Here are the day’s minor moves from around the league…
- The Orioles and veteran infielder Paul Janish have agreed to a minor league contract with an invite to big league Spring Training, reports MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. The 33-year-old defensive specialist will return to the same organization with which he spent the entire 2015 campaign, where he’ll again serve as infield depth. Per Kubatko, the Orioles love Janish’s glove and consider his defense to be at least on par with starting shortstop J.J. Hardy, and while he may begin the season with Triple-A Norfolk, there’s a good chance that the O’s will ultimately select his contract due to his defensive prowess, as they did in 2015. Janish batted .235/.313/.272 in 344 minor league plate appearances with the Orioles last season before hitting .286/.278/.371 in 36 Major League plate appearances after being moved up to the bigs. Janish can provide strong defense at three positions and drew interest from the Astros as well, as Kubatko adds that Houston was a finalist before Janish elected to return to Baltimore.
Would have loved his defense for depth in Houston
Flaherty better be looking over his shoulder.