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Roansy Contreras

Orioles Outright Roansy Contreras

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The Orioles announced that Roansy Contreras cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore announced this morning that they’d designated Contreras for assignment as they set their Opening Day roster. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so they evidently had already placed him on waivers earlier in the week before formally announcing the DFA.

Contreras finally went unclaimed after his sixth and final DFA of the offseason. He’d been claimed the first five times he hit the waiver wire: by the Rangers, Reds, Orioles, Yankees and Baltimore for a second time. Contreras held his spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster throughout the spring but had an uphill path to the regular season roster. He’s out of options, so he needed to stick in the majors or be exposed to waivers.

The 25-year-old righty pitched 68 1/3 innings of 4.35 ERA ball between the Pirates and Angels a year ago. He recorded a modest 18.8% strikeout rate while walking 10.4% of batters faced. Contreras pitched in relief last season but had started a decent number of games in Pittsburgh between 2022-23. The Orioles suggested early in camp that Contreras would be built up as a starter. It’s possible he’ll work out of the rotation in Norfolk.

Contreras was once a highly-regarded prospect in the Yankees system. He was arguably the centerpiece of the trade that sent Jameson Taillon from Pittsburgh to the Bronx. He had an intriguing rookie season in 2022, working to a 3.79 ERA through 95 frames. His velocity ticked down slightly the following year, and he allowed 6.59 earned runs per nine while his strikeout rate fell by three percentage points.

Orioles Designate Roansy Contreras, Outright Matt Bowman

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The Orioles announced their Opening Day roster today, noting that right-handers Roansy Contreras and Matt Bowman are no longer on the 40-man. Contreras has been designated for assignment. Bowman has already cleared waivers and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A.

Both pitchers are out of options. That meant they needed to stick on the active roster or else be removed from the 40-man entirely. In both cases, they didn’t make the Opening Day squad and have subsequently lost their 40-man spots.

Bowman, 34 in May, signed a minor league deal with the O’s in the winter. They selected his contract a few days ago, perhaps to stop him from triggering an opt-out in his contract. They’ve now quickly run him through waivers. He has at least three years of service time but less than five. That means he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, but in so doing would forfeit the money still owed to him on his contract.

It’s not known how much Bowman is owed but is seems he preferred to stick with his current deal, as opposed to looking for a new one. He’ll provide the O’s with some non-roster depth. In 216 career innings, he has a 4.17 earned run average, 19% strikeout rate, 8.3% walk rate and 54.6% ground ball rate.

Contreras, 25, has been bouncing around the league for a long time. That’s due to some enticing numbers and his out-of-options status. Dating back to May of last year, he has gone from the Pirates to the Angels, Rangers, Reds, Orioles, Yankees and then Orioles again via small trades or waiver claims. He has a 4.72 ERA, 19.7% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 39.3% ground ball rate in his 234 2/3 career innings.

He has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, which means he would not have the right to elect free agency if he passes through waivers. The O’s will have a maximum of one week of DFA limbo time to figure out what’s next for Contreras. The waiver process can take 48 hours, so any trade talks would need to develop in the next five days.

Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images

Orioles Building Up Roansy Contreras As Potential Starter

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The Orioles intend to build Roansy Contreras back up as a starting pitcher this spring, manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun). The 25-year-old righty worked in a multi-inning relief role between the Pirates and Angels last year.

It’s not clear how long this will last. Contreras is certainly not a lock to stick on Baltimore’s roster through the end of camp. He has changed teams via waivers five times this offseason alone. The O’s have claimed him twice, most recently grabbing him from the Yankees in early February. Contreras is out of options, so teams cannot send him to the minors without running him through waivers. No one has successfully snuck him through the wire unclaimed.

There’s no real path for Contreras to begin the season in Baltimore’s rotation. Hyde confirmed this morning (link via Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner) that he’d have a mostly settled starting five if everyone gets through camp healthy: Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Dean Kremer. Hyde added that righty Albert Suárez and southpaw Cade Povich project as his top two depth arms, in that order.

Even with Trevor Rogers and Chayce McDermott delayed by injuries (knee and lat, respectively), Contreras would be no higher than eighth on the rotation depth chart. He could settle into a long relief role, but even that’d probably require at least one injury to Baltimore’s top eight relievers.

