Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Jorge Lopez

Mets To Sign Jorge Lopez

By | at

The Mets are in agreement with free agent reliever Jorge López on a one-year contract, reports Carlos Rosa (X link). It’s a $2MM guarantee, per Jeff Passan of ESPN (on X).

It’s another low-cost bullpen flier for a New York team that has also brought in Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin this offseason. López had a rough 2023 campaign, allowing a 5.95 ERA in 59 innings. He split the year between a trio of clubs. The righty opened the year with the Twins, was flipped to the Marlins for Dylan Floro in a swap of struggling relievers, then landed with the Orioles on waivers.

The 30-year-old (31 in February) didn’t find much success at any of those stops. He was tagged for more than five earned runs per nine with all three teams. López struggled with home runs in Minnesota and Baltimore and posted generally lackluster strikeout and walk numbers. His strikeout rate rebounded in his 12-inning stint with the O’s but sat below 18% in Minnesota and Miami.

Overall, López concluded the 2023 campaign with a modest 18.4% strikeout percentage. His swinging strike rate sat at only 9.3%. The Puerto Rico native had also struggled late in the 2022 campaign after being traded from Baltimore to Minnesota. Since that deadline deal, he carries a 5.54 ERA through 81 2/3 innings.

That makes it moderately surprising that López secured a major league contract. The Mets still clearly remain intrigued by the form he showed in the first half of the ’22 campaign. He had tossed 48 1/3 frames of 1.68 ERA ball with a near-28% strikeout rate for the Orioles before being traded. López saved 19 games in that time and earned an All-Star nod.

While his production has plummeted in recent years, his velocity has not. He averaged 96.8 MPH on his sinker last season and just above 84 MPH on his breaking ball. The sinker velocity is down only slightly from the 97.7 MPH he’d brandished in 2022; his curveball speed is exactly the same. The Mets will try to harness that stuff and find better results than López has managed over the past 18 months.

With over five years of MLB service, López can’t be optioned to the minor leagues. He’ll almost certainly get a spot in the season-opening middle relief corps. The Mets are in the third tier of luxury tax penalization and will pay the tax for the third straight season in 2024. As a result, they’re taxed at a 95% rate. The total cost amounts to a $3.9MM roll of the dice.

Jorge Lopez Elects Free Agency

By | at

The Orioles announced this morning that right-hander Jorge Lopez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. He’ll test the open market this offseason alongside a bevy of right-handed relief options who figure to be available this offseason.

Lopez, 30, made his MLB debut back in 2015 with the Brewers and bounced around the league as a swing option for several years, struggling to a 6.04 ERA and 5.15 FIP from 2015-21 while playing for Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Baltimore. Prior to the 2022 campaign, the Orioles moved Lopez to the bullpen full time, and the early returns on that decision looked to be nothing short of revelatory: the righty was among the most dominant relievers in baseball for Baltimore in 2022, earning his first career All Star appearance while posting a 1.68 ERA with a 2.99 FIP and 27.6% strikeout rate across 48 1/3 innings of work.

On the back of those career-best numbers, the Orioles shipped Lopez to the Twins for a prospect package that included right-hander Yennier Cano and lefty Cade Povich. While the trade was a controversial one at the time thanks to the young Baltimore squad’s impressive run to that point in 2022, the move proved prescient. While Cano has broken out as an elite set-up man for the Orioles in 2023 and Povich is one of the club’s best pitching prospects, Lopez regressed with the Twins last year, posting a 4.37 ERA and 4.35 FIP in Minnesota that was 10% worse than league average by measure of ERA+.

While the Twins brought Lopez back to open the 2023 campaign, his struggles grew even worse this year. After 35 1/3 innings of 5.09 ERA baseball, Minnesota agreed to a change-of-scenery swap with the Marlins that sent Lopez to Miami in exchange for veteran righty Dylan Floro. Lopez continued to struggle in Miami to the point where the club designated him for assignment, leading him to return to the Orioles. His return to Baltimore saw his 2023 struggles continue, and he ended the season with a 5.95 ERA and 5.76 FIP in 61 appearances.

While Lopez’s huge success with the Orioles last season will surely pique the interest of clubs, his struggles this season figure to give even the most intrigued clubs some level of pause. It’s certainly possible he’ll be limited to minor league offers this offseason and have to earn his way back onto a major league roster for 2024 during Spring Training.

Orioles Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

By | at

The Orioles announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment.  Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was called up from Triple-A to take Lopez’s spot on the active roster.

