No one will accuse baseball’s offseason of heating up quite yet, but as teams begin to target free agents and the market shakes out, those moves will bring players onto the Orioles’ radar via the waiver wire.
Any team that adds a free agent must either trade or designate for assignment a player at the bottom of their 40-man roster, and some teams, such as the Boston Red Sox, seem to be delaying making their signings official so they can have time to figure out their roster construction.
For a team like the Orioles, who aren’t looking to spend big this offseason, players getting pushed through waivers might be the primary way new faces land at Camden Yards in the next few weeks.
The Orioles’ 40-man roster has the highest percentage of waiver claims of any team, according to data from FanGraphs’ RosterResource page, and it’s not particularly close. Nearly 28% of the players on the Orioles roster have been waiver claims. The Pittsburgh Pirates and Seattle Mariners are tied for second at 12.5%.
This offseason has been quieter on that front, with presumptive starting infielder Yolmer Sánchez, corner bat Chris Shaw and tall right-hander Ashton Goudeau the only waiver claims for the Orioles thus far.
Some of the Orioles’ previous waiver claims are productive members of the team, such as relievers Cole Sulser, Shawn Armstrong and Travis Lakins Sr. Starting third baseman Rio Ruiz and catcher Pedro Severino came off waivers, too. Other waiver claims in the Opening Day mix include infielders Pat Valaika and Ramón Urías and right-hander Jorge López.
It helps that players frequently pass through waivers at positions the Orioles need the most help. In 2019 to a major extent, and 2020 to a lesser one, the Orioles simply needed bodies to throw at their pitching deficiencies. They used the waiver wire for short-term fixes and might have found some long-term answers.
When infielder Tim Beckham’s salary arbitration number was deemed too high early in executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias’ tenure, the Orioles didn’t have a third baseman, but Ruiz quickly filled that void. That was the case in the infield as well, with waiver claim Hanser Alberto playing regularly the past two seasons before he was released in December. Sánchez and Urías could be the next such success stories.
Now that the Orioles are in decent shape with middle-infield depth thanks to the waiver wire, they can only marginally upgrade there or hold out hope that someone they believe can start at shortstop passes through. That’s unlikely, but it’s unclear what their standard for such a player is.
Whatever the Orioles are looking for this winter, though, options might come through the waiver wire soon. It seems as if little will stop pitchers and catchers from reporting to spring training on time, so as players (and their families) get antsy to know where they’ll be spending the season and teams sign them onto their rosters, others will have to come off.
The Orioles, as ever, will be ready to pounce.
SPRING TRAINING
Key dates for the Orioles’ preseason preparations in Sarasota, Florida:
Feb. 10: Pitchers and catchers report
Feb. 21: Position players report
Feb. 27: First exhibition game vs. Atlanta Braves