Andrew Kittredge, Seranthony Domínguez, Gregory Soto, Cionel Pérez and Suárez (who’d start the season as a long reliever) cannot be sent down — either because of their service time or out-of-options status. Félix Bautista, Yennier Cano and Keegan Akin are locks. That’s a full bullpen already and would exclude both Contreras and Bryan Baker, neither of whom can be optioned. There’s a decent chance the O’s waive Contreras closer to Opening Day. If he goes unclaimed, they could have him work from the rotation at Triple-A Norfolk.

A former highly-regarded prospect, Contreras pitched 68 1/3 innings of 4.35 ERA ball a year ago. He recorded a modest 18.8% strikeout rate while walking 10.4% of batters faced. He’d mostly worked as a starter over two prior seasons in Pittsburgh. He combined for an ERA just south of 5.00 in 163 1/3 frames between 2022-23. He throws six distinct pitches, per Statcast, so it’s a relatively deep arsenal. His command has been problematic, though, and none of his top four offerings (four-seam, slider, changeup, sinker) were huge weapons last season. The slider was the only of those pitches to miss bats at an above-average rate.

Orioles Claim Roansy Contreras, Designate Daz Cameron

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The Orioles have claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. There was no previous indication that the Yanks had removed Contreras from their roster, so their 40-man count drops to 39. The Orioles designated outfielder Daz Cameron for assignment as the corresponding move. The O’s also announced that infielder Luis Vázquez, who was designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared waivers and been sent outright to Triple-A Norfolk. The Yankees also announced that right-hander Allan Winans, who was himself designated for assignment this week, has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A Scranton Wilkes-Barre. Both Vázquez and Winans receive non-roster invites to big league camp with their respective clubs.

The players mentioned in today’s announcements have been involved in many transactions this winter, none more so than the 25-year-old Contreras. He finished the 2024 season with the Angels but has since gone to the Rangers, Reds, Orioles, Yankees and now the O’s again via waiver claims.

That is a reflection of both his intriguing numbers and also the fact that he’s out of options, making it hard for him to cling to a roster spot. Back in 2022, he seemed to be cementing himself as a big league starter, logging 95 innings with the Pirates with a 3.79 earned run average, 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate.

Things went downhill in 2023, as his ERA spiked to 6.59 and he got moved into more of a relief role. Last year, he got his ERA down to 4.35. His 18.8% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate were both subpar numbers, but it was a course correction nonetheless. The O’s are clearly intrigued, since this is the second time they’ve claimed him this winter.

Since this didn’t come in connection with another move for the Yankees, it’s possible they were trying to pass him through waivers since the 60-day injured list opens up next week when pitchers and catchers report to spring training. That will open up many roster spots around the league, making it harder for guys to go unclaimed. The gambit didn’t pay off in this case, but it’s possible the O’s will try the same thing in the coming days.

Cameron, 28, was acquired by the O’s from the A’s in a cash deal at the end of October. Like Contreras, he is also out of options. Since that time, the O’s have added Tyler O’Neill, Ramón Laureano and Dylan Carlson into their outfield mix. Those moves have likely bumped Cameron down the depth chart and into DFA limbo.

The O’s will now have a week to trade Cameron or pass him through waivers. He has a previous career outright, so he would have the right to elect free agency if he clears. He has a .201/.263/.330 batting line in 430 MLB plate appearances but has stolen 14 bases without being caught. He has less than two years of service time and can therefore be controlled for the next five seasons if anyone acquires him.

Vázquez, 25, was designated for assignment by the Cubs last month and flipped to the O’s for cash. Baltimore quickly bumped him off the roster and has now passed him through waivers. Since this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of service time, he’ll give the club some extra depth in a non-roster capacity. He has only 14 MLB plate appearances but solid numbers in the minors. He slashed .268/.356/.448 for a 109 wRC+ over the past two years while playing plenty of shortstop, second base and third base.

The Yankees just claimed Winans, 29, off waivers from Atlanta last month. By passing him through waivers unclaimed now, they get to keep him as non-roster depth. He doesn’t have a previous career outright nor three years of big league service time, meaning he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency. He has a 7.20 ERA in 40 big league innings thus far in his career.

Yankees Claim Roansy Contreras

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The Yankees announced Thursday that they’ve claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras off waivers from the Orioles. Baltimore designated Contreras for assignment last week. He’ll now return to his original organization. The Yanks signed Contreras as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. He spent nearly five years in their organization and emerged as one of their better pitching prospects before being included in the trade netting righty Jameson Taillon from the Pirates in Jan. 2021. Coincidentally, today’s claim comes on the eve of that trade’s four-year anniversary.

