The Orioles will be adding talent to the organization today, the Caravan is coming, and don’t get desperate.
Good morning Birdland,
We know that the Orioles will not be signing Roki Sasaki. While he is the highest-regarded international free agent available right now, he is far from the only talent that teams are hoping to sign today. In fact, Sasaki may not even sign today at all and instead extend his process into “next year” by signing later in the week. But he is a unique circumstance.
You see, today is international signing day in MLB. Most of the young players that will join organizations today are amateurs, teens that largely come from Latin America. They have some significant development to do, and will therefore head into the minors for the next few seasons and hopefully become something years down the line.
As has been documented for a while now, this is an area where the Orioles had virtually no presence prior to the Mike Elias era. To be fair to the previous regime, it has not always been the most transparent process, so there were some ethical issues. Those things have not entirely been resolved in recent years, but they seem slightly more buttoned up. And it is just plain true that in order to compete as an organization you need to be scouring for talent everywhere, particularly internationally.
The Orioles are still waiting for their first big international prospect to turn into a major league contributor, but it’s getting close. MLB Pipeline just released their top 10 catching prospects on Tuesday with Samuel Basallo at the top. Basallo has been in the O’s organization for four years now, signing for $1.3 million in January, 2021. Since then, he has taken off, especially at the plate. There are still questions about his defense, but the skills are there for him to make waves in the majors as soon as 2025.
We will see who the O’s end up with out of this years signing day. They have one of the bigger signing bonus pools in the league at $6,908,600. The largest pool is an eight-way tie with $7,555,500. Any player signed for $10,000 or less does not count against the pool.
Links
Carrying questions to Orioles Birdland Caravan | Roch Kubatko
A quick roundup of who all is involved in the upcoming Birdland Caravan, if you are into that!
Hoping for minimal chaos with Sasaki signing, plus O’s international notes | Steve Melewski
Related to the intro above, Melewski mentions several players that are already committed to joining the Orioles. They landed a few players in the “Top 100” of available international free agents. That’s pretty cool, although rankings like that are pretty darn subjective and seemingly less accurate than the ones rolled out for the amateur draft every year.
Orioles must avoid a desperation deal | The Baltimore Banner
Yeah, I would agree with the sentiment in this article. The Orioles should not make a deal just to say they made a deal. Signing someone like Jack Flaherty would have felt like that, unless it was a short-term pact. The contracts they have handed out this offseason all feel fine, and re-signing Corbin Burnes would have made this a pretty perfect winter. Alas, it didn’t happen.
Orioles birthdays
Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!
- Delino DeShields turns 56. He was an Oriole from 1999-2001, during which time he played both second base and all over the outfield.
- Bobby Grich is 76 today. One of the Hall of Fame’s biggest snubs, Grich was an elite second baseman during his time in Baltimore (1970-76). While an Oriole, he won four Gold Gloves, three All-Star nods, and MVP consideration in three different seasons.
This day in O’s history
1999 – The Orioles sign free agent reliever Heathcliff Slocumb to a contract. He will compile a 12.46 ERA with the O’s and get released before the end of April.