Baltimore claimed Lopez off waivers from the Marlins at the start of September, and Lopez posted a 6.10 ERA over 10 1/3 innings of work in the orange-and-black.  While Lopez had a 28% strikeout rate and a 4.0% walk rate over his brief time with the O’s, he also allowed four home runs, sending his ERA skyrocketing.  Lopez was ineligible for postseason play since he was acquired after September 1, and since he was looking like a clear non-tender candidate anyway, the Orioles look to have started his path to free agency a little early.  In all likelihood, Lopez will clear waivers and then be released, unless a team wants to take a quick evaluation before the offseason officially begins.

Lopez has a 5.53 ERA over 478 1/3 innings in the majors, appearing with five different teams over an eight-season career that began in 2015.  The clear highlight of Lopez’s career came during his first stint with the Orioles, when his exceptional first-half performance earned him a spot on the 2022 All-Star team.  The O’s were in postseason contention at last year’s trade deadline, but the team opted to sell high on Lopez by dealing him to the Twins for a four-player package that included Yennier Cano (an All-Star himself in 2023) and left-hander Cade Povich, arguably Baltimore’s top current pitching prospect.

It was a wise move on the Orioles’ part, as Lopez immediately started to regress in Minnesota.  Those struggles deepened in 2023, as Lopez posted a 6.12 ERA over 57 1/3 combined innings with the Twins, Marlins, and Orioles.  Minnesota dealt Lopez to Miami at the trade deadline for Dylan Floro in something of a mutual change-of-scenery deal for both relievers, though neither got on track on a new team. (By coincidence, the Twins just released Floro yesterday.)

Lopez earned $3.625MM in 2023, and would be in line for some kind of minimal raise in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility.  The 30-year-old may have to settle for a minor league deal this winter, in the wake of such a disappointing season.

Orioles Make Four Roster Moves

By | at

The Orioles announced four roster moves prior to today’s game with the Diamondbacks.  Newly-claimed reliever Jorge Lopez has been officially activated, and right-hander Austin Voth was designated for assignment to create room for Lopez on the 40-man roster.  Baltimore also optioned Colton Cowser to Triple-A, as outfielder Aaron Hicks was activated from the 10-day injured list.

Voth has a 5.19 ERA over 34 2/3 relief innings this season, with a middling 21.3% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate.  His season was interrupted by a stint on the 60-day injured list, as elbow discomfort sidelined Voth from the middle of June to less than two weeks ago.  In two appearances since his activation, Voth tossed two scoreless innings against the Rockies on August 27 but was then tagged for three runs over 1 2/3 frames against the White Sox on August 30.

Between the injury and the inflated ERA, it has been a tough season overall for Voth, who seemed to have turned a corner after the Orioles picked him up from the Nationals on a waiver claim in June 2022.  Voth had been inconsistent at best over five seasons as a starter and reliever in Washington, but then delivered a 3.04 ERA over 83 innings for the O’s last season, starting 17 of 22 games.

It is possible a pitching-needy team might put in a claim on Voth, as experienced arms are harder to come by at this point in the season, even if Voth’s 2023 numbers haven’t been up to par.  If he clears waivers, he could reject an outright assignment and elect free agency since he has over three years of service time. But since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. The O’s signed Voth to an arbitration-avoiding $1.85MM salary for 2023 and the deal contains a $2.45MM club option for 2024 that looks likely to be declined.  If Voth isn’t in the Orioles’ plans for 2024 anyway, Baltimore might choose to release him if he clears waivers, though keeping Voth as extra depth at Triple-A is also a logical move for a team in pennant contention.

Hicks return after missing a little more than two weeks due to a lower back strain.  Speaking of career revivals in Baltimore, Hicks has hit .261/.355/.440 in 155 plate appearances since signing with the O’s in late May — a big improvement over the underwhelming numbers Hicks posted in his final three seasons with the Yankees.  Unfortunately, the injury bug has followed Hicks to his new team, as he has played in just one game since July 24 due to both his back problem and an earlier hamstring injury that also necessitated an IL trip.

Hicks will step back into the Orioles’ outfield/DH mix, and Cowser will head back to Triple-A to await his next taste of the majors.  One of the Orioles’ top prospects and the fifth overall pick of the 2021 draft, Cowser has been crushing minor league pitching but has only a .433 OPS over his first 77 PA at the MLB level.

