It was announced this afternoon that the Baltimore Orioles have signed veteran SS Jose Iglesias.

Que the jokes about how, “Now the O’s can start printing those playoff tickets.”

Jokes aside, it’s a logical move for a legitimate Major Leaguer.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

Until this addition was made, my frustration of the Winter has been the O’s unwillingness to make acquisitions that could improve the 2020 product, without jeopardizing the larger plan.

This addition gives me some hope the Orioles may not yet be done adding to their roster.

The deal was 1 year, $3M, with a club option for 2021.
It’s the perfect deal for this team.

Some Thoughts: 

– In 2019, Iglesias slashed .288 / .318 / .407, He had 11 homers, 3 triples, 21 doubles, 20 walks, and 70 k’s.  His calling card is his defense. We probably shouldn’t be giving much weight anymore to DRS  and UZR / 150; but for the record, he was +8 in DRS, and + 7.6 in UZR / 150 in 2019.  By all accounts, he is strong with the glove.

– You are going to have young arms in the bullpen. Potentially you’ll have some younger arms in the rotation during the year as well. You can help their confidence, when they know the play is going to be made behind them.

– That’s not to say I’m down on Richie Martin. The available public metrics hated Martin’s play in ’19, but I assume something was being missed in translation with Martin’s positioning and the Orioles shifting. The eye test told me Martin was slightly above average.  Martin was completely overwhelmed offensively to start ’19, but did improve during the year (.284 baa, .713 OPS after the AS Break). I think there is some promise with the bat. He hit well at the AA level in ’18, and showed some incredible speed with the Birds. I’m excited that Martin gets to begin ’20 at AAA, with very little pressure on him. If he can build off of his 2nd half, and perform at AAA; he’ll earn his way back to the bigs. That’s the way it should be.

– With Iglesias at SS, and Hays in CF; the Orioles have a couple of nice-up-the-middle defensive pieces.

– I’m not against trading Mancini, and definitely think the Orioles should be listening to offers there. However, if Mancini is not traded, and was moved to the position he belongs (1st), the Orioles would have a non-disastrous infield. I laughed at my own comment here, as I’m sure it sounds like I’m damning with faint praise. My only point is that on a team that figures to lose 90+ games, an infield of Severino / Sisco at C, Mancini at 1st, Alberto at 2nd, Iglesias at SS, and Ruiz / Nunez at 3rd wouldn’t be ‘horrible.’

– If you make the organizational decision to sign Iglesias, it only makes sense to sign other similar targets. Meaning Elias decided to pull the trigger on Iglesias, because he was able to get him for 1 year, at a minimal price, and add a legitimate ML player at a position of need.

The Orioles rotation today is Means, Cobb, Wojciechowski… and? Maybe the recently added Kohl Stewart? Maybe Akin (maybe not if you want him to spend the requisite time in AAA to get another year of team control). Maybe Rule 5 selection Brandon Bailey.

The O’s have some internal SP’s (Akin, Kremer, Lowther, Baumann, Wells, Zimmerman) that could potentially get looks during the year. However, only Akin and Kremer are on the 40 man currently, and only Akin has a chance (some would argue he also doesn’t) of breaking camp with the Birds.  Each of them will be more entertaining to watch vs. the Brooks, Hess, Ynoa, Straily, Yacabonis, Eshelman, Blach group that got starts in ’19, but it’s to-be-determined how much ML time they get in ’20.

Wojciechowski was relatively effective in his 16 starts last year, but seeing him currently penciled in as the 3rd starter should make every Oriole fan (and employee) cry a little. Ideally he’d be the 25th or 26th man on the roster, a swing guy out of the pen if needed. Not a starter you are going into a year, maybe needing to rely on – even in a year where you can’t, and aren’t trying to win.

Going to keep mentioning them until they are signed elsewhere, but I’d love to see the Orioles add Alex Wood, and Collin McHugh.  You could sign both, and quite possibly get nothing out of them. So what? The cost would be minimal. It’s also plausible they could look like real ML caliber starters.

It’s hard to adequately state how horrible the Orioles rotation has been the last two years. They could be bad in ’20, and that would still be a significant upgrade vs. what we’ve seen recently.  A rotation of Means, Cobb, Wood, McHugh, X doesn’t figure to be ‘good,’ but it might look like a group of actual Major Leaguers.

I’ve written several times this Winter of how I’m actually looking forward to watching some of the young bullpen arms – particularly the quartet of Harvey, Tate, Scott, and Kline. You also have other guys who figure to ascend to the Majors at some point in ’20 (Carroll, and Phillips). And you’ve got the existing veterans Givens, Armstrong, Castro, Bleier, Fry.  You can craft a pen out of that group.

Still, I’m not totally opposed to adding another veteran reliever. Some guys you could kick the tires on are Cishek, Liriano, Strop, and Rondon. The pen will ultimately be as good as the rotation in-front of them; which means the pen will probably struggle. Again. You’ve got some bullpen arms with real promise, but a disaster of a rotation currently in-front of them. Maybe you take advantage of the 26th roster spot, and you have another reliever you go into camp with, who has experience getting outs in high leverage situations. Takes off some of the pressure on the younger guys, and gives them another vet to look to for guidance.

Chris Stoner
Chris Stoner

Owner

Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.

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