Sunday Bird Droppings: The Orioles are linked to a free agent reliever
There aren’t many rumors that involve the Orioles, so every one is worth thinking about
Hello, friends.
There are now 116 days remaining until Orioles Opening Day 2024.
This week, we will be preoccupied with baseball’s winter meetings. Will the Orioles do anything other than pick some dude in the Rule 5 draft? Will they lose anyone in that draft? Are they ever going to sign some free agent to a multi-year contract in the Mike Elias era? Will this be when they make an impactful trade for pitching by giving up some of their high-level prospect stock?
My guess for all of these things is probably not. One thing that I learned over the last year is that what I want Elias to do now that the Orioles have shown some quality is probably more aggressive than whatever he is going to do. So I’m not going to expect any move of consequence coming any day now. It could happen! I will be glad if they get a proven player who seems like they should help over the next two-plus years. But it won’t surprise me when it doesn’t happen.
For those who enjoy when the Orioles name at least comes up in the turning of the rumor mill, here’s one for you from yesterday afternoon:
Stephenson, who will turn 31 before Opening Day next year, has had some spots of big league success, including 2019 in Cincinnati and 2021 in Colorado, but really blossomed after joining the Rays in 2023. Right before you become a free agent is a good time to make a good impression, and Stephenson struck out 60 men in 38.1 innings with Tampa while issuing just eight walks.
What’s that going to be worth for him? One site, MLB Trade Rumors, projected a four year, $36 million contract for Stephenson, though at FanGraphs he’s only projected for $10 million for a single season. I will predict it won’t be the Orioles signing Stephenson if he gets a four-year contract or if he gets more than $10 million for one season.
This is a hypothetical signing that probably wouldn’t be that exciting due to his lack of a consistent track record, but there’s enough there where you could talk yourself into it without too much effort. And also you probably won’t need to, because “showing interest” doesn’t say very much.
There was also a little international prospect news yesterday, with the Orioles adding an 18-year-old Cuban outfielder in the waning days of the 2023 signing period:
