Rich Dubroff

Orioles reach agreement with left-hander Wade LeBlanc on minor league deal

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The Orioles have another candidate for their starting rotation.

Veteran left-hander Wade LeBlanc has reached an agreement on a minor league contract with the Orioles and will make $800,000 if he makes the team, according to a report by ESPN.com, which first reported the news that was confirmed by an industry source.

The 35-year-old left-hander has pitched for seven big league teams in an 11-year major league career that began in 2008.

LeBlanc was 6-7 with a 5.71 ERA in 26 games, eight of them starts, with Seattle last year. In his career, LeBlanc is 45-47 with a 4.46 ERA in 234 games, 114 starts.

In 2013, LeBlanc pitched four games for Houston when Orioles general manager Mike Elias was with the Astros.

LeBlanc has also pitched for San Diego, Miami, the Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees and Pittsburgh.

He would join John Means, Alex Cobb, Asher Wojciechowski, David Hess, Rule 5 draft choices Brandon Bailey and Michael Rucker and free-agent signee Kohl Stewart as rotation candidates.

The Orioles would prefer that left-hander Keegan Akin begin the season at Triple-A.

Spring training begins February 11 at the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, Florida.

Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

View Comments

Eastern Sho Joe says:

January 28, 2020 at 9:13 pm

The pop-up adds are gone already! :)

I saw where Cashner is still on the market, wonder if the Os still have interest? I'm hoping that spring training provides some exciting competition to see who will get a rotation spot.
Bman says:

January 28, 2020 at 9:48 pm

Quite a bunch of names kicking around for spring training. Will be interesting to see how it all plays out, who stays who goes and who gets sent down.
PA Bird Lover says:

January 28, 2020 at 10:44 pm

Does it really matter who makes the opening day roster. Unless of course,
there is three or four young or rookies given a chance. We still are a sub 500 team.
- willmiranda says:
  
  January 29, 2020 at 4:01 pm
  
  Are you assuming that a team that went from sub-.300 to sub-.400 the last two years will
  improve to sub-.500 next year? One has the sense that they've made the tearing-down and building-up stages of the rebuild discrete entities, the second not beginning until the first is over. And this is still the first. So, you almost have to feel sorry for the players given a glimmer of hope, but really only the next phase to be moved out, even if they make the team this Opening Day.
Boog Robinson Robinson says:

January 29, 2020 at 6:56 am

Should have kept the last Wade we had on the staff. Talk about throwing the proverbial poop against the wall? This smacks of Dan Straily.

I'm with ES Joe on this news (or lack of) .... What about Cashner?
Raymo says:

January 29, 2020 at 10:02 pm

Just look at the names on that list above! We don’t know which 5 will emerge as the best, but it’s sure to be one of the most feared rotations in MLB. I know it scares the crap out if me.
- Eastern Sho Joe says:
  
  January 30, 2020 at 1:36 am
  
  Hardly feared. However, I do feel that the pitchers fighting to get a rotation spot may be the best competition that we'll see all season.
  
  BUT... at the beginning of every season I hope for the Magic to return. I can hope right?
- Raymo says:
  
  January 30, 2020 at 8:28 am
  
  Absolutely. And to be honest, I’m gonna enjoy the season no matter how it goes.