At the time of the trade, Contreras was quite well regarded. His first season in the Pirates organization did nothing to dull that reputation. In 13 starts between Double-A and Triple-A, he logged a 2.64 ERA with plus strikeout and walk rates. The Bucs game him his MLB debut late in the season, and he fired three scoreless relief innings that December. In 2022, Contreras looked like he’d grabbed hold of a long-term rotation spot in the Steel City. He appeared in 21 games, 18 of them starts, and notched a 3.79 ERA with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. Both of those rates were a bit worse than average, but for a 22-year-old in his first big league season, it was hard not to be impressed.

The following season, however, Contreras lost more than a mile per hour off his fastball and saw opponents ambush him for a 6.59 earned run average across 68 1/3 MLB frames. He was hit hard in Triple-A, too, barely keeping his ERA under 5.00 in eight trips to the hill.

Out of minor league options and losing his grip on a roster spot, Contreras was designated for assignment by the Pirates back in May. The Angels picked him up in a cash swap and leaned on him for 52 innings of low-leverage relief. Contreras held his own with a 4.33 ERA and more questionable rate stats (17.9 K%, 10.6 BB%).

Since the end of the season, Contreras has bounced from the Angels to the Rangers to the Reds to the Orioles and now to the Yankees — all by way of waivers. On the one hand, the constant DFAs are surely a point of frustration. On the other, the fact that he’s yet to make it through waivers and has been with one-sixth of the league since the end of the season alone illustrates that clubs still believe there’s at least a competent MLB reliever to be unlocked.

If he lasts on the 40-man roster, Contreras will compete for a bullpen spot this spring. He’s out of minor league options, so he’d have to make the Opening Day roster or else be yet again jettisoned from a 40-man roster by way of DFA/waiver placement or perhaps a small trade.

Orioles Claim Jacob Amaya, Designate Roansy Contreras For Assignment

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The Orioles announced they’ve claimed infielder Jacob Amaya off waivers from the White Sox. Chicago had designated him for assignment last week when they finalized their signing of Josh Rojas to a one-year free agent deal. Baltimore designated righty reliever Roansy Contreras for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Amaya is a defensive specialist who can play anywhere on the dirt. The majority of his experience has come up the middle. Amaya has nearly 4500 professional innings at shortstop and more than 1000 frames at second base. He has made 13 minor league appearances at third base as well, though his MLB experience has been exclusively in the middle infield.

The 26-year-old drew praise from scouts for his athleticism and plus arm strength. He ranked among the top 30 prospects in the Dodgers system at Baseball America in each season from 2019-22. Los Angeles traded him to the Marlins for veteran shortstop Miguel Rojas on the eve of the ’23 season. BA ranked Amaya as Miami’s #11 prospect (albeit in a weak farm system) as recently as last spring.

Amaya’s offensive upside is limited. He has shown a patient approach and worked plenty of walks in the minor leagues. Amaya has minimal power, though. MLB pitchers haven’t been afraid to attack him in the strike zone in his limited big league work. Amaya has hit .182 with just one extra-base hit (a double) in 81 plate appearances. He has walked only four times while striking out on 29 occasions.

The middling production at the dish has led Amaya to bounce around via waivers. He has gone from Miami to the Astros to Chicago and now to Baltimore since the start of last season. Amaya didn’t have a good season in Triple-A, combining for a .221/.308/.330 slash with five homers over 76 games between Miami’s and Houston’s affiliates.

Baltimore is one of the most active teams on the waiver wire. The Orioles frequently use waivers to churn through the back few spots on their 40-man roster. Amaya is out of minor league options and has an uphill path to cracking a Baltimore infield that could include Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg, Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle, Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías and Jorge Mateo. Third baseman Emmanuel Rivera is also out of options. There’s a decent chance the O’s try to sneak Amaya through waivers in the next couple months.

