The Orioles announced that Roansy Contreras cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore announced this morning that they’d designated Contreras for assignment as they set their Opening Day roster. Waivers are a 48-hour process, so they evidently had already placed him on waivers earlier in the week before formally announcing the DFA.
Contreras finally went unclaimed after his sixth and final DFA of the offseason. He’d been claimed the first five times he hit the waiver wire: by the Rangers, Reds, Orioles, Yankees and Baltimore for a second time. Contreras held his spot on Baltimore’s 40-man roster throughout the spring but had an uphill path to the regular season roster. He’s out of options, so he needed to stick in the majors or be exposed to waivers.
The 25-year-old righty pitched 68 1/3 innings of 4.35 ERA ball between the Pirates and Angels a year ago. He recorded a modest 18.8% strikeout rate while walking 10.4% of batters faced. Contreras pitched in relief last season but had started a decent number of games in Pittsburgh between 2022-23. The Orioles suggested early in camp that Contreras would be built up as a starter. It’s possible he’ll work out of the rotation in Norfolk.
Contreras was once a highly-regarded prospect in the Yankees system. He was arguably the centerpiece of the trade that sent Jameson Taillon from Pittsburgh to the Bronx. He had an intriguing rookie season in 2022, working to a 3.79 ERA through 95 frames. His velocity ticked down slightly the following year, and he allowed 6.59 earned runs per nine while his strikeout rate fell by three percentage points.
Just 25. I think he’s a guy who could still be good with some tweaks.
Surprised he hasn’t lasted long enough on waivers for the Marlins or White Sox to claim him, or surprised if they passed on him.
Everybody thinks the White Sox are scraping the barrel for players, the White Sox have a plethora of starting pitching prospects, and are fairly deep in the field too. Quero and Teel at C, have Meidroth, Colton Montgomery and Bryan Ramos in the infield mix, have Braden Montgomery and George Wolkow in the OF mix, and they have three very nice SP prospects in Schultz, Smith and Taylor, and another half dozen who could be real good. Jairo Iriarte, Drew Thorpe, Mason Adams to name a few. The White Sox are not in that bad of shape when it comes to potential.
glad that no team claimed him. but as he is out of options, they’d have to clear a 26 man spot to grab him or claim and try to pass him through themselves.
hoping they can harness the potential, there is something there for sure and it costs nothing really to let him hit the Orioles pitching dev team to try to find the cheat codes.
MacGromit;
I watched him pitch when he was with the Pirates 3-4 years ago, Thought he’d be a major star. His stuff seemed great. He subsequently had a few minor arm problems – no TJ or anything major. Don’t know if the speed on his pitches or his spin rate crashed……it appears something happened.
Wish the young man the best. He’s still only 25 years-old.
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P.S. Of course the O’s looked great today. But it’s one game…..and it was the Blue Jays….that continue to spend money on some past-their-prime veteran players so the national sports media thinks they’re a contending team…again. Then again, Adley looks like Adley again. I looked at some forecasts a few days ago for the 2025 season, and found a number of columnists that actually picked the Blue Jays win the ALE. LOL. If they finish in 4th place it’s because one of the teams had major problems in multiple areas….starting with excessive injuries and players having bad seasons.
I still think the O’s take a step back this year as they break in more youngsters. But who knows. With Cole out all season for the Yankees it appears they and the remaining teams in the ALE are nowhere near as good as their rep. It helps to have teams in major sports media markets to get national pub. Oddly, while respectful of the Rays for well over a decade they were in turmoil over losing Wander Franco last year. Then they have to play home games at a spring training facility this year. But there they are: Reworking 2 veteran catchers yet again (the most important position on a ML team), strong starting pitching, a deep bullpen, and a group of young pitchers in the high minors to eat innings when the pitching injuries take place. They’ll be playoff contenders and it wouldn’t surprise me if they win the division.
@Samuel
Thx for the 1st hand eye test report on his stuff while with the Bucs.
Normally, winning Opening Day gives you the thrill of feeling like your 1-0 team is on top of the world. But in this world, the Dodgers were 3-0 after the regular Opening Day. Emblematic of how it feels to be any of the other 29 teams in a league that should just rename itself after them. LOL
Seriously, good to see Eflin’s solid start. And both Adley and Cedric having 2 dinger games. Those 2 in particular needed to start strong. I’ve been hesitant to get my hopes up for Tyler O’Neil as I think of him as Glass Joe. But his defense and certain plate appearances were really encouraging. Let’s hope the Birds won’t regret declining the extended warranty on him.
he accepted a triple a assignment for 1 million.i just read it this morning
As an Orioles fan, I’d take him over Dominguez in our bullpen. Dominguez is a torch.
I was somewhat shocked Sir Anthony was not let go.
I think he benefited from the Kittredge injury more so than Baker did
Sweet, I thought for sure he would get claimed.
I always thought he had talent. He just needs a good coach.
I am surprised he hasn’t headed overseas to try and regain his stock value. To go unclaimed, tells you how the rest of the league views him. Baltimore will stash him in AAA for the season and should release him at seasons end. If I was him and his agent, I’d request a release to seek other opportunities. This includes KBO, NPO, and other international league. He might have to spend 2 years internationally and (at age 27) if he pitches to his potential, try for a MLB contract. Sometimes NPO helps guys figure things out and return to MLB. Or he can get blackballed in Mexico with Bauer. Surprised the league has given Contreras this many opportunities with his prior off-field issues.
A lot of digest here. Maybe international ball is in his future but his star hasn’t fallen enough yet to make that switch (yet). Normally that’s for non-roster guys, not someone who has been on a 40-man since 2020. The last piece about his off-field issues. You’re either confusing him with someone else or making that part up.
Never heard anything about off-field issues with Contreras. Always seemed like a great guy with the Pirates.
Wasn’t he the one in his home country that assault his significant other? He was suspended for 80 games I believe
Bae is the only recent Pirate I can think of who was suspended for a DV incident, but that was years ago (2018 iirc). Contreras never recieved a suspension for anything.
They’re training him to start games again in the minors, not just relieve, to make him a solid pitcher who can go 5-6 innings. so by mid-season, they can try to cash in on him.
This guy can’t land a job anywhere. There must be a glitch in his pitch.