Orioles Sign INF/OF Tony Kemp

[Warehouse]

32 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Also, this is similar to O’Hearn, and Jake Cave last year. Sign a vet to slightly over the league minimum, so if you need to pass him through waivers that extra salary might help him not get claimed. 

He has enough service time to block an outright, so we’d have to release him and eat his salary.

[Aristotelian]

13 minutes ago, Warehouse said:

The Kemp move is a head scratcher that I can’t quite figure out but these splits are unlikely to be predictive.

Over his career, Urias has hit righties better than lefties but that is entirely driven by BABIP and not backed up by peripherals (where he is about even). ZIPS projects about equivalent performance from both sides of the plate.  Of course, this also means there is little benefit in platooning Urias.

The Westburg reverse splits above are presumably based on his 81 AAA PAs vs lefties last year, which isn’t a large enough sample size.  ZIPS projects a material platoon split for him this year.

Westburg hit RHP better in the minors in '22 and '23. Urias has over 1,000 career AB's now. I am not claiming he is a RHP masher by any means, but he can hit RHP and does not need to be platooned.

[glenn__davis]

What a weird team.

[spleen1015]

Mike Elias is a freaking genius, moves so good no one can figure out why he makes them.

[interloper]

4 minutes ago, glenn__davis said:

What a weird team.

We haven't had a steady 2B since the rebuild years. Those rebuild years resulted in us having more highly touted 2B prospects than we know what to do with. And yet we STILL haven't given any of them a steady 2B gig. 

[eddie83]

1 hour ago, NCRaven said:

If they waive him, no other team is going to claim him with a $1 million contract.  If he passes through waivers (and he will) and the reassign him to AAA, he won't refuse because he'll lose the $1 million.  And, if he replaces guys like Nevin and McKenna, most of the people here didn't want them anyway.  This is a giant nothing burger.

What’s stopping Kemp from refusing the assignment? Why would he lose the money? He has 6 years of service time. 

[Matt Bennett]

Again, I don’t really care who the 13th man on the bench is. Nevin, McKenna, Kemp. Doesn’t matter. All you need there is a guy you’re comfortable sitting regularly. And I guess positional flexibility doesn’t hurt. 

[Yossarian]

Note to future Orioles draft picks-  you had better learn at least 2 infield and 2 outfield positions and be able to switch- hit if you want a roster spot. 

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

DFA-ing McKenna for Kemp makes zero sense. I’ll take McKenna any day over Kemp. I’m hoping Kemp is going to be minor league depth. 

Maybe an infielder is getting released or traded. 

 

That’s not what they did.  They DFAd Maton for Kemp.  

[rm5678]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

That’s not what they did.  They DFAd Maton for Kemp.  

But since we already knew that Maton was not going to be on the team, doesn't this signing of Kemp mean that someone who we thought would be on the team (i.e., Nevin) will not?

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, rm5678 said:

But since we already knew that Maton was not going to be on the team, doesn't this signing of Kemp mean that someone who we thought would be on the team (i.e., Nevin) will not?

I’d assume so.  I’m not spending a ton of mental energy on who holds the last roster spot.   

[HowAboutThat]

It’s nice to know where the bodies are buried.

Frazier must’ve gotten Kemp on the phone and said, “here, you might need this information…“

[foxfield]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

We haven't had a steady 2B since the rebuild years. Those rebuild years resulted in us having more highly touted 2B prospects than we know what to do with. And yet we STILL haven't given any of them a steady 2B gig. 

We’re saving someone base for someone special. And we’re a long ways off from being willing to go all the way.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

Tony Kemp is approaching 33 years old and has hit .224/.306/.321 over his last ~1,000 PAs.

Why in the world is he taking any ABs away from our young guys?

[Can_of_corn]

1 minute ago, DrinkinWithFermi said:

Tony Kemp is approaching 33 years old and has hit .224/.306/.321 over his last ~1,000 PAs.

Why in the world is he taking any ABs away from our young guys?

Enables them to limit service time.