That’s a cycle in which Contreras has found himself. The former top prospect has been a part of five organizations since the start of the ’24 season. He opened the year with the Pirates, who traded him to the Angels in May. The out-of-options hurler stuck in Ron Washington’s bullpen for the remainder of the season. The Halos waived him at the beginning of the offseason. Contreras has subsequently gone to the Rangers, Reds and Orioles via waivers but hasn’t held a spot for more than a few weeks. Baltimore just claimed him last Friday.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Contreras owns a 5.47 earned run average over 136 2/3 innings. His 18.5% strikeout percentage and 10.5% walk rate are worse than the respective MLB averages, as is his 1.4 home runs allowed per nine. The performance and the inability to send him to the minors without putting him on waivers could lead to him continuing to bounce around the league. Contreras has intrigued a few teams as a depth arm, as he sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and throws six different pitches.

Orioles Claim Roansy Contreras, Designate Liván Soto

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The Orioles announced that they have claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras off waivers from the Reds. Cincinnati had designated him for assignment earlier this week. In order to open a roster spot, the O’s designated infielder Liván Soto for assignment.

Contreras, 25, has been bouncing around the league over the past year. That’s likely a reflection of his uneven performance and out-of-options status. He made his major league debut with the Pirates and had some intriguing results with them, but exhausted his final option in 2023. He opened last year with Pittsburgh but was designated for assignment in May and flipped to the Angels. He spent the rest of the season with the Halos but was put on waivers in October and claimed by the Rangers. He went to the Reds on another waiver claim last month and has now been claimed again.

A notable Yankee prospect, Contreras was flipped to Pittsburgh in the January 2021 trade that sent Jameson Taillon to the Bronx. In 2022, he seemed to establish himself as a viable big league starter. He made 21 appearances for the Pirates that year, 18 of those being starts, tossing 95 innings while allowing 3.79 earned runs per nine. His 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate were fairly close to league par while his fastball averaged 95.6 miles per hour. Since he was only 22 years old at the time, it seemed fair to expect that was just the beginning.

But things have soured since then. Contreras posted a 6.59 ERA in 2023, which prompted the Bucs to send him to the minors, burning his final option. They moved him to a primary relief role in 2024 but, as mentioned, bumped him off the roster in May.

Between the Bucs and the Angels, he had some passable but not outstanding results. He finished the year with 68 1/3 innings between the two clubs and a 4.35 ERA. But his 18.8% strikeout rate and 10.4% walk rate were both subpar. His .265 batting average on balls in play and 75.1% strand rate were both on the fortunate side, leading to his 5.16 FIP and 4.55 SIERA being worse than his ERA.

Despite the up-and-down results, Contreras is still young and throws hard, averaging almost 95 mph last year with both his four-seamer and his sinker. He has just over two years of MLB service time, meaning he can be retained for four seasons before he would qualify for free agency. The fact that he is out of options means that he’ll need a roster spot on Opening Day but the Orioles could also try to run him through waivers later in the offseason to retain him as non-roster depth.

As for Soto, 25 in June, the Orioles seem to engaging in some sort of contest to see how many times they can bump him on and off the roster. This is the sixth time he’s been designated for assignment in the past year, three of those coming at the hands of the Orioles, two from the Angels and one from the Reds.

He has a strong .351/.407/.494 batting line, though in a small sample of 87 plate appearances over the past three big league seasons. In 370 Triple-A plate appearances last year, he slashed .283/.377/.381 for a 103 wRC+. He didn’t produce much power, hitting four homers in 88 games, but his 12.4% walk rate and 16.8% strikeout rate were both strong numbers.

The O’s will now have a week to either trade Soto or run him through waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, any trade talks would need to come together in the next five days. He still has one option year and plenty of minor league experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base. He seems to be a popular depth target around the league so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him acquired by another club in the coming days.

Reds Designate Roansy Contreras For Assignment

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The Reds announced they’ve designated Roansy Contreras for assignment. The move opens the necessary 40-man roster spot for Gavin Lux, whose acquisition from the Dodgers is now official.

Contreras hasn’t spent much time with the Reds. Cincinnati grabbed him off waivers from the Rangers a couple weeks ago. Texas had just claimed him from the Angels a month before that. The 25-year-old righty seems ticketed for the waiver wire for a third time in as many months.

Once one of the game’s better pitching prospects, Contreras was a key piece of the package that the Yankees sent to the Pirates for Jameson Taillon. He had a decent debut season with the Bucs in 2022, turning in a 3.79 ERA across 95 innings. He looked like a long-term rotation piece at the time, but his production has dropped sharply over the last two seasons.

