERA/2.14 FIP across 14 1/3 innings. It was Valdez’s first appearance in the bigs since 2017 and only his third stint since initially debuting with the Diamondbacks in 2010.

Angels Acquire Alex Cobb

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FEB. 2: Both teams have announced the trade. The Angels will pay $5MM of Cobb’s $15MM, and some of that includes deferrals, Connolly tweets.

FEB. 1, 12:42pm: The Angels will send infield prospect Jahmai Jones to the Orioles as part of the discussed deal, Rosenthal and colleague Fabian Ardaya report (Twitter link). The Orioles are eating more than half of Cobb’s $15MM salary in order to facilitate the deal, according to Connolly.

It’s rather surprising to see Jones included in this swap. While his stock has tumbled in recent seasons, he’s a former second-round draft pick who at one point ranked among MLB’s top 100 prospects at Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus. Baseball America ranked Jones 11th on the Halos’ 2020-21 list.

The 23-year-old Jones went 3-for-7 in a very brief MLB debut with the Angels in 2020, so he’s a departure from some of the Orioles’ other prospect acquisitions. He’s a near-MLB-ready piece that could be plugged into the big league mix as soon as this season. Jones has played second base and center field throughout his minor league career. His bat has stalled a bit in Double-A, where he’s batted .237/.315/.338 in a very pitcher-friendly environment.

9:54am: The two teams are indeed in talks on the trade, though MLB.com’s Joe Trezza tweets that it’s not yet close to completion. Talks still “seem to be trending in the right direction,” per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko.

9:20am: The Angels and Orioles are working out a trade to send right-hander Alex Cobb from Baltimore to Anaheim, Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic report (via Twitter). Details are still being finalized, Connolly adds. The Orioles are surely including some cash to offset a portion of the $15MM that Cobb is owed under the final season of his four-year, $57MM contract with the O’s. That deal contains a 10-team no-trade clause, but the Angels either aren’t on it or Cobb is willing to waive it to move to a more competitive club.

Cobb signed late in the 2017-18 offseason, inking his surprising four-year pact with the O’s on March 21, when Spring Training was nearing its completion. He didn’t make his team debut until April 14 that year, but even with some extra time to tune up, it appeared that the lack of a full Spring Training was tough on Cobb, who was tagged for 17 runs on 30 hits in his first three starts.

From that point forth, Cobb largely righted the ship, pitching to a respectable 4.22 ERA from May through season’s end. Cobb’s strikeout percentage was nowhere near what it’d been at his best in Tampa Bay, however, and that remains the case today. A back injury torpedoed Cobb’s 2019 season, but he returned in 2020 to make 10 starts with a 4.30 ERA (4.65 SIERA), a 16.8 percent strikeout rate and an eight percent walk rate.

Cobb’s recent strikeout rates are well south of the league average, and last year’s eight percent walk rate was his highest since his rookie year back in 2011. His Statcast profile doesn’t paint a particularly favorable picture, as his hard-hit rate and average opponents’ exit velocity were among the highest marks of any pitcher in the league. Cobb’s 54.5 percent ground-ball rate is encouraging, though — particularly when considering that he’d be playing in front of a strong infield defense in Anaheim (Anthony Rendon, Jose Iglesias, David Fletcher).

Certainly, Cobb isn’t the top-of-the-rotation starter that most believe the Angels need, but the cost of acquisition here is likely to be relatively small, and he’ll give the Halos another able-bodied arm to soak up some innings. Teams need far more than five starters to get through a 162-game season under normal circumstances, and that reality will be amplified exponentially in 2021 after last year’s shortened schedule truncated every Major League pitcher’s workload.

Cobb joins Dylan Bundy, Andrew Heaney, Griffin Canning, Jose Quintana, Shohei Ohtani, Jaime Barria and Patrick Sandoval as rotation options on the 40-man roster for the Angels. It’s likely that everyone from that bunch will get some starts, and it’s worth wondering whether the Angels will consider a six-man rotation given their bulk approach to their rotation composition. That will be determined by new general manager Perry Minasian and manager Joe Maddon, the latter of whom is plenty familiar with Cobb after managing the first several seasons of his career with the Rays.

For the Orioles, subtracting Cobb from an already suspect rotation thins out the depth and, more importantly in ownership’s eyes, scales back the payroll. Even with Cobb on the books, the Orioles’ payroll sat at just $64MM, but this deal could drop them below the $60MM mark, depending on how the financial details are sorted out.

If Cobb indeed departs, left-hander John Means would be the only lock for the Baltimore rotation. Younger options like Keegan Akin and Dean Kremer seem likely to be given the opportunity to earn Opening Day spots, and the Orioles have several potential rotation pieces on their 40-man roster: Bruce Zimmerman, Jorge Lopez, Michael Baumann, Zac Lowther, Alexander Wells.

General manager Mike Elias spoke recently about the possibility of signing a veteran starting pitcher, and the need for depth is only further underscored by the trade of the team’s most experienced starter. It’s likely that whoever the Orioles bring in will command less in terms of salary than whatever sum the Orioles are saving in the Cobb deal.