Orioles Claim Jorge Lopez From Marlins

By | at

The Orioles have reunited with Jorge Lopez, as Joel Sherman of the New York Post (X link) reports that Baltimore has claimed the right-hander off waivers from the Marlins.  Jordan McPherson of the Miami Herald reported earlier today that Lopez looked like the odd man out on the Marlins’ roster in some capacity, as the Fish needed to create roster space for Johnny Cueto’s activation from the 15-day injured list.  The Orioles designated right-hander Logan Gillaspie for assignment to create a spot for Lopez on the 40-man roster.

Lopez’s tenure in Miami ends after a little more than two months, as the Fish acquired the righty from the Twins in late July in a one-for-one swap for Dylan Floro.  In hindsight, it was a deal that hasn’t really worked out for either club, as neither reliever recaptured their old form after donning a new uniform.  Floro has posted a 6.30 ERA over 10 innings in Minnesota, while Lopez had even greater struggles, delivering only a 9.26 ERA in 11 2/3 innings for Miami.

It was a little over a year ago that Lopez was an All-Star, by dint of his outstanding 1.68 ERA over his first 48 1/3 innings pitched of the 2022 season as a member of the Orioles.  Given Lopez’s unimpressive career track record prior to 2022, however, Baltimore saw him less as a breakout star and more as a sell-high trade chip, so the O’s moved Lopez to the Twins at last year’s trade deadline.  Speaking of trade hindsight, that swap has already become an infamous move for Twins fans, as Yennier Cano was one of the four prospects sent back to the Orioles in return for Lopez.

While the Orioles front office took some heat at the time for dealing an All-Star closer (or being deadline sellers in general) when the club was contending for a playoff spot, those criticisms have certainly diminished given Cano’s breakout and Lopez’s lack of success basically since the moment he left Camden Yards.  The O’s now hope that Lopez can rediscover some of his 2022 magic to help a bullpen trying to get by without injured closer Felix Bautista.  Lopez isn’t going to step back into a ninth-inning role, of course, but he could provide some depth behind Cano and Danny Couloumbe as the temporary late-game closing duo.  The Orioles will be using Lopez for the stretch drive alone, as he isn’t eligible for postseason play since he was acquired after September 1.

Is there hope for a Lopez bounce-back?  Unsurprisingly, his metrics have dropped off sharply in most categories from 2022 to 2023, as his big advances in strikeouts and limiting hard contact have both fallen back to earth.  Lopez threw his sinker 50.5% of the time in 2022 and got plus results, though the pitch has now become much less effective, with Lopez throwing it only 34% of the time this season.  The righty has instead increased the use of his four-seamer to pretty disastrous results, as opposing batters have been teeing off on the pitch to the tune of a .400 batting average.

Rediscovering the All-Star version of Lopez may not be as simple as a change in pitch arsenal, but the Orioles are taking a relatively inexpensive plunge in hoping that he can provide at least adequate relief.  In making the waiver claim, the O’s pick up the roughly $578K remaining on Lopez’s $3.525MM salary for 2023.  The 30-year-old is also eligible for arbitration one final time this winter, though it seems likely that he’ll be non-tendered.  The fact that the Orioles (who have one of baseball’s best records) were even able to claim Lopez is a further sign of how his star has fallen in a year’s time, as it means that just about every other team in the league passed on Lopez before he was available for Baltimore to claim.

Since Lopez surely wouldn’t have been tendered a deal from the Marlins, the move provides a bit of salary relief for the Fish as they get an early jump on some offseason business.  It also allows Cueto to return without any further roster maneuvering, as Cueto is set to start today against Washington in his first outing since August 15.  The veteran righty has been sidelined due to a viral infection that scratched him from his previous start, and eventually required a 15-day IL stint to give Cueto time to fully recover.

Gillaspie made his MLB debut in May 2022, and has since been shuttled back and forth several times between the Orioles’ big league roster and Triple-A Norfolk.  The right-hander had a 3.12 ERA over 17 1/3 innings in 2022 but only a 6.00 ERA in nine frames of action this year, and his career Triple-A line sits at a 4.90 ERA over 71 2/3 innings, with a 23.08% strikeout rate and an 8.01% walk rate.  An undrafted player who broke in with the Brewers’ farm system in 2018, Gillaspie has been a member of Baltimore’s farm system since 2021.

