Orioles acquire catcher, DFA Krehbiel

[emmett16]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Looks like a Elias move we have seen before.

My bet is Elias DFAs Torrens before he hits the 26 man roster.   Elias is betting that the 1.2M salary keeps other teams from claiming him and  that he can talk Torrens into staying at AAA instead of losing his 1.2M salary.

Sounds like the O'Hearn move to me.

Elias wants move depth at the catching position.  Krehbiel must not be impressing Buck Britton or Ramsey this year.

This sounds like a likely scenario. 

[sportsfan8703]

Former rule 5 pick from the Yankees system.  

[wildcard]

I think the only thing this says about Handley is Elias does not think he is ready for the majors.   He need  more time at AAA.   If Adley or McCann go down tomorrow Elias think Torrens is a better replacement than Handley or Bemboom.

Edited May 3, 2023 by wildcard

[Just Regular]

The other angle I saw skimming some stuff is Cubs DFA'd him after trying to hoard a 3rd catcher about four weeks to open the year.    It may be both CHC and BAL figured he was somewhere around the 61st best catcher, but now Elias is momentarily the one with the roster flexibility.

It is reading thin tea leaves for sure, but Elias latitude to roster AAA millionaires hints he's not totally penniless.    Drellich in his book gave the account Sig loves his homegrown cheap guys.

I thought the McCann pinch run was freshening his legs a little to I presume catch tonight.     That geezer did a lot of baserunning last night.

[CHIP]

20 minutes ago, wildcard said:

I think the only thing this says about Handley is Elias does not think he is ready for the majors.   He need  more time at AAA.   If Adley or McCann go down tomorrow Elias think Torrens is a better replacement than Handley or Bemboom.

Last game Handley played was Saturday vs. Charlotte.  His last AB he was hit with a 93 MPH fastball.  Looked at baseball savant and then a quick replay of the game and it looked like he was hit on his left hand.  The force of the ricochet makes me believe the knob got a portion of the ball as well.  This is the area of the hand with the hamate bone.  If it is broken that is a good 3 month injury.    Handley was on the IL a couple times in 2021 because of being hit on that hand as well.  Hope it is a short term and not long term issue.  

[CHIP]

45 minutes ago, emmett16 said:

Handley hasn’t looked very good to start off season.  He’s right at his MiLB career numbers & D hasn’t been stellar.  Wonder if they are throwing up the white flag on Maverick as 2024 back-up and moving on.  

I agree.  Handley had a hot start and then sputtered after his 4-5 game.  I got the sense from his swings that he started to home run hunt.  He was 1-33 (with 6 BBs and only 5 K) after that 4-5 game.  I don't know what the purpose of sending him to Charlotte then to Baltimore and then back to Charlotte was... but it seems every time a catcher comes back from being the TAXI guy, they get hits.  That at least has held for Bemboom (until last night) and Kolozsvary.  Since he came back from TAXI we was 2-6 with a walk and 4 runs scored.  Maybe it was a wakeup call?

I just asked my son about Handley's defense.  He said 1 of the errors was on CI.  Same batter got a CI on Kolo the next night.  Another error was throwing to 3rd on a double steal with Cullen there.  Cullen missed the throw and then missed the throw back in from LF.   Otherwise he has been doing everything else he normally does.  There was a highlight last week with a throw from Cowser.  The announcers said Cowser's throw was in the batters box on 1st base side and that Handley made the play for the out.  

Kolozsvary has had a couple HR but his defense has been terrible.  Perhaps they need someone better and know Kolo will have to go when Handley returns from IL

[interloper]

43 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Looks like a Elias move we have seen before.

My bet is Elias DFAs Torrens before he hits the 26 man roster.   Elias is betting that the 1.2M salary keeps other teams from claiming him and  that he can talk Torrens into staying at AAA instead of losing his 1.2M salary.

Sounds like the O'Hearn move to me.

Elias wants move depth at the catching position.  Krehbiel must not be impressing Buck Britton or Ramsey this year.

Yep, fully agree. We have the money for expensive depth like O'Hearn and Torrens so why not. The money makes it likelier that they pass through waivers, like you say. Both are guys with ML experience, making the price tag feel a little more justified. 

[wildcard]

19 minutes ago, CHIP said:

Last game Handley played was Saturday vs. Charlotte.  His last AB he was hit with a 93 MPH fastball.  Looked at baseball savant and then a quick replay of the game and it looked like he was hit on his left hand.  The force of the ricochet makes me believe the knob got a portion of the ball as well.  This is the area of the hand with the hamate bone.  If it is broken that is a good 3 month injury.    Handley was on the IL a couple times in 2021 because of being hit on that hand as well.  Hope it is a short term and not long term issue.  

Thanks for the insight.

[OriolesMagic83]

58 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

McCann insurance for this year.  Basically a younger/cheaper McCann for next year.  He also has big time splits and hits LHP way better than RHP.  Career .725 OPS vs LHP, .584 vs. RHP.  

Catcher depth is never a bad thing.  Considering we used to be bare bones.  

We're going to rotate the bottom of the bench for matchups.  This helps.  

Streaming relievers is so 2022, the hot thing now is streaming backup catchers.

[interloper]

Features Krehbiel nearly getting his head knocked off by an RBI single. 

[sportsfan8703]

13 minutes ago, OriolesMagic83 said:

Streaming relievers is so 2022, the hot thing now is streaming backup catchers.

If MLB is making teams have at least 4 bench players then why not maximize value?

In all seriousness, I like this move. Cheap catcher depth. You can’t beat that. Strong arm. Hits lefties. Former rule 5 guy, so he was rushed to the MLB.  We all know catcher takes the longest time to develop as typically. This move seems closer to the Urias/Mateo high end tools claim than just the AAAA waiver claim. Not saying he’s going to be those guys. 

[sportsfan8703]

16 minutes ago, interloper said:

Features Krehbiel nearly getting his head knocked off by an RBI single. 

There’s some thunder in that bat. Oppo power. 

[RZNJ]

Maybe Elias just wants Norfolk to break the record for AAA wins.   Deep depth.

He got full time AB’s in 2021 and put up a .743 OPS.   

Edited May 3, 2023 by RZNJ

[Morgan423]

Okay, baffled by this one.  Career replacement level stats, and everything I've found says this guy has no options remaining, so we'd need to carry him on the 26 man.  So it's not a depth move, unless they DFA him and try to talk him into hanging out in our minors.

EDIT: Norfolk's roster still shows us carrying three catchers in AAA (Handley, Bemboom, Kolozsvary).  Wonder if we're cutting one of them?  This is still very weird.

Edited May 3, 2023 by Morgan423

[spleen1015]

This doesn't make any sense. We don't need 3 catchers.