The Orioles announced that first baseman Ryan Mountcastle has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list. Designated hitter/outfielder Eloy Jiménez was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk as a corresponding move. Jiménez has more than five years of major league service time and therefore can’t be optioned without his consent, so he presumably has agreed to this move. The club also announced that right-hander Craig Kimbrel, who was designated for assignment last week, has been released.
Jiménez was acquired from the White Sox at the deadline in a buy-low move. From 2019 through 2023, he had hit .275/.324/.487 for the White Sox, with that production translating to a 118 wRC+. Mounting injuries were becoming a growing concern but he had generally hit when on the field.
Here in 2024, the injury-prone label got branded a little deeper. He twice went on the IL in the first couple of months of the season, once due to a left adductor strain and another for a left hamstring strain. His production had also slipped, as he was hitting .240/.297/.345 for an 82 wRC+ when the Orioles traded for him, sending minor league reliever Trey McGough the other way.
The change of scenery hasn’t helped, as Jiménez has hit .232/.270/.316 for a 68 wRC+ since coming to Baltimore. The club had been battling a number of position player injuries in recent weeks but each of Jordan Westburg, Ramón Urías and now Mountcastle have returned to the active roster in the past few days, which has squeezed Jiménez from the roster.
Though he has the right to reject an optional assignment, it’s understandable why he would accept. There’s only a handful of days left in the season and he wouldn’t be postseason eligible with any other club at this point. Rather than look for other opportunities, he will hold his 40-man roster spot with the O’s and hope to be able to contribute in the club’s postseason run at some point. He came into the campaign with exactly five years of service time and already has enough in 2024 to add another full season to that.
His contract has a $16.5MM option for 2025 with a $3MM buyout that the O’s are sure to decline after a rough season from Jiménez. As part of the trade, the White Sox are covering half of that buyout. That will send him to free agency where he will be looking to market himself as a bounceback candidate. It’s obviously been a rough season but he’s still fairly young, turning 28 in November, and has a strong pre-2024 track record.
As for Kimbrel, a release was the expected outcome after he was designated for assignment last week. He wouldn’t have been postseason eligible with any club claiming him off waivers. Even grabbing him for a few regular season games would be costly as his contract has a $1MM buyout on a 2025 club option. That would be on top of the roughly $400K of his $12MM salary that is still to be paid out in the final week of this season.
Given his 5.33 earned run average on the year, no club was going to pay that price. As a veteran with years of service time, he has the right to reject an outright assignment, so the O’s have simply skipped the formalities and let him go.
It will be an interesting offseason for Kimbrel, who is now 36 years old and coming off a rough showing. Some may expect him to call it a career but he has come back from down years before. In both 2019 and 2020, he posted an ERA north of 5.00, but bounced back with a 2.21 ERA in 2021. He then had two more solid seasons before his 2024 struggles. Some clubs may be interested in taking a flier and hoping for another comeback, though he likely won’t be the first choice of club’s with championship aspirations.
bestno5
Man Eloy has fallen. Hopefully he can get a reboot and return to his promise.
avenger65
bestnos: He seemed to have a strong start with the O’s. Maybe now, with decent coaching, he can become the hitter he used to be.
Blue Baron
avenger65: Or he’s just washed up. Happens eventually to every player.
gr81t2
Guess it was a fluke. Had some hits but no power Although it can hard for anyone who doesn’t get regular playing time
MacGromit
E-loy! Apparently, “change of scenery” bump sometimes only lasts a few weeks.
RonDarlingShouldntBeInTheHallOfFame
He honestly seems to me like he just doesn’t care, and is only there to get paid a la Rendon. Such a shame, because he had all the promise in the world.
wvredsfan
if Eloy refuses the assignment does he void the remaining 2 years on his contract?
wvredsfan
never mind… team option
guilderc
The 2 years left on his contract are club options. He has a $3MM buyout and the White Sox are paying half of it. I’m assuming that the O’s and White Sox will both be paying him $1.5MM to play elsewhere next season regardless
wvredsfan
thank you
karkat
To answer the question generally, if his two remaining years were guaranteed, rejecting the outright assignment would NOT void them. If a player rejects an outright assignment, the team has to either put him back on the roster or release him, eating the contract as they would any other release.
wvredsfan
thank you
FemboySportsFan!
