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Cubs Place Jorge López On Injured List

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The Cubs have placed right-hander Jorge López on the 15-day injured list due to a right groin strain, with fellow righty Trey Wingenter recalled as the corresponding move. Meghan Montemurro of the Chicago Tribune was among those to relay the news on X.

López, 31, was added to the Cubs’ roster at the end of June and he quickly took on a prominent role in the club’s bullpen. In just over two months as a Cub, he made 22 appearances, logging 24 2/3 innings. He allowed 2.19 earned runs per nine, struck out 28% of batters faced, limited walks to an 8% clip and got grounders on 60.3% of balls in play. He recorded a pair of saves and three holds.

Now he’ll be removed from the club’s high-leverage relief mix, which is an unfortunate blow to a bullpen that has been fairly unstable this year. Adbert Alzolay took over the closer’s job last year but he spent a lot of 2024 on the injured list and eventually required Tommy John surgery in August. Héctor Neris grabbed the closer’s role for most of this season but was shaky enough to get released in August and has since signed with the Astros. Mark Leiter Jr. was one of Chicago’s key setup men but he was traded to the Yankees prior to the deadline. Other key pieces like Yency Almonte and Julian Merryweather are on the injured list at the moment.

All of those issues opened the door for López to step up but now he, too, will be unavailable. It’s unclear exactly when he sustained this injury but perhaps it explains his poor results the last time out. Though his numbers as a Cub have been great overall, they were even better before Monday, when he faced the Pirates and allowed four earned runs on four hits, including two home runs.

The Cubs are 4.5 games out of a playoff spot and still in the race, but will now have to proceed without López. That will likely leave some combination of Porter Hodge, Drew Smyly and Tyson Miller taking the important bullpen roles. The club’s pitching staff also took another hit today, with Justin Steele also heading to the injured list.

Cubs Select Jorge López

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The Cubs made some roster moves today, with Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic among those to relay them on X, swapping in two right-handed relievers for two others. They have recalled Ethan Roberts and selected Jorge López to the roster. In corresponding moves, Keegan Thompson has been placed on the 15-day injured list with a right rib fracture while Vinny Nittoli has been designated for assignment.

López, 31, had a high-profile departure from the Mets earlier this year, which was thoroughly documented at the time. He then landed with the Cubs on a minor league deal a couple of weeks ago. He reported to the club’s Complex League affiliate and allowed three runs in one inning there, but then moved to Triple-A Iowa and had better results there with three scoreless appearances over the past week.

The righty was an elite reliever for a time in 2022 but has been less impressive over the past two years or so. In 44 appearances with the Orioles in 2022, he had a 1.68 earned run average, 27.6% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 60% ground ball rate. But he was traded to the Twins at that year’s deadline and has since bounced to the Marlins, back to the O’s, the Mets and now the Cubs. Since that trade almost two years ago, he has a 5.08 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 48% ground ball rate.

There’s little risk for the Cubs in giving him a shot, as the Mets are on the hook for the bulk of his $2MM salary. The Cubs will only have to pay the prorated version of the $740K minimum for whatever time López spends on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay. But it’s the latest in a series of moves that has seen the Cubs rotate various castoffs from other clubs through their bullpen as they struggle to develop or sign quality relievers, something that MLBTR’s Steve Adams looked at earlier today for Front Office subscribers. The club’s relievers have a collective 4.45 ERA on the year, better than just seven other clubs, part of the reason why they are 38-44 and at the back of the pack in the Wild Card race.

Another pitcher in this carousel is Nittoli. He was designated for assignment by the Athletics a week ago and elected free agency after clearing waivers. He landed a big league deal with the Cubs yesterday but has now been bounced off without making an appearance for them. He’ll now be in DFA limbo yet again and could perhaps end up back in free agency, since that’s how things played out just a few days ago.

He has pitched in the four most recent MLB seasons but has just 14 2/3 innings pitched in the big leagues with a 3.07 ERA in that time. In 159 Triple-A innings since the start of 2021, he has a 4.19 ERA, 29.8% strikeout rate and 8.3% walk rate.

As for Thompson, it’s unclear how serious his injury is or how much time he’s expected to miss. He has a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings for the Cubs this year, striking out 33.8% of batters faced but also giving out walks at a 13% clip.

Jorge López Agrees To Minor League Deal With Cubs

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Right-hander Jorge López has agreed to a minor league deal with the Cubs, according to a report from Will Sammon and Patrick Mooney of The Athletic on X. The righty is expected to report to the club’s Arizona complex, per Sammon and Mooney at The Athletic.

López, 31, was recently released by the Mets after an unusual scene. During a rough outing against the Dodgers, he argued with umpires and was ejected. While leaving the field, he tossed his glove into the crowd and untucked his shirt.

Things took another strange turn after the game. The Puerto Rican-born López spoke with reporters in English without an interpreter present, saying he did not regret his actions. He also said he had not spoken with manager Carlos Mendoza or president of baseball operations David Stearns about the outburst, though this was contradicted by others. There was also some confusion about something else he said to reporters, as some thought he was calling the Mets “the worst —-ing team” in MLB, but later clarified he was actually calling himself the “worst teammate” in the league.