Twins, Marlins Swap Jorge López, Dylan Floro

By | at

The Marlins and Twins have swapped right-handed relievers, with Dylan Floro heading to the Twins and Jorge López going to the Marlins, per an announcement from the Twins. Craig Mish of the Miami Herald reported the deal prior to the official announcement.

Jorge Lopez | D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY SportsThis appears to be something of a “change of scenery” deal on each end, as both pitchers are having poor results this year compared to their previous bodies of work. López, 30, had been a fairly mediocre starter for many years but thrived in a move to the bullpen with the Orioles last year. He tossed 48 1/3 innings with a 1.68 earned run average, striking out 27.6% of opponents while walking 8.7% and getting grounders on 60% of balls in play.

The O’s still had two and a half years of club control over López at last year’s deadline but decided to sell high, flipping him to the Twins for four young pitchers. That was a questionable move at the time from Baltimore’s perspective since they were above .500 and flirting with contention, yet traded away one of their most effective relievers. But in retrospect, it looks like a big win for the Orioles since one of the four pitchers they got back was Yennier Cano, who’s having a breakout season with a 1.82 ERA through 44 appearances this year.

López, meanwhile, has not been able to maintain his own Baltimore breakout. After the deal last year, he had a 4.37 ERA for the Twins, with all of his peripherals moving in the wrong direction. Things have gotten even worse here in 2023, as has a 5.09 ERA through 35 1/3 innings. His 7.1% walk rate is fine and his 48.6% grounder rate is still solid, but he’s only getting strikeouts at a 17.4% rate. The long ball has also become a problem, as he’s let seven go over the fence already this season after just four last year.

He can still be retained via arbitration for another season but it seems the Twins didn’t have much faith in getting him back on track, as they’ve now swapped him for another struggling reliever, but one who is an impending free agent.

Floro, 32, had a 3.15 career ERA coming into this year, working exclusively as a reliever for the Rays, Cubs, Reds, Dodgers and Marlins. In 277 1/3 innings prior to this year, he struck out 21.2% of opponents, walked 7.5% and kept the ball on the ground at a 51.1% clip. That even included some high-leverage work, as he notched double-digit saves with the Fish in each of the past two seasons.

The results haven’t been as good here in 2023, as his ERA has jumped up to 4.54. It’s possible there’s some bad luck to blame, as his peripherals are actually better than his career marks. He’s striking out 24% of hitters, walking just 6.4% and keeping the ball in the dirt 55.1% of the time. His 2.78 FIP and 3.15 SIERA suggest he’s actually been pretty close to the pitcher he’s always been, with a .397 batting average on balls in play and 62.9% strand rate pushing some extra runs across this year.

Both clubs are contenders this year. The Twins 54-50 and currently hold a two-game lead over the Guardians in the AL Central. The Marlins, meanwhile, are 55-48 and half a game back in the NL Wild Card race. It seems each club feels they can get more out of their new pitcher than they were getting from the old one.

Financially, there’s not a huge difference between the two, though López has an extra year of control. Floro is making $3.9MM this year and is slated for the open market in a few months. López is making $3.525MM and can be retained via arbitration for next year.

It’s been speculated by many observers that this year’s trade deadline might be unique, with the expanded playoffs and some tight divisional races making few clearcut sellers. It’s been suggested that this summer might see more “baseball trades” wherein two contenders swap win-now pieces. This appears to be one such example, with each club relinquishing a struggling reliever in order to take a shot on a different one.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

AL Central Notes: Twins, McKenzie, Greene, White Sox

By | at

The Twins shuffled their bullpen around a bit today as the club announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez had been reinstated from the injured list. The former All Star was placed on the 15-day IL last month for mental health reasons and told reporters (including Do-Hyoung Park of MLB.com) that he’s feeling good about where he’s at as he returns to the mound while expressing appreciation for the organization’s support during his IL stint.

The 30-year-old righty broke out in a big way with the Orioles last season, posting a 1.68 ERA and 2.99 FIP in 48 1/3 innings before Baltimore shipped him to Minnesota at the trade deadline for a package including 2023 relief standout Yennier Cano. Since joining the Twins, Lopez has struggled to a 4.71 ERA and 5.37 FIP in 49 2/3 innings. Lopez, who has two seasons of team control left through arbitration, will look to get his Twins career on track going forward this season as part of a Twins bullpen currently relying on Emilio Pagan, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran in the late innings.

