Baltimore Orioles: A New Player and Two Rumors

The Baltimore Orioles signed relief pitcher Dale Thayer to a minor league deal while also being rumored to be possibly gaining both Yovani Gallardo and Dexter Fowler.

Our role here at The Baltimore Wire is not to rush to break these sorts of stories as among the first to report them, but rather to come along soon after and give some thoughtful commentary on what either has happened or is rumored to potentially soon transpire.

And at the risk of being a Debbie Downer on these three items, I cannot say that any strike me as extraordinarily positive, though maybe some colleagues on the site here will weigh in with other perspectives in the event the latter two items do happen.

Let’s briefly talk about each…

Dale Thayer — A minor league deal with invitation to spring training is no big risk for the Baltimore Orioles. The 35-year-old right-handed reliever adds yet more depth to what I believe is already the strength of the team.

The bulk of his career has been in the National League, including the past four years with the Padres. In 2015 he pitched in 38 games with a 4.06 ERA and WHIP of 1.381.  Not special. He was designated for assignment when Bud Norris joined the Padres. Not special.

But the 2014 season was very, very good. Thayer had a 2.34 ERA in 70 games and WHIP of 1.056.  That’s not quite Darren O’Day, but it is very commendable. Overall in four seasons with San Diego he pitched to a 3.19 ERA.

I’m not sure where there is room or a future with the Orioles, but it costs them little to have him in the nest. It seems to me that some things have to go very poorly for a number of players for Thayer to appear in Baltimore; but, DD likes depth, and it has paid off in the past.

Yovani Gallardo — Apparently the Orioles have come to a point of decision to dispense with the need to hold onto the 14^th pick in the upcoming draft. Again, we don’t know this as factual, but all the chatter would seem to necessitate this new disposition.

We have written a great deal about Gallardo here on TBW, much of it not very positive. The most detailed account was the recent piece by our staffer Ben Palmer, giving reasons for concern that seem to me to be well-founded. I have written several times upon the issue of free agents blocking the progress of upcoming talents.

Those who see this potential move as a positive are looking back at what is a rather good track record for Gallardo. It he can do that for the three years or so that this potential deal seems to be entailing, it will be a good move. I just don’t want to see the second coming of Ubaldo, while losing a high draft selection to build the future.

Dexter Fowler — I can feel more positive about this potential move, though again would rather not see it happen due to the draft pick being lost.

On the negative side, if he only hit .250 in 2015 for the Cubs in the National League with half his games at Wrigley, why would he hit equal or better than that in the AL East?

On the other hand, even at .250, he had an OBP of .346 while hitting 17 homers. His career OBP is .363.  It would be great to see the Orioles finally … finally … finally … actually have some on base percentage types (like also adding Hyeon-soo Kim) after claiming to want to do this for years.

Final Concern — This is going to cost some money and make for quite a payroll. While I am happy to see Angelos spend his money, what might all of this portend for the hopes of extending Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop … or re-signing Zach Britton, the Boras client?

Related Story: Paying for today, or paying for the future?

It really does come down to the need to have players live up to their potential and play at the high end of historic performance. When a team can have 60-70% of primary players doing this, they’ll have a good year, like the 2014 Orioles. When only 30-40% do it, a team is destined for a mediocre season, like we saw just last year. Dan Duquette can’t force them to live up to expectations on the field.