Contreras struggled to an ERA near 7.00 across 68 1/3 MLB frames in 2023. He exhausted his last minor league option that year. The Pirates carried him in the season-opening bullpen in ’24. He pitched 12 times in medium-leverage spots before the Bucs took him off the roster. They dealt him to the Angels for cash in May. Contreras played out the year with the Halos in a long relief role, posting a 4.33 ERA with subpar peripherals in 37 appearances.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Contreras owns a 5.47 earned run average over 136 2/3 innings. His 18.5% strikeout percentage and 10.5% walk rate are worse than the respective MLB averages, as is his 1.4 home runs allowed per nine. The performance and the inability to send him to the minors without putting him on waivers could lead to him continuing to bounce around the league. Contreras has intrigued a few teams as a depth arm, as he sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and throws six different pitches.

Reds Claim Roansy Contreras

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The Reds claimed right-hander Roansy Contreras off waivers from the Rangers on Thursday, per announcements from both clubs. Texas had designated him for assignment last week. Cincinnati had a pair of vacancies on its 40-man roster, so a corresponding move isn’t necessary.

Contreras, still just 25, will join his second organization of the offseason and third of the past calendar year. Once a top pitching prospect with the Yankees and Pirates — New York traded him to Pittsburgh in the Jameson Taillon swap — he’s begun to bounce around the league in journeyman fashion. Pittsburgh traded him to Anaheim for cash back in May, and the Rangers claimed him off waivers from the Halos on Halloween.

Back in 2022, Contreras looked like he was on his way to cementing a long-term place in the Pirates’ rotation. He pitched 95 innings with a 3.79 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate in that rookie campaign. A year later, the right-hander lost more than a mile per hour off his heater and was trounced for a 6.59 ERA in 68 1/3 big league frames. His work in Triple-A Indianapolis was similarly shaky, with an ERA just under 5.00 in eight appearances (six starts).

Out of minor league options and losing his grip on a roster spot, Contreras was designated for assignment back in May. The Angels leaned on him for 52 innings of low-leverage relief following that cash swap, and Contreras held his own with a 4.33 ERA and more questionable rate stats (17.9 K%, 10.6 BB%). The full-time move to the ’pen didn’t get Contreras’ velocity back up to its previous 96 mph average; he sat 94.9 mph with the pitch in 2024.

If Contreras lasts the rest of the offseason on the Reds’ 40-man roster, he’ll compete for a bullpen spot this spring. He’d need to make the Opening Day club or else be designated for assignment once again, as he can’t be sent down to Triple-A without first clearing waivers. Alexis Diaz, Brent Suter, Fernando Cruz, Sam Moll, Emilio Pagan and Tony Santillan are all likely locked into spots (barring injuries or trades), but there could still be a couple openings up for grabs in camp, depending on how the front office proceeds for the remainder of the offseason.

Rangers Designate Roansy Contreras For Assignment

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The Rangers designated right-hander Roansy Contreras for assignment. Texas needed to open a 40-man roster spot after finalizing their free agent deals with Jacob Webb and Nathan Eovaldi.

Contreras departs the Texas roster within six weeks. The Rangers grabbed him off waivers from the Angels in the opening days of the offseason. There was always a decent chance that he wouldn’t stick on the roster all winter. He’ll either be traded or, more likely, placed back on waivers within the next few days.

The 25-year-old was once regarded as one of the game’s better pitching prospects. Initially a Yankee farmhand, he was a key piece of the package that New York sent to the Pirates for Jameson Taillon. Contreras had a decent debut season with the Pirates in 2022, turning in a 3.79 ERA across 95 innings. He looked like a long-term rotation piece at the time, but his production has dropped sharply over the last two seasons.

Contreras struggled to an ERA near 7.00 across 68 1/3 MLB frames in 2023. He exhausted his last minor league option that year. The Pirates carried him in the season-opening bullpen in ’24. He pitched 12 times in medium-leverage spots before the Bucs took him off the roster. They dealt him to the Angels for cash in May. Contreras played out the year with the Halos in a long relief role, posting a 4.33 ERA with subpar peripherals in 37 appearances.

Since the start of the 2023 season, Contreras owns a 5.47 earned run average over 136 2/3 innings. His 18.5% strikeout percentage and 10.5% walk rate are worse than the respective MLB averages, as is his 1.4 home runs allowed per nine. The performance and the inability to send him to the minors without putting him on waivers could lead to him bouncing around the league. Contreras should still intrigue teams as a depth arm, as he sits around 95 MPH with his four-seam fastball and throws six different pitches.

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