Last year, Elias filled out the rotation by signing Wade LeBlanc and Tommy Milone to non-guaranteed deals that eventually paid them less than $1MM apiece upon earning roster spots in Spring Training. It’s plausible, if not likely, that the Orioles will take a similar approach in the weeks ahead.

Angels Place Luis Rengifo On 10-Day Injured List

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Prior to tonight’s game, the Angels announced that infielder Luis Rengifo had been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a right hamstring strain.  Righty Jaime Barria was also optioned to the team’s alternate training site, while the two open roster spots were filled by infielder Jahmai Jones and right-hander Luke Bard, both called up from the alternate site.

It’s been an altogether tough year for Rengifo, who hit only .156/.269/.200 over 106 PA and also had another IL stint due to hamstring problems at the start of the season.  Rengifo didn’t do much with quite a bit of regular playing time this year, as he was needed at second base since Tommy La Stella often played at first base and Andrelton Simmons’ injury meant David Fletcher moved over to shortstop.

This performance came after Rengifo was on the verge of being traded back in February, as the Angels walked away at the last moment from a deal that would have sent Rengifo to the Dodgers as part of a trade package for Joc Pederson and Ross Stripling to Anaheim.  While Rengifo is only 23 and has less than two years of MLB service time to his name, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see his name again surface in trade talks this winter.

Jones is back in the big leagues after a one-game cup of coffee earlier this season that saw him make his MLB debut as a pinch-runner but not actually take the field or receive an at-bat.  (Jones was in the Angels’ starting lineup and doubled in his first plate appearance tonight, however.)  A second-round pick for the Angels in the 2015 draft, Jones was a consensus top-100 prospect as recently as the 2017-18 offseason, though a pair of unimpressive years at Double-A lowered his stock.  The 23-year-old Jones has a career .258/.338/.386 slash line over 2159 PA in the minors, and has mostly played second base over the last two years but has plenty of experience in the outfield.

Players Added To 40-Man Roster: American League

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We’re going to see a whole lot of players added to 40-man rosters in advance of tonight’s deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. We will use this post to track those contract selections from American League teams that are not otherwise covered on the site.

AL West:

  • The Athletics made just one addition to the 40-man roster, righty Daulton Jefferies, which resulted in the DFA of righty Jharel Cotton (more on that move here).
  • The Rangers will add at least four players to their 40-man, per MLB.com’s TR Sullivan (via Twitter). Infielder Sherten Apostel, outfielder Leody Taveras, and hurlers Demarcus Evans and Tyler Phillips are all reportedly set to get a slot. Taveras is the most exciting name of this bunch; by the reckoning of some observers, he’s one of the club’s best prospects. Apostel came over in the Keone Kela trade. The two pitchers are upper-minors arms who could contribute in 2020.
  • There’s 40-man movement elsewhere in Texas as well. Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets that the Astros have tacked on four players: Taylor Jones, Cristian Javier, Enoli Paredes, and Nivaldo Rodriguez. The last of those is the one that came from the farthest reaches of the prospect map (half a season of High-A ball); clearly, the ’Stros see him as an up-and-comer and were worried other teams would as well. Jones had a strong season at Triple-A and could fight for a bench spot. Javier and Paredes could be in the MLB bullpen mix after running up the farm ladder with high strikeout rates in 2019.
  • The Angels have selected second baseman/outfielder Jahmai Jones and lefty Hector Yan, according to the club. Both players (Jones – No. 6; Yan – No. 17) rank among the Angels’ top 20 prospects at MLB.com. The 22-year-old Jones is a 2015 second-rounder who spent the past two seasons at the Double-A level, where he hit .234/.308/.324 in 544 plate appearances in 2019. Yan, a 20-year-old native of the Dominican Republic, rose to Single-A ball this past season and notched a 3.39 ERA/3.17 FIP with a whopping 12.22 K/9 against 4.29 BB/9 over 109 innings.

AL Central:

AL East:

  • Infielder Santiago Espinal and righty Thomas Hatch were the Blue Jays’ pair of roster additions on Wednesday. Toronto jettisoned Tim Mayza and Justin Shafer from the 40-man roster in a pair of corresponding moves, as explored at greater length here.
  • The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contracts of left-hander Keegan Akin, right-hander Dean Kremer, infielder/outfielder Ryan Mountcastle and outfielder Ryan McKenna. Mountcastle, a former first-rounder, has long been considered among the organization’s most promising minor leaguers. Akin posted a down year in Triple-A in 2019 but has generally been successful and is viewed as a near-MLB ready arm.
  • The Red Sox have added infielders C.J. Chatham and Bobby Dalbec, outfielder Marcus Wilson, and lefties Kyle Hart and Yoan Aybar to their 40-man, the team announced.The most hyped farmhand there is Dalbec, whom MLB.com ranks as the Red Sox’s second-best prospect. The 24-year-old reached the Triple-A level for the first time in 2019 after obliterating Double-A pitching, and he posted a .257/.301/.478 line with seven home runs and 29 strikeouts against just five walks over 123 trips to the plate.
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