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Konner Wade

Mariners Sign Konner Wade To Minor League Deal

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The Mariners have signed right-hander Konner Wade to a minor league contract, according to Jon Heyman of The New York Post (Twitter link).  Wade elected free agency last October after being outrighted off the Orioles’ 40-man roster.

Wade signed a minors deal with Baltimore prior to the 2021 season, and his Orioles tenure resulted in his Major League debut.  The righty appeared in seven games with the O’s last year, posting an 11.68 ERA over 12 1/3 innings.  That number was inflated by two particularly poor outings against the Angels and Blue Jays, as Wade allowed 11 runs in three total innings over those two games.

The 30-year-old is a veteran of eight pro seasons, mostly spent in the Rockies organization after Colorado drafted him in the seventh round in 2013.  Wade was actually dealt to the Orioles during the 2017 offseason but was released near the end of Spring Training, and then moved on to pitch in independent baseball and in the Red Sox farm system.

Over 735 career innings in the minors, Wade has a 3.76 ERA and only a 15.27% strikeout rate.  After being a grounder specialist earlier in his career, Wade’s strikeout total did jump up a bit while pitching with Baltimore’s Triple-A affiliate last year.  Wade has worked as both a starter and reliever, so he could serve as minor league depth for the Mariners in a variety of different roles, whether the team wishes to use him as a swingman, long reliever, or perhaps a spot starter.

Four Orioles Players Elect Free Agency

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OCTOBER 25: Baltimore announced that each of Valaika, Eshelman and Wade has elected free agency as expected. That’s also true of catcher Austin Wynns, who was designated for assignment himself last week.

OCTOBER 23: The Orioles have outrighted infielder Pat Valaika and right-handers Thomas Eshelman and Konner Wade to Triple-A, according to MLB.com’s official transactions page.  All three players have the option of rejecting the outright assignment and opting for free agency.

Valaika has the most big league experience of the trio, with 373 games under his belt with the Rockies and Orioles, including 142 appearances in a Baltimore uniform over the last two seasons.  Valaika hit .277/.315/.475 over 150 PA in 2020 but his numbers cratered to a .540 OPS in 281 plate appearances this year, and he no longer seems to be in the club’s plans.  Valaika was projected to earn $1.3MM in his second trip through the arbitration process this winter and already seemed like a non-tender candidate.

Eshelman could be a candidate to return for another season with the O’s, as he re-signed with the team on a new minor league deal after opting for free agency last offseason in the wake of an outright assignment.  Eshelman has spent parts of the last three seasons with Baltimore, with a 5.77 ERA to show for his 98 1/3 career innings.  While he has some extra utility as a swingman, Eshelman has only an 11.3% strikeout rate over his brief MLB career.

Wade made his MLB debut this season, posting an 11.68 ERA in 12 1/3 innings over seven appearances for Baltimore.  A seventh-round pick for the Rockies in the 2013 draft, Wade pitched in the Mexican League and the independent leagues amidst stints in the Colorado and Boston farm systems before landing with the Orioles on a minor league deal this past winter.  A groundball specialist earlier in this career, Wade has a 3.76 ERA over 735 innings in the minors, starting 109 of 175 career outings.

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 Announce Several Roster Moves

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The Orioles announced a series of roster moves today, selecting the contracts of Fernando Abad and Konner Wade, designating Adam Plutko for assignment, optioning Dusten Knight to Triple-A and transferring Bruce Zimmermann to the 60-day IL.

For Abad, this will be his first time on a big league roster since 2019. The journeyman lefty signed a minor league deal with the Nationals before the 2020 season, eventually getting released and signing another minors deal with the Yankees. The O’s then added him on a minor league deal in December. In 25 1/3 Triple-A innings this year, he has an ERA of 4.26. In 330 2/3 MLB innings over his career, he has an ERA of 4.42.

This will be Wade’s second stint with Baltimore this season. The first time around, he only got into a single game, throwing 1 2/3 innings and allowing six earned runs. The 29-year-old was designated for assignment and outrighted in early July, but has earned his way back with a solid Triple-A performance. In 62 1/3 innings at that level this year, he has an ERA of 3.03.

Plutko was acquired just before the season began in a trade with Cleveland but hasn’t performed well enough to hold onto his roster spot. Through 56 1/3 innings this year, he has an ERA of 6.71 with a strikeout rate of 17.3% and walk rate of 10.6%, both of which are worse than league average. Plutko has more than three years’ service time and could refuse an outright assignment and elect free agency if he clears waivers.

For Zimmermann, this is an unfortunate setback as he was almost ready to return from a biceps issue but sprained his ankle in a training room accident, per Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. It’s unclear how long that ankle issue will keep him sidelined, but he will be eligible to come off the IL this week, since the 60 days are counted from his initial IL placement on June 18th. The lefty has an ERA of 4.83 for the O’s this year over 59 2/3 innings.