Lopez’s return isn’t the only change in the Twins bullpen on the horizon, however, as manager Rocco Baldelli told reporters, including The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman, that righty pitching prospect Jordan Balazovic, who had recently been pitching in long relief out of the major league bullpen, will be shortened up and used as a more traditional reliever going forward. Balazovic has impressed in his first call-up to the big leagues this season, with a 1.23 ERA in 7 1/3 innings across six appearances.

More from around the AL Central…

  • Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie will look to recover from last month’s UCL sprain without going under the knife, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. Meisel notes that the 25-year-old righty will be shut down for three more weeks but that Cleveland is hopeful McKenzie will be able to return to the big league mound at some point this season. The prospect of McKenzie returning this season is surely a tantalizing one for Guardians fans, as the young right-hander broke out in a big way last season with a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings of work. With McKenzie on the shelf, Cleveland is currently utilizing a rotation of Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale, Tanner Bibee, and Gavin Williams.
  • Tigers outfielder Riley Greene began a rehab assignment with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Toledo yesterday, with Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic among those noting that he’ll be in the lineup tomorrow. That Greene is seemingly nearing a return is fantastic news for the Tigers, who returned left-hander Tarik Skubal from the injured list today and are surely hoping to receive a similar boost from the return of Greene. The 22-year-old outfielder has posted a 127 wRC+ in 224 plate appearances this season in conjunction with stellar center field defense.
  • The White Sox announced today that they had recalled outfielder Oscar Colas to the major league roster. Colas made the club’s Opening Day roster this season as the primary right fielder but struggled to a slash line of just .211/.265/.276 in 84 plate appearances before returning to Triple-A. He’s hit well with the club’s affiliate in Charlotte since then, however, boasting a solid .293/.359/.508 slash line in 212 plate appearances. That performance has seeming earned Colas another shot in right at the big league level, where he’ll likely share time with Gavin Sheets going forward.

Twins Place Jorge Lopez On 15-Day Injured List

By | at

2:02PM: In an updated announcement, the Twins moved Lopez to the 15-day IL due to mental health reasons.

1:17PM: The Twins announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez has been placed on the team’s restricted list.  Right-hander Jordan Balazovic has been called up from Triple-A to take Lopez’s spot on the active roster, as Balazovic will be looking to make his Major League debut.

As per league rules, Lopez won’t collect salary or Major League service time while he is on the restricted list.  The circumstances behind Lopez’s placement aren’t yet known, so it is impossible to gauge how long the righty might be absent.

After posting uninspiring numbers for much of his career, Lopez suddenly caught fire early in the 2022 season, posting a 1.68 ERA and 19 saves over 48 1/3 innings with the Orioles.  This performance earned Lopez his first All-Star selection, but even though the O’s were still in the playoff race at the deadline, they chose to sell high on Lopez by swapping him to Minnesota for a package of four pitching prospects.  That deal is already looking like a win for Baltimore since one of the four pitchers was Yennier Cano, who is looking like an All-Star this year after a superb first half.

The magic seemed to wear off for Lopez after the trade, as he posted only a 4.37 ERA in 22 2/3 innings for the Twins over the remainder of the 2022 season.  Those struggles have carried into this season, as Lopez has a 5.00 ERA over 27 innings.  Apart from an 8.1% walk rate that is slightly above the league average, there isn’t much to like about Lopez’s Statcast metrics, as he is allowing a ton of hard contact and his strikeout rate has dropped considerably from 2022.  The right-hander’s old problems with home runs have resurfaced, as he allowed six homers over his 27 frames.

Lopez has been a weak link in an otherwise pretty solid Twins bullpen, but Balazovic will now get an opportunity to show what he can do at the MLB level.  A fifth-round pick for the Twins in the 2016 draft, he emerged on the top-100 prospect radar prior to the 2020-22 seasons, but he battled some injuries last season and was struggled badly in his first stint at Triple-A.

After posting a 7.39 ERA over 70 2/3 innings with Triple-A St. Paul last year, Balazovic has performed better this year, though a 4.79 ERA isn’t exactly eye-popping.  His 35 2/3 innings have consisted of 11 relief appearances and three starts (after working mostly as a starter throughout his career), and Balazovic has a strong 31.1% strikeout rate but also a high 13% walk rate.  Just before Spring Training this year, Balazovic was also involved in an off-field incident that resulted in surgery for a broken jaw, as he claimed to have been sucker-punched by an unknown person.