After all of that, some in the baseball world tried to put a spotlight on the challenges López has faced. He has a child with significant medical complications that is currently on a transplant list and waiting for a donor, while the elder López also missed some time last year due to his mental health. Regardless of the explanations, the Mets considered his behavior unacceptable. He was designated for assignment and released, sending him out to free agency and keeping the Mets on the hook for most of his $2MM salary. The Cubs will bring him into the organization, though he has not yet been added to that club’s roster.

López had a stint as one of the better relievers in the league a few years ago, but with more middling results since then. After years as a starter without a lot of success, the Orioles moved him to a bullpen role in 2022 and he found immediate success. He tossed 48 1/3 innings for the O’s that year, allowing just 1.68 earned runs per nine frames. He struck out 27.6% of batters faced, gave out walks at an 8.7% pace and kept 60% of balls in play on the ground.

But he was traded to the Twins at that year’s deadline, with the results falling off from there. From that trade to the present, he has a 5.08 ERA, 18% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 48% ground ball rate. That includes his 3.76 ERA with the Mets this year prior to his release, though his 17.1% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate this season are still pretty far from his peak.

Though the numbers haven’t been amazing lately, there’s sense in the Cubs bringing him aboard. There’s no harm in taking a look on a minor league deal and López wouldn’t really cost them anything even if added to the roster. They would only have to pay the prorated league minimum for any time López is on the club, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.

The bullpen has been an issue for the Cubs this year, with the relievers having a collective ERA of 4.47, which puts them 24th out of the 30 clubs in the league. Guys like Adbert Alzolay, Yency Almonte, Julian Merryweather and Keegan Thompson are all currently on the injured list. López can give them a boost if he’s able to make any sort of movement towards his previous form.

Mets Release Omar Narvaez, Jorge Lopez

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The Mets announced Wednesday that they’ve released veteran catcher Omar Narvaez and right-hander Jorge Lopez. Both were designated for assignment last week, and both are now free agents. New York also selected the contract of catcher Joe Hudson from Triple-A Syracuse, moving righty Shintaro Fujinami to the 60-day injured list to open a roster spot. Hudson is a candidate to serve as an extra player for the Mets’ London Series against the Phillies, where each team will be granted a 27th player.

The 32-year-old Narvaez is playing out the second season of a two-year, $15MM contract he signed in the 2022-23 offseason. He had the right to opt out of said contract following the 2023 season, but after a .211/.283/.297 showing in his first year with the club, he unsurprisingly passed on that opportunity. He’s struggled even more in 2024, hitting just .154/.191/.185 in 69 trips to the plate.

Though his run with the Mets was dismal, Narvaez was a quality regular for several years leading up to that deal. From 2018-22, he slashed .254/.337/.397 between the White Sox, Mariners and Brewers — even landing an All-Star nod with the ’21 Brewers. Milwaukee also worked with Narvaez to dramatically improve his glovework — specifically his framing skills — improving upon the below-average grades he drew during his time with Seattle and Chicago.

Any team in need of some catching help could take a flier on Narvaez and would owe him only the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. That sum would be subtracted from what the Mets still owe him, but they’re on the hook for the bulk of his $8MM salary regardless. The Marlins and Cubs have had the game’s worst production behind the plate this season, and while Narvaez himself has had an extremely rough go of it, his track record might be appealing to them or another club with suspect backstops.

Lopez’s time with the Mets ended in controversial fashion. The right-hander, showing ample frustration after a poor outing, angrily lobbed his glove into the stands as he walked off the field. After the game, when asked about his actions, the Puerto Rican-born righty said he did not regret his actions and offered a candid assessment. Lopez, speaking his second language without an interpreter by his side, has stressed that he intended to state that he had been “the worst —-ing teammate” in MLB (presumably due to that outburst). But it was difficult in the moment to discern whether he’d said “worst teammate” or called the Mets the “worst team,” and when asked to clarify, he suggested both (again, without an interpreter/translator at his side).

The situation was further muddied by Lopez telling the media that he hadn’t spoken to Mets management about the issue, when he in fact had discussed it with manager Carlos Mendoza. The Mets wound up designating Lopez for assignment. In the hours after the incident, it came to light that he’s also been dealing with significant personal distress. His young son is on a transplant list and awaiting a donor. Add in that Lopez has previously spent time on the injured list due to anxiety issues, and it becomes clear that there’s far more at play than simply losing his temper and some mistaken words.

As with Narvaez, any club can now sign Lopez and owe him only the prorated minimum for any time spent on the big league roster. The manner in which his Mets tenure drew to a close will likely impact his market, but while not excusing his actions, it’s also easy to look at the situation from personal/human standpoint and understand why things may have unraveled for the 31-year-old righty.

Lopez pitched fairly well with the Mets, logging 26 1/3 innings of 3.76 ERA ball. A sub-par 17.1% strikeout rate and 9.9% walk rate both lead fielding-independent metrics to take a more bearish view of his work, however (4.65 FIP, 4.46 SIERA). Lopez had a breakout 2022 showing with the Orioles and Twins but followed that up with a sub-par 2023 campaign spent mostly in Minnesota.

