In Mike Elias’ first offseason as Orioles general manager, he gets to avoid going to arbitration with any of the three players who were eligible.
On Friday, Dylan Bundy, Mychal Givens and Jonathan Villar, the only three players who could have gone to arbitration agreed to one-year contracts with the team.
Bundy, who was the team’s Opening Day starter, suffered from allowing a major-league leading 41 home runs. He was 8-16 with a 5.45 ERA. His 16 losses tied for the American League lead. Bundy will earn $2.8 million.
Givens inherited the closer’s job after the trades of Zach Britton and Brad Brach. He was 0-7 with a 3.99 ERA, and had nine saves in 13 chances. Givens will earn $2.15 million.
Villar, who was acquired from Milwaukee in the July 31 trade for Jonathan Schoop, figures to be the team’s starting second baseman. He hit .258 with eight home runs and 24 RBIs. Villar led the team with 21 stolen bases in 24 attempts. Villar will earn $4.825,000.
Picking up another infielder
In the past month, Elias has added four infielders to the team’s 40-man roster. On Friday, he acquired Hanser Alberto on waivers from the New York Yankees.
To make room for Alberto, the Orioles designated catcher Andrew Susac for assignment.
Alberto has hit .192 in 89 games in 2015, 2016 and 2018 with Texas. He plays each of the infield positions.
Alberto joins Rio Ruiz, Richie Martin and Drew Jackson, each of whom were added to the 40-man roster at last month’s Winter Meetings.
Ruiz was claimed on waivers from Atlanta while Martin and Jackson were Rule 5 draft selections.
Susac hit .115 in nine games with the Orioles.
Season ticket renewals
Orioles season ticket holders received invoices on Friday. Prices are unchanged from 2018.
Elias e-mailed a letter to season ticket holders, and said that the team is still working “on assembling the very best coaching staff for our organization and we are looking forward to announcing many of those additions soon.”
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Good morning Rich and thanks for the hard work you do, day in and day out, to keep us informed. I appreciate it. Some odds-and-ends thoughts:
Season ticket renewals - I can only imagine that the percentage of people canceling their ticket packages is at an all-time high. While I feel pretty confident that information is under lock-and-key, if you can unearth info about it, it sure would be interesting. The reduction in MLB payroll is unsurprising given this understandable turn of events. I renewed, but I am not everyone.
Susac - High time IMO. I think he was not the future, and as a person who signs paychecks, I would have been rankled by his lack of team spirit when he went home while on the DL (apparently without managemet sanction). Do guys on the DL routinely stay with the team, or was there something special about the Susac circumstance?
Arbitration guys - Quick signings suggest that Elias may have greater financial decision-making authority than did Duquette.
I have not read anything on Susac's circumstances about why he went home while on the DL. I think holding off on judgement until all the facts are in is the only fair thing to do. You appear to have already made a judgement even though you are inquiring about special circumstances...sad...
Mark, you can roughly figure out season ticket sales by checking the attendance figures from the season’s smallest crowds.
The fans I here from here and on Twitter are fairly optimistic and most say they’ll be back.
Susac left the team without permission. Players on the disabled list are given direction and expected to follow it.
Another infielder. Interesting. Maybe the analytics people are helping devise shifts involving six infielders and one outfielder. Let's see if they start signing lots of sinkerball pitchers.
Will, I expect more moves before spring training.
Bundy really needs to have a breakout year. I remember when he was drafted in 2011 and was called a can't miss future Cy Young winner. Bundy is free agent eligible after 2021, but will more than likely be traded at some point before then. He would be much better trade bait if he could live up to half the hype of 2011's draft day, and not the guy who gave up 41 homers in 171 innings.
I would expect a bounce back year from Bundy, ClyOs.
What is the basis for your optimism regarding Bundy? I hope it's more than just wishful thinking.
He was better in 2017 than he was in 2018, and hopefully a new pitching coach helps him, Raymo.