It remains to be seen how long Balazovic might last in Minnesota’s bullpen, as regardless of performance, he might be sent back to Triple-A if Lopez is on the restricted list for only a brief period of time.  Still, Balazovic has potential as a multi-inning reliever for now, and possibly still as a starter down the road.

In other Twins transactions from earlier today, the club activated Gilberto Celestino from the 60-day injured list and optioned the outfielder to Triple-A.  Celestino has yet to play in the majors this season after undergoing thumb surgery in early March, as he had to first rehab his injury and then make up for his lost month of Spring Training.  Celestino has played nine minor league games to date, and he’ll now get a longer stint at Triple-A to ramp up and be ready if the Twins call him back to the Show.

To accommodate Celestino’s return to the 40-man roster, the Twins moved Jorge Alcala to the 60-day injured list.  Alcala went on the 15-day IL in mid-May due to a stress fracture to the radius bone in his right forearm, and since it isn’t known when he might return, the 60-day placement seemed inevitable.

Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters

By | at

The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.

Without further ado…

Angels

Astros

Athletics

Blue Jays

Braves

Brewers

Cardinals

Cubs

Diamondbacks

Dodgers

Giants

Guardians

Marlins

Mariners

Mets

Nationals

Orioles

Padres

Phillies

Pirates

Rangers

Rays

Red Sox

Reds

Rockies

Royals

Tigers

Twins

White Sox

Yankees

Falvey: Bullpen Upgrades “Not A Priority”

By | at

The Twins have been active this offseason, re-signing Carlos Correa while bringing in new faces such as Pablo López, Joey Gallo, Christian Vázquez, Michael A. Taylor and Kyle Farmer. Things have been relatively quiet in terms of the bullpen, however, and it doesn’t seem as though that’s going to change in the near future. The club’s president of baseball operations Derek Falvey tells Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune that a significant bullpen addition it isn’t a pressing concern right now. “If we were to do anything at this point, it would likely be to add depth in the middle [innings],” Falvey said. “We’ll keep an open mind, but [relief pitching is] not a priority.”

Last year, the club’s relief corps was firmly in the middle of the pack. Their collective 3.84 ERA was tied for 15th among the 30 teams in the league, while their 3.85 FIP was 14th, their 3.79 xFIP 10th and their 3.50 SIERA ninth. That group also took a hit when deadline acquisition Michael Fulmer reached free agency, though he remains unsigned.

It seems Falvey and the other decision makers in Minnesota have a lot of faith in their internal options. Jorge López was acquired from the Orioles at the deadline last year but still has two remaining years of club control. “We did our bullpen shopping at the [trade] deadline last year by adding some depth, adding Jorge [López],” Falvey said. After many years of mediocre performance as a starter, López converted to a bullpen role full-time in 2022 to great results. In 44 appearances for the O’s, he posted a 1.68 ERA while getting grounders at a 60% clip, striking out 27.6% of batters faced and walking 8.7%. Unfortunately, he didn’t maintain that pace after the trade, with a 4.37 ERA, 53.7% grounder rate, 17.6% strikeout rate and 13.7% walk rate as a Twin.

López will be looking for a bounceback after that frustrating finish to his 2022 campaign, though the club also has other intriguing names in the mix that could step up. Jhoan Durán was primarily a starter in the minors but cracked the majors last year in a relief role and utterly dominated. He tossed 67 2/3 innings over 57 appearances with a 1.86 ERA, getting grounders at a 61% clip while striking out 33.5% of opponents and walking just 6% of them. “He adapted to a new role, at the highest level, faster than we could have hoped,” Falvey said.

As for others in the mix that they’re encouraged by, Falvey had this to say: “We watched Griffin Jax develop into someone we can rely on. What Jovani Moran did the last month of the season, it’s something he can really build upon.” Jax also moved from a starter to a reliever in 2022, and while he didn’t match Durán’s results, he still did well. With 65 appearances last year, he finished the year with a 3.36 ERA, 47.3% ground ball rate, 26.9% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate. Moran, meanwhile, put up a 2.21 ERA in 40 2/3 innings, keeping the ball on the ground at a 48.9% pace, while striking out 32.9% of batters faced, though he did walk 11% of them.

Though Falvey admits they might still make a small addition, it seems they feel they already have the high-leverage arms they need. “We feel like we have the eighth and ninth innings covered,” he says. Other relievers likely to be in the club’s bullpen include Caleb Thielbar, Emilio Pagán, Jorge Alcalá and Trevor Megill.

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