 

Outrighted: Beasley, Bergen, Wade

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A handful of players around the league have cleared waivers:

  • Right-hander Jeremy Beasley and lefty Travis Bergen both went unclaimed on outright waivers, the Blue Jays announced. They’ve been subsequently assigned to Triple-A. Beasley, 25, appeared in eight games with the Jays this season and posted an impressive 27.7 percent strikeout rate in 9 1/3 frames. However, he also surrendered eight earned runs, walked 19.1 percent of his opponents and served up three home runs in that short time. Bergen was designated for assignment last week despite a 1.69 ERA in 10 2/3 innings, although the 27-year-old’s eight walks in that time make that ERA look rather dubious. Bergen has an excellent minor league track record but has been injured frequently throughout his pro career to date. If he can repeat his past minor league success and remain healthy, he could get another look before too long.
  • The Orioles announced that righty Konner Wade cleared waivers and has been assigned outright to Triple-A Norfolk. The 29-year-old made a very brief MLB debut last week but was hit hard, surrendering six runs on seven hits and a walk with one strikeout in 1 2/3 innings. The former Rockies and Red Sox farmhand has been enjoying a solid season in Norfolk to date, having pitched to a 3.24 ERA through 33 1/3 frames. Wade has just a 16 percent strikeout rate there, but he’s also notched a tidy 6.1 percent walk rate and an above-average 48.5 percent ground-ball rate. While it obviously wasn’t the debut Wade had envisioned, there’s been a fairly steady churn on the Orioles’ pitching staff so far in 2021, so continued success in Triple-A could lead to another look in the Majors later this summer.

Orioles Claim Shaun Anderson Off Waivers From Rangers, Designate Konner Wade For Assignment

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The Orioles claimed Shaun Anderson off waivers from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A, the team announced. He’ll be joined there by Stevie Wilkerson, who cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Norfolk. To create a spot on the 40-man roster, Konner Wade was designated for assignment.

The Orioles are always in need of innings eaters. and Anderson can do exactly that. The 26-year-old has 16 career starts to his name, though those came with the Giants in 2019. More recently, he’s been a bullpen arm, though still one capable of shouldering a multi-inning load.

Anderson did not actually pitch in the Majors for Texas. In fact, his time with the Rangers consisted of a pair of outings in Triple-A, amounting to three scoreless innings. The Orioles are his third organization in 2021, however, starting the year as he did with the Twins, for whom he made four appearances, logging 8 2/3 innings and yielding nine earned runs on 13 hits and five walks while striking out eight. It would not be surprising to see Anderson in the Majors at some point this season.

Having recently lost Travis Lakins to a significant elbow injury, the Orioles needed another depth arm. They like Anderson enough to get him at the potential expense of Wade, who will now be exposed to waivers. There’s a decent chance he stays in the organization, however, as the 29-year-old rookie has just one Major League appearance, and the control artist lacks the type of strikeout stuff that tends to attract the attention of other organizations.

Wilkerson, meanwhile, has come out the other end of that waiver process and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. The 29-year-old utility man has hit just .167/.211/.208 in 76 plate appearances this year.

Orioles Designate Mickey Jannis For Assignment, Select Konner Wade

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The Orioles announced Friday that they’ve selected the contract of righty Konner Wade from Triple-A Norfolk and designated right-hander Mickey Jannis for assignment in a corresponding move. The O’s also optioned righty Dean Kremer to Norfolk and recalled lefty Alexander Wells.

Jannis was just selected to the major league roster earlier this week. The 33-year-old made his MLB debut Wednesday night against the Astros, but it didn’t go well. He worked 3 1/3 innings of mop-up relief but was tagged for seven runs on eight hits (including three homers), issuing four walks while striking out just one. It was a nightmare outing to be sure, but it also came against a Houston lineup that has been far and away the best in baseball this year. Before that tough debut, the knuckleballer earned a big league look by pitching to a 2.92 ERA in 24 2/3 innings with Norfolk. The O’s will have a week to trade him or place him on waivers.

The designation of Jannis frees up Wade to make a late-career MLB debut of his own. A 7th-round pick out of the University of Arizona in 2013, Wade has spent the past seven seasons climbing the minor league ladder. Most of that time was spent in the Rockies and Red Sox systems, but the 29-year-old signed a minor league deal with Baltimore over the winter. He’s spent the entire year in Norfolk, where he’s tossed 31 innings of 3.48 ERA ball, mostly as a multi-inning reliever. Wade has never been one to miss many bats, and that hasn’t changed this year (16.4% strikeout rate). But the righty also has a long history of quality strike-throwing, and that’s continued in 2021 (4.9% walk rate).

Kremer has spent much of the year in the O’s rotation. He’s struggled mightily, though, pitching to a 7.25 ERA with worse than average strikeout and walk numbers (20% and 10.7%, respectively) over 49 2/3 innings. That’s a disappointing follow-up to a decent four-start MLB look in 2020 for Kremer, who’s long been seen as one of the more promising pitchers in the Baltimore system.

Wells is a decently-regarded prospect in his own right. The 24-year-old doesn’t throw hard or miss bats, but he owns some of the best control in the minors. He has a 5.63 ERA across 32 Triple-A frames this season. Wells will be making his major league debut whenever he gets into a game.

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