Baltimore Orioles: Evan Meek Outrighted

Sep 5, 2014; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher

(47) throws a pitch against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Baltimore Orioles 3-0. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles outrighted Evan Meek on Wednesday to AAA Norfolk. Meek will have the right to become a free agent by refusing the assignment.

Would anyone be interested in inheriting the Meek? Another Dan Duquette of the world might well do so. His numbers are not as bad as they would appear at first glance.

After a good spring training, Meek made the 25-man roster to begin the season. His early games were quite good. Actually, most of Meek’s performances were good ones. He was not scored upon at all in his first eight relief appearances.

In 20 games with the Orioles, he gave up only three runs on 15 hits in 21.1 innings for an ERA of 1.27.

What? You might be saying, “I don’t remember the numbers being THAT good!”

Well, there is a catch. In the other three games I did not count above, he gave up 12 earned runs on 11 hits in two innings. That’s not good.

Overall, his ERA was 5.79.  A couple of bad outings can really mess up the earned run average of a reliever. And I suppose a lot of pitchers would have some significantly better statistics if you throw out their three worst appearances.

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If Meek accepts the assignment, it is not as if he does not know his way around Norfolk, Virginia.  This year he appeared in 39 games for the Tides with a 1.94 ERA, including 16 saves. In 2010, he was an All-Star with the Pirates.

The Orioles have a lot of weapons in the bullpen, but an Evan Meek sort of pitcher with some veteran experience (he’ll be age 32 next spring) is the sort of “depth” player that Duquette likes to hide just over the horizon for a time of need. We’ve seen these backup plans play and pay big dividends. So I am hoping the Baltimore Orioles will be able to keep Meek in the organization.