Photo credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
The Orioles are on the verge of signing veteran left-handed reliever Fernando Abad to a minor league contract. Abad, who turns 35 on Thursday, has played for six major league teams in a career that began in 2010.
News of the agreement was reported by MASNsports.com and confirmed by an industry source.
Abad pitched for the Houston Astros from 2010-12 and has also pitched for Washington, Oakland, Minnesota, Boston and San Francisco. He did not pitch in the major leagues in 2019, and is currently pitching for Toros del Este in the Dominican Winter League. Abad is 8-29 with a 3.67 ERA in his major league career.
He might be best known to Orioles fans for throwing two pitches close to Manny Machado on June 8, 2014 when he was with the Athletics. Machado responded by hurling his bat toward third base, and he was suspended for five games. Abad was not suspended.
Abad will compete for a spot in the bullpen. The Orioles have two left-handed relievers, Paul Fry and Tanner Scott.
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Not really much more than a "flyer", can't see this guy even helping in Spring Training - a disaster at OPCY.
Phil, he's only pitched 7 2/3 innings in Baltimore, so two poor outings can really skew it.
Another sensational, headline grabbing signing by the boy genius. I don't EVER want to hear the haters crying about Danny Duquette diving into dumpsters again.
And I apologize Mr. Dubroff .. I'm well aware of your disdain for that term. But when in Rome ...
While the Abad signing doesn't fall into this category, Ken, remember that the Norfolk and Bowie rosters have to be populated, too. Some of those who are signed cheaply or to minor league contracts or picked up on waivers, will play there.
But this guy is a 10 year major league vet. Do you think HE has Norfolk in mind?
But your point is taken Rich. I dunno ... if I may borrow/paraphrase one Crash Davis ... "I've been known on occasion to howl at the moon".
Going forward, I will be reluctant to criticize or second-guess Mr. Elias after his master stroke in signing Mr. Abad. Hats off to the O's for spending the big bucks to win what must have been a furious bidding war for Abad's services. Judged by his unimpressive statistics, he is a good complement to earlier pitching acquisitions with oversized ERAs and/or no major league experience (think Goudeau, Greene, Urias, Fulmer, etc., etc.) And there's Chris Shaw owner of a .153 career MLB BA.
I disagree with Mr. Dubroff's statement that Abad's signing can be justified in order to "populate" the Norfolk and Bowie rosters. I would argue that there is already a serious overcrowding of bodies to stock those teams. We keep being told about the super pipeline of minor league talent that presumably needs to be promoted to the high minor league levels. There are 14 players on the 40-man major league roster who will have to play in the minors, presumably at Norfolk and Bowie. There must be several current players at both places who are good enough to be held over on next year's teams. There must be at least 20 minor leaguers we got in return for our now departed above average players. And there must be at least 40 waiver wire wonders and free agents who will contend for spots at Norfolk and Bowie. Finally, I anticipate an additional 13 or 14 players will be acquired when we trade Mancini, Santander, and Means to further reduce payroll.
A bad team signs Abad, pitcher.
That’s rich ...
Yours is a pun. Mine is a triple-entendre. Waiting to see if you fold, call, or raise.
- Joey Knisch
Well now this is encouraging...go O’s...
Meanwhile, this signing is like throwing pickle juice in the eyes of Orioles fans. I loathe Abad. If I recall correctly, not only did he “throw at“ Manny, he did it in a game where his team was ahead by 10 runs in the late innings. He did it in retaliation. Donaldson, Oaklands third baseman, tagged Manny hard the day before. Manny disliked and threw a helmet at Josh. Abad, the creep, threw at Manny twice and Manny retaliated by throwing his bat at Abad.
I seem to remember that Manny threw his bat at Donaldson, not at Abad.
Ray, thanks for catching my typo on Abad's ERA. Machado actually threw the bat towards Alberto Callaspo, who had replaced Josh Donaldson at third base that inning.
I presume his major league ERA is 3.67 (not .367)