The Baltimore Orioles added Hector Velazquez to their roster today, claiming the right-hander off waivers from the Boston Red Sox, tweets Jason Mastrodonato of the Boston Herald. The Orioles PR department has confirmed the move. The Red Sox DFA’ed Velazquez on March 5.
Velazquez, 31, spent the last couple of seasons as a swingman in Boston. After a solid season as a starter in 2017 for for the Pawtucket Red Sox, he made his big league with 8 appearances spread out throughout the year. The total product got Velazquez more involved in the Red Sox’ 2018 title run as he threw 85 innings, appeared in 47 games, and finished with a 3.18 ERA/4.15 FIP. Outside of a couple of stints on the IL, Velazquez spent most of 2018 on the major league roster.
Last season was more of an up-and-down year for Velazquez both in terms of performance and his relationship to Triple-A. The sinkerballer made 34 total appearances for the Red Sox, starting 8 games for the second consecutive season, and finishing with a 5.43 ERA/4.74 FIP. Somewhat nontraditionally, Velazquez threw more changeups in 2019 than any other offering, though on the whole, he invokes a relatively egalitarian mix of sinkers, changeups, fastballs and sliders.
The Orioles will add him to their long relief mix, tweets MASN’s Roch Kubatko. It’s been an offseason-long goal for the Orioles to add pitching depth so as to avoid rushing naive arms to the majors.
Desperation!
Going to be a bad year to be a Orioles fan.
Isn’t it always?
Yea other than having best record in AL over recent four year period from 2012-2016, the seven AL pennants, and three championships. I’m sure a lot of teams would take the overall success the Orioles franchise has had. Just cause its not recent doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Add to that having one of the best stadiums in all of baseball and all is fine in birdland. I have no doubt the Orioles will be back on top again soon.
Correct you are Sir!
2012-2016 is a 5-year span, actually, during which the Orioles had the best record in baseball. Many youngins don’t know the history like we do.
This year will be a significantly better year to be an Orioles fan than 2018 was. In 2018 we expected to contend for at least a wild card spot and ended up with a club record 115 losses. This year we expect to be bad but we can see glimpses of a future that hasn’t existed in quite a while. Looking forward to the expected arrival of Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, and Ryan Mountcastle, along with the continued development of Hunter Harvey, Anthony Santander, and Austin Hays.
good arm to hold down the fort with until the youngsters come up. maybe even deadline trade bait.
Well looks like Velazquez plus Leblanc pending opt out are the real reasons behind DFAing the two rule 5 picks
Doubtful that returning the Rule 5 pitchers on March 6 was predicated on a March 5 waiver claim.
Probably gonna be the O’s fourth or fifth starter- good news for him bad news for O’s fans
Long relief for him
“Naive arms”. Interesting turn of phrase.
I was thinking the same thing.
As a RS fan I saw him all the time. He started out great, n I dunno if it was over use, since our pen was overused, or the league just got to him. I hope he does well for the Os fans. Because who is the games all about? The FANS!
Amen!
Still better than Brian Johnson.
Get Cashner back
No don’t
Excuse my little buddy over here. Cashner planted his flag in his sister and he has not gotten over it.
Oh no not Cashner! God forbid the Orioles add someone who might eat innings and return a lotto ticket or two in July. That’d be just terrible.
Not a bad pickup at all, actually. He’ll eat some innings at minimum wage, and while he’s not especially good, he’s not totally horrible. The best $10,00 (the priced the Sox paid the Mexican League) DD ever spent, tho there’s some question about the birth certificate.
Brings to mind one of my favorite (of many) Johnny Sain quotes, when a pitcher was described as an “innings eater”…”he’s more of an innings vomiter”…….
They thought it was Vázquez
Velasquez isn’t all that bad. As others have said he eats innings and while he gets in trouble he rarely gets totally rocked.
There’s really nothing to lose in this for the Orioles. They get a potential starter or at worst long man out of the bullpen.
Good pickup really liked him in his first year unique role
First full year *
Adds length and experience at a low cost. Seems like a good gamble
This guy wasn’t that bad. I’m kind of upset we DFA’d him over Brian Johnson. Brian Johnson is the absolute worst.
Brian Johnson was already DFA’d.
Yeah, Johnson was DFA’s but even the Orioles didn’t want him.
Brian Johnson is a Non Roster Invitee to ST.
He, Brian, is not on the 40 man roster. I think he may survive the 26 man roster if he’s not claimed before they break camp and head to Toronto to open the season.
I’ve always liked the way he works. He and Velazquez are similar in their approach. If the rotation remains as is–ERod, Eovaldi and Perez then potentially two group of 9 inning sets of relievers. Johnson and Ryan Weber may be the starters at least until Sale and Collin McHugh are cleared to participate. Hopefully their bats can carry them for a while.
They still have only 33 listed on their 40 roster–that includes Sale, McHugh and Verdugo but not Pedroia. Pedroia is on the 60 day IL. Most likely McHugh and Sale will start the year on the 15 day along with Verdugo.
Why not sign Cashner?
I like this claim quite a bit.
Solid pickup for the Orioles. Will be a long reliever or a spot starter sometimes