Orioles claim Austin Brice Designate Valera (Traded to Giants for CC)

[wildcard]

1 hour ago, Redskins Rick said:

But the challenge will be, can he get big league hitter out, and not just minor leaguers?

You can say that about a lot of O's pitchers.

[wildcard]

From Baltimorebaseball.com's Rich Dubroff:

it’s the first offseason of Mike Elias’ tenure as Orioles general manager, and there is something striking about it.

It was that Elias had no interest in seeing more of Valera. 

But Valera had played just 12 games for the Orioles, batting .286 with four RBIs. He was a switch-hitter, and most important, he came from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the trade for Manny Machado

But there are some other players still remaining on the 40-man roster Elias has inherited who seemed more obvious choices to cut than Valera.

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2019/01/07/elias-administration-small-move-can-mean-much/

 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, wildcard said:

From Baltimorebaseball.com's Rich Dubroff:

it’s the first offseason of Mike Elias’ tenure as Orioles general manager, and there is something striking about it.

It was that Elias had no interest in seeing more of Valera. 

But Valera had played just 12 games for the Orioles, batting .286 with four RBIs. He was a switch-hitter, and most important, he came from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the trade for Manny Machado

But there are some other players still remaining on the 40-man roster Elias has inherited who seemed more obvious choices to cut than Valera.

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2019/01/07/elias-administration-small-move-can-mean-much/

 

Not that well written, IMO.   But I take the point that Elias won’t feel the need to hold on to incumbent players to justify their being acquired in the first place.   

[murph]

29 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not that well written, IMO.   But I take the point that Elias won’t feel the need to hold on to incumbent players to justify their being acquired in the first place.   

Agreed, but better than when Rich speaks, starts and stops, starts, gets going, then stops and starts over.   Not making fun, I am sure its like a twitch he can't control, it's just frustrating to listen too. 

I have to admit, I forgot Valera was part of the Machado trade.  I think it is slightly interesting that he was the player Elias decided to jettison. 

[jerios55]

Considering the trade happened so quickly, any chance they picked Valera knowing a trade was there?

I guess chances are they would have just traded him if that was the case and not waited for a waiver claim...just thinking out loud.

[weams]

55 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Not that well written, IMO.   But I take the point that Elias won’t feel the need to hold on to incumbent players to justify their being acquired in the first place.   

I think we all knew that. Usually Rich writes well. 

[Tx Oriole]

6 hours ago, Going Underground said:

Would you pay a $1.00 for this car?

 

That's all it's worth. 

[atomic]

3 hours ago, wildcard said:

From Baltimorebaseball.com's Rich Dubroff:

it’s the first offseason of Mike Elias’ tenure as Orioles general manager, and there is something striking about it.

It was that Elias had no interest in seeing more of Valera. 

But Valera had played just 12 games for the Orioles, batting .286 with four RBIs. He was a switch-hitter, and most important, he came from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the trade for Manny Machado

But there are some other players still remaining on the 40-man roster Elias has inherited who seemed more obvious choices to cut than Valera.

https://www.baltimorebaseball.com/2019/01/07/elias-administration-small-move-can-mean-much/

 

Valera is 27.  I am not sure why there is a big deal made out of this. I am sure several other players on the 40 man roster will be DFA'd before the season opener.  I am sure DD just asked for him because the teams lack of utility players and if he wasn't included the deal would have happened without him in it.  The beauty of our 40 man is there are so many guys you can remove from it without it mattering. 

[Frobby]

3 minutes ago, atomic said:

The beauty of our 40 man is there are so many guys you can remove from it without it mattering. 

That’s an odd way to look at it.   

[DrungoHazewood]

40 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That’s an odd way to look at it.   

I think it's true.  It's not great that the organization has so few valuable assets, but the positive aspect is that when a decent player comes available it's trivial to find room for him.  There's no real hard choices for roster spots.

[mdbdotcom]

4 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

I think it's true.  It's not great that the organization has so few valuable assets, but the positive aspect is that when a decent player comes available it's trivial to find room for him.  There's no real hard choices for roster spots.

When Mike Wright is a veteran presence in the bullpen, there ain't much there.

[wildcard]

43 minutes ago, mdbdotcom said:

When Mike Wright is a veteran presence in the bullpen, there ain't much there.

Who said that Wright will even be on the team when the season begins?

[weams]

28 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Who said that Wright will even be on the team when the season begins?

He might be one of the six best pitchers. 

[mdbdotcom]

23 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Who said that Wright will even be on the team when the season begins?

He's there now. Not all of us claim to know what the future will be.

[Frobby]

28 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Who said that Wright will even be on the team when the season begins?

In that case he’ll be a veteran absence.