"Moves that completely befuddle us" 2022-23 offseason edition

[Tony-OH]

Ok, after today's move to add a soon to be 30-year old outfielder who can't hit to the 40-man roster, I'm using RZNJ's suggestion and starting a thread with this title.

Just to keep count of the first two:

1. Elias adds Anthony Bemboom, a soon to be 33-year old minor league back up catcher to 40-man as his first offseason move.
2. Elias claims Jake Cave off waivers, a soon to be 30-year old outfielder who slashed .206/.262/.352/.614 in his last 478 PAs since 2020.

Feel free to keep adding to this list as Elias continues his bizarro offseason so far.

[wildcard]

Filling out the AAA roster for next season.   He will be DFA'd within the next 5 weeks is my guess.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

24 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Filling out the AAA roster for next season.   He will be DFA'd within the next 5 weeks is my guess.

You can fill out an AAA roster for next season without tying up 40 man spots.

"But, he can just be DFA'ed later!" Or he could have just not been claimed in the first place, or in Bemboom's case, put on the 40 man as soon as the season ended...

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

You can fill out an AAA roster for next season without tying up 40 man spots.

"But, he can just be DFA'ed later!" Or he could have just not been claimed in the first place, or in Bemboom's case, put on the 40 man as soon as the season ended...

They didn’t want Bemboom to file for FA and lose him for depth reasons. They are going to be dropping guys off the 40 man obviously. 
 

They also may think along the lines of what WC said that by claiming these guys it will be a better chance to keep them in the organization. 

[Aristotelian]

Unless you like Jake Reed for some reason it's not particularly befuddling, just a minor depth move now that Phillips is a free agent. 

[SilverRocket]

Is there any downside at all to putting someone on the 40-man now? Besides having to kick someone else off? I'm not seeing any defense for the players who got cut.

[SteveA]

And now I learn that Cave is arbitration eligible and projected to earn $1.2 million next year!

I am even more befuddled.

But at least Elias is keeping his promise to spend money this off-season!

[OriolesMagic83]

Is Jake Cave better than Brett Phillips?  That's the only reason I can think of.

[wildcard]

7 hours ago, SteveA said:

And now I learn that Cave is arbitration eligible and projected to earn $1.2 million next year!

I am even more befuddled.

But at least Elias is keeping his promise to spend money this off-season!

Seriously doubt Elias offers Cave arbitration.

Edited October 12, 2022 by wildcard

[Aristotelian]

3 hours ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Is Jake Cave better than Brett Phillips?  That's the only reason I can think of.

Phillips is a free agent so the question is whether Cave is better than Jake Reed. Jake Reed was awful.

[sportsfan8703]

40 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Phillips is a free agent so the question is whether Cave is better than Jake Reed. Jake Reed was awful.

Yeah the Jake Reed move really cost us down the stretch. Reed and the collapse of Khreibel really hurt us. 

[Sports Guy]

These moves don’t mean much unless they actually think these guys should be on the 26 or even 40 man roster come ST/OD.

[SteveA]

6 hours ago, wildcard said:

Seriously doubt Elias offers Cave arbitration.

So that means he has to be off the 40 man roster by December 2.  What is gained by adding him now?

[Tony-OH]

24 minutes ago, SteveA said:

So that means he has to be off the 40 man roster by December 2.  What is gained by adding him now?

This is what some people seem to be missing. Why would they think they need Cave or Bemboom in the first place. Why would they need to be "protected" from filing FA, If you can sign these kinds of guys as minor league free agents in the off season?

Shake a minor league tree and ten Cave and Bemboom's fall out. Adding AAA filler on the 40-man right now doesn't mean much because I agree, these guys will most likely be gone before the 40-man is set this December, but it's certainly befuddling that they feel a need to add them now.

BTW, who they dropped off don't matter since there are plenty of guys that can be dropped without concern. It's who they are adding right now that's very, very strange.

 

[DrinkinWithFermi]

Cave can (apparently) play CF, so I guess he is the backup backup CF? He also hit pretty decently his first 2 years in the majors so maybe they think they can fix him.

The Bemboom move is the much more puzzling of the 2, IMO. He "hits" LH so he doesn't make much sense as a candidate to backup Adley, who has struggled a bit against lefties so far and would be much better complimented by a backup C that hits RH.