O's sign Starter Cesar Valdez (34) to a minor league contract

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, wildcard said:

If he pitches well it will become a high level signing.

It’s like Miguel Gonzalez or Rodrigo Lopez — except that this guy is 7-9 years older than those guys were.    It would be a great story if this guy was able to make our rotation and be half-decent, but I’m not holding my breath.    

[sgillespie31]

4 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

At worse, this is an interesting story to follow this spring. He's pitched very well in a hitter friendly league so why not? He'll be 35-years old on opening day so I imagine he either makes the team or is let go. 

Hey, I'll be rooting for the guy!

My thoughts exactly. There is a chance at upside. Maybe (certainly) nothing spectacular, but he could turn out to be a useful gamey type and those guys are always fun

[bobmc]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Could be a fun guy to follow in spring training.    

Seguro que si!  Let's give him the moniker "Exxon".  

[DrungoHazewood]

8 hours ago, PaulFolk said:

Kind of fascinating that he made his MLB debut in 2010 and then didn't see the majors again until 2017. How many players have had a seven-year gap between their first year in the majors and their second?

He's no Paul Schreiber, who went almost 22 years between major league appearances.

Jack McFetridge may hold the record for longest gap between debut year and next MLB appearance.  About 13 years, and both for the Phils.

[sportsfan8703]

He pitched for Hou’s AAA team in 2016. So Elias is familiar with him. He went 12–1, 3.12 ERA.   According to his fangraphs page he gets 50%+ GB. Throws a FB at 88, almost as much as he throws his change. Mixes in his slider 10% of the time. 

Last year we went out and got some of the better pitchers in AAA to try and find someone to give us innings. Wojo, Brooks, and Eshelman, were all near the league leaders in their AAA leagues. 

Could be just a move to cover IP until the guys and AAA are ready. 

[elextrano8]

20 hours ago, DrungoHazewood said:

He's no Paul Schreiber, who went almost 22 years between major league appearances.

Jack McFetridge may hold the record for longest gap between debut year and next MLB appearance.  About 13 years, and both for the Phils.

Both of which are interesting stories, but McFetridge especially is fascinating!

 

For those interested:

McFetridge from SABR
Schreiber from Wikipedia

[sportsfan8703]

Remember that Miguel Gonzalez started the 2012 season in AAA for us. He was 28. 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=gonzal004mig

Gonzales also had tied to our then GM’s former team, BOS. Valdez has had a longer track record of success. It looks like he’s a guy that never got a chance because he couldn’t throw hard enough. 

This is one of the few fun parts about rebuilding. You get to see players like Valdez that are hungry to make it and this is their big chance. 

 

[interloper]

I love a good over-the-hill rando SP who's been out of pro ball for awhile. I always think they're some of the most interesting guys in camp. Looking forward to seeing if he has anything left. Can he be any worse than Eshelman?