Delmon Young was the Most Valuable Player in the 2012 American League Championship Series. But a less impressive 2013 campaign left the 28-year-old outfielder without a team for 2014.
Until Monday, when the Baltimore Orioles signed Young to a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training.
Young hit just .260 with 11 homers and 38 RBIs in 103 games split between the Tampa Bay Rays and Philadelphia Phillies. He was the ALCS MVP in 2012 while playing for the Detroit Tigers.
Young's best season was in 2010 with the Minnesota Twins when he hit 21 homers and drove in 112 runs.
The Orioles have an open spot in left field after Nate McLouth signed with the Washington Nationals earlier this offseason. Since then, Baltimore acquired outfielder David Lough from the Kansas City Royals, and now have signed Young.
The Orioles also have Nolan Reimold and Steve Pearce under contract for the 2014 season. Young has played in left and center field during his eight-season professional career, but last year he played only in right.
Baltimore also invited former Orioles Jack Cust to a tryout at their mini-camp in Sarasota, Fla., this week. Cust played with the Orioles in 28 games from 2003-04, but has not appeared in a major-league game since July 27, 2011. Cust's tryout will reportedly last three days.
The Orioles also signed a pair of players to minor-league deals Tuesday - right-handed pitcher Luis Vizcaino and infielder Brock Bond. Neither will receive an invitation to major-league camp in spring training.
Vizcaino, a 39-year-old reliever who debuted in the majors in 1999 but hasn't pitched since playing for the Cleveland Indians in 2009, pitched in Mexico last season. He had a 1.40 ERA and 25 saves for Yucatan.
Bond is a 28-year-old switch-hitter, who has played at second base, third base, shortstop, and left field in the past. But Bond has never played in the majors.
He has a career .300 batting average in seven minor-league seasons in the San Francisco Giants farm system.
NOTE: The Orioles announced Tuesday that they have added Chris Correnti to the major-league athletic training staff as an assistant athletic trainer. Correnti has served as a performance consultant in the Orioles organization since the beginning of the 2012 season.