Eloy (overrated) jiminez
C-Daddy
Remember when Jimenez, Moncada, Robert, Anderson, et al was considered one of the best young cores in the league?
getrealgone2
Man, that’s a bust list.
hiflew
Don’t forget the “can’t miss” Andrew Vaughn.
James Midway
To be fair at the time it looked great on paper. I was thinking they would rule the central for a while.
vtadave
Add Vaughn to that awful list too.
mlb fan
“Add Vaughn”…1B/DH body types HAVE to hit, so it may be risky drafting them in the top 10. Guys like Vaughn, Spencer Torkelson and Pittsburgh’s Henry Davis(supposedly a catcher)may be all in the same boat, because there’s no other all around skills to fall back on.
avenger65
Kimbrel is garbage and he has been for the last three years. After his failures with the Phillies, Dodgers and White Sox, the O’s had to have been pretty desperate to sign him.
deweybelongsinthehall
Red Sox should sign him again and have him close out the last few games. I forget if they changed the rules but if not a few more blown saves might improve their drafting slot.
letitbelowenstein
They’d get better results from 75-year old Jim Willoughby.
gr81t2
They were. They had the top closer in baseball on the IL. Although Elias did fail a bit at the trade deadline not getting Tanner Scott back on the team
Thefrogsaregey
Eloy took steroids and/or is 5 years older than his stated age
Banix12
I honestly think he’s just brittle and a bit clumsy.
Old York
Eloy’s cooked.
Brick House Coffee Tables Inc
Eloy probably comes back for the playoffs as a bench bat, as Baltimore won’t need 13 pitchers for the first two rounds.
Dumpster Divin Theo
In case you need a pinch single
dm867
Big assumption we will make it past the first round. They haven’t been playing well at all.
RedFraggle
Just got back Urias, Westburg, and Mounty. Hopefully that helps a bit. Adley needs to get it together though.
truthlemonade
Baltimore released Kimbrel before the 10 days of the DFA period had passed. No team was going to make a trade for him.
It seems as if Bal did him a small favor by releasing him as it is possible that some team will pick him up for the last partial week of the season for the prorated MLB minimum salary.
geotheo
Trade deadline is over. So that was off the table.
Drewnasty65
I still can’t seem to understand the Eloy trade for the Orioles.
paosfan
Filled dh role vs lefties. He started off good but all singles. Too much on the ground and he’s not fast.
Banix12
It was just flyer on a former big bat and it didn’t cost them much to kick the tires.
Unfortunately he’s not 100% and leg injuries have sapped him of all his power.
C Yards Jeff
Os FO has a history here. In 2022 they brought in Jesus Aguilar after his release from the Fish. Same results.
Rsox
Eloy will be interesting on the free agent market as a DH bat that someone will think they can fix. I could see the Marlins or Reds taking a flier
spirit of truth
Yeah they got Eflin but holy crap this past trade deadline looks worse and worse as time goes by.
wvsteve
Baltimore whiffed at the deadline. All those super prospects aren’t looking like they will all turn out to be ML ready players but next April. This organization has more questions then answers
mlb fan
All I can say about this guy, is his agent did a very good job at getting him life changing money before his overall lack of conditioning and numerous other weaknesses and holes in his game got completely exposed.
Logjammer D"Baggagecling
So did the Cubs win that trade or did Theo still get fleeced? Since both Eloy and Cease are no longer with the White Sox?
sckoul
Eloy needs to hit the market, join Red Sox for cheap as DH and figure it out.
Devlsh
With the minor leagues essentially over, what exactly did Jimenez agree to? Basically nothing.