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Orioles Claim Pat Valaika, Announce Four Outrights

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The Orioles announced they have claimed infielder Pat Valaika off waivers from the Rockies. Additionally, the club outrighted four pitchers: right-handers Ryan Eades, Luis Ortiz, and Tayler Scott and left-hander Josh Rogers.

Valaika is the most notable name in today’s spate of transactions. The 27-year-old has taken 433 MLB plate appearances over four seasons in Colorado, starting games at all four infield positions (along with a handful of action in left field) in that time. All told, he’s only a .214/.256/.400 hitter, which translates to a dreadful 55 wRC+ when factoring in the run environment of Coors Field. He’s shown some ability to make hard, airborne contact, which surely attracts the Orioles’ front office, but his aggressive approach has not yet proven up to par at the big league level. Valaika will be out of options next season, meaning he needs to stick on the active roster next year or else again be exposed to waivers, assuming he remains on the 40-man roster the entire offseason.

The four pitchers have combined for fewer than 60 MLB innings. Eades, 27, worked to a 2.38 ERA in 11.1 innings in 2019, but his peripherals were far less rosy. Ortiz, still just 24, was once a well-regarded prospect but has fallen on hard times at the highest level of the minors. He started 14 games for Triple-A Norfolk in 2019 and pitched to a 6.38 ERA with unimpressive strikeout (15.4%) and walk (10.1%) rates, a trying season even in the explosive run environment in the International League.

Scott, like Eades, made his MLB debut this season at age-27. Split between Seattle and Baltimore, he worked 16.1 difficult innings, although he was quite good in the high minors. Rogers, meanwhile, was acquired as a secondary piece in the 2018 deal that sent Zack Britton to the Yankees. He started eleven games for Norfolk before going down with a season-ending left elbow sprain.

Because Rogers was on the 60-day injured list, today’s spate of transactions only clears two spots on Balitmore’s 40-man roster, which now sits at 38. The pending activation of Alex Cobb from the 60-day IL and free agency of Mark Trumbo will keep Baltimore’s roster at 38 entering the offseason, as Roch Kubatko of MASN tweets.

Orioles Promote Luis Ortiz

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The Orioles announced that they’ve selected the contract of right-hander Luis Ortiz from Triple-A Norfolk. The 22-year-old Ortiz came to Baltimore alongside infielder Jonathan Villar in the July 31 trade that sent Jonathan Schoop from the Orioles to the Brewers.

Ortiz entered the 2017 season as a consensus top 100 prospects throughout the game, but he delivered fairly pedestrian results at the Double-A level as a 21-year-old and missed a couple of weeks due to injury along the way, all of which dropped his stock a bit heading into 2018. He currently ranks seventh among Orioles farmhands per MLB.com, though, and he’s had a solid year between a return to Double-A and his first exposure to Triple-A opposition.

Ortiz posted near-identical ERAs in Double-A (3.69) and Triple-A (3.71) this season, and his walk rate between the two levels was once again nearly identical (2.3 BB/9 in Double-A, 2.4 in Triple-A). He missed more bats at the lower of those two levels (8.6 K/9 vs. 6.0) but has generally been good about keeping the ball in the park and limiting free passes. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo note in the previously mentioned scouting report that Ortiz has a fastball that’ll run up to 97 mph and at least one potentially plus secondary offering in his slider. He’ll obviously be facing his share of tough opponents in the AL East, but given the lack of certainty in the Baltimore rotation picture, Ortiz will have the opportunity to audition for a starting job in 2019 and beyond.

The O’s can control Ortiz through at least the 2024 season even if he never returns to the minors from this point forth, and he won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2021 season at the earliest. He’ll be the second trade addition with a chance to audition for a future rotation spot already this season, joining lefty Josh Rogers in that regard. Baltimore also already has right-hander Cody Carroll in the big league bullpen and has given Villar regular looks in the infield following this summer’s fire sale.

Brewers Acquire Jonathan Schoop For Jonathan Villar, Two Prospects

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3:39pm: The trade is official.

3:18pm: Feinsand further tweets that Jonathan Villar and minor league shortstop Jean Carmona are headed to the Orioles in the deal.

3:09pm: The Brewers and Orioles agreed to a last-minute deal that will send infielder Jonathan Schoop from Baltimore to Milwaukee just prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (on Twitter). Right-handed pitching prospect Luis Ortiz is among the players going back to Baltimore in the deal, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (Twitter link).

It’s no surprise that the Brewers made a move to upgrade at second base, and it’s one that could benefit the team beyond this season. After all, Schopp – who’s on an $8.5MM salary this season – has another year of arbitration eligibility remaining.

After breaking out in 2017 with a .293/.338/.503 line, 32 home runs and a 3.8 fWAR in 675 plate appearances, Schoop has taken steps backward this season. The 26-year-old has slashed a below-average .244/.273/.447 with .7 fWAR over 375 PAs, though he has gone on a home run-happy tear of late to raise his numbers to more respectable levels. Schoop now has 17 homers after mashing seven long balls since July 20.

While Schoop’s overall production has been pedestrian this year, it still easily outdoes the .231/.288/.351 showing Brewers second basemen have compiled in 736 PAs. That obviously wasn’t going to cut it for Milwaukee, which is currently in wild-card position and trails the NL Central-leading Cubs by a game. Villar was part of the problem over the past year and a half for the Brewers, with whom he had a great season in 2016. Now 27, Villar has scuffled to a .248/.302/.374 line with 17 HRs in 715 PAs dating back to 2017, essentially making him a replacement player, though he has stolen 37 bases in that span (including 14 on 16 tries this year). He’ll provide the rebuilding Orioles an immediate successor to Schoop and could be a multiyear piece for the club, which will owe him the rest of a $2.55MM salary in 2018 and could control him via arbitration through 2020.

For now in Milwaukee, Schoop will add to an already crowded infield picture. The team just reeled in third baseman Mike Moustakas last week, forcing Travis Shaw to second. Unlike Moustakas and Shaw, Schoop is a right-handed hitter, though all three have struggled against southpaw pitchers both this season and throughout their careers.

In addition to Villar, Baltimore picked up a pair of prospects who ranked in the top 15 of Milwaukee’s above-average system at MLB.com. Ortiz (No. 7) is a 22-year-old who has worked to a 3.71 ERA/3.85 FIP with 8.6 K/9, 2.38 BB/9 and a 48 percent groundball rate in 68 Double-A innings this season (16 appearances, 11 starts). Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com posit that Ortiz has the ceiling of a No. 3 starter.

As for Carmona (No. 14), the two prospect gurus write that he “has all the components needed to become an impactful player at the highest level.” Still just 18 years old, Carmona has hit .239/.298/.406 in 172 PAs at the Rookie level this season.

For Baltimore, the removal of Schoop from its roster is the latest significant move with the team in the early stages of a rebuild. The Orioles have also dealt shortstop Manny Machado, relievers Zach Britton, Brad Brach and Darren O’Day, and starter Kevin Gausman this month, thus revamping their roster in a last-place season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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