After a brilliant start to the season in which he was unscored upon into May, Lopez hit a rough patch and wound up taking some time away from the Twins due to his anxiety. He expressed gratitude to the team for allowing him to focus on his mental health upon his return to the club. Unfortunately, his results following the break were still sub-par, and the Twins wound up flipping him to the Marlins in a deadline deal sending Dylan Floro back to Minnesota.

Taken in totality, the last three seasons from Lopez have yielded solid, if inconsistent results. He’s pitched 156 1/3 innings and logged a 4.03 ERA with a 20.7% strikeout rate, 9.5% walk rate and 51.2% grounder rate. Lopez’s strikeouts and ground-ball tendencies have trended downward since 2022, however, as has the velocity on his power sinker — which at at 97.8 mph in ’22 but averaged 95.4 mph with the Mets this season. Whatever comes next for the right-hander, the hope beyond the baseball field is that his son finds the donor he needs and that Lopez continues to prioritize his mental health.

Turning to the journeyman Hudson, this will be the 33-year-old’s first time on a big league roster since the 2020 season. He’s appeared in 18 big league games and taken 33 plate appearances, going 5-for-30 with a double, two walks, six strikeouts and a sacrifice in that time. The former sixth-round pick has been with nine organizations in his professional career, including brief MLB stints with the Mariners, Angels and Cardinals. In 19 games with the Syracuse Mets this season, he’s hitting .222/.364/.444 with three home runs and three doubles.

Mets Designate Jorge López For Assignment

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The Mets have officially designated right-hander Jorge López for assignment, a move that was reported on yesterday. Left-hander Danny Young was recalled to take Lopez’s spot in a corresponding move.

The Mets have been in a rough patch lately, losing three in a row and eight of their last ten, and the frustration seemed to boil over with López yesterday. After allowing a home run to Shohei Ohtani, he was facing Freddie Freeman when a checked swing appeal to third resulted in a call of no swing. López seemingly said something to third base umpire Ramon De Jesus and was ejected. While making his way off the way off the field, he untucked his shirt and tossed his glove into the stands. Video shared on X by SNY.

After the game, López spoke to the media, though there was some confusion about what he said and what he intended. López, a native of Puerto Rico, spoke in English and some believed he called the Mets “the worst team in probably the whole f***ing MLB” while others heard him referring to himself as “the worst teammate” in the league. Later that night, it was reported that López would be designated for assignment.

Today, López seemed unhappy with the way things played out the night before. He posted on his Instagram stories this morning, stating that he was definitely saying “teammate” and sarcastically thanked the media for making the situation worse. Anthony DiComo of MLB.com posted on X this morning that López losing his roster spot had nothing to do with the team/teammate confusion, saying that López “embarrassed the organization with his actions and words, throwing his glove into the stands, lying about meeting with management and offering zero remorse.”

Reporters from López’s previous clubs have come to his defense today, trying to give larger context to the pitcher’s frustrations. Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Sun shared this story from 2022, when López was with the Orioles. The article discusses the recent death of López’s grandfather as well as López’s son Mikael, who has dealt with several autoimmune disorders since he was born and has spent much of his life in the hospital. Dan Hayes of The Athletic shared this story from last summer, when the Twins put López on the injured list for a mental health break. Boomer Esiason addressed the matter on his show today, as relayed by Awful Announcing on X, saying that he had been informed that Mikael is currently waiting for a transplant.

The extra information certainly makes it easier to understand how López reacted the way that he did, but it appears the Mets don’t consider that an acceptable excuse. Some observers have suggested that the Mets could have put López on the IL for mental health reasons, as the Twins did last year, but they have decided to take a different approach and have removed the righty from their roster.

The Mets will now have one week to trade López or pass him through waivers. In the latter scenario, López has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency while holding onto the remainder of his $2MM salary, as a player with more than five years of major league service time.

He has logged 26 1/3 innings with the Mets this year, allowing 3.76 earned runs per nine innings. His 17.1% strikeout rate is subpar but his 9.9% walk rate and 44.2% ground ball rate are both around league average.

He had a breakout seasons as a reliever with the O’s in 2022. After years of fairly middling work as a starter, a move to the bullpen seemed to unlock something in the righty. In 48 1/3 innings with Baltimore, he had a 1.68 ERA, 27.6% strikeout rate, 8.7% walk rate and 60% ground ball rate.

He was flipped to the Twins at that year’s deadline but his results have backed up since then. He had a 4.37 ERA with Minnesota after the deal in 2022, then had a 5.95 ERA in 2023, ending up bouncing to the Marlins and Orioles later in the year. The O’s cut him at the end of the year, which freed him up to sign with the Mets.

Mets To Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

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The Mets are designating reliever Jorge López for assignment, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (X link). The move comes after the right-hander tossed his glove into the stands following a rough outing this afternoon against the Dodgers. After the game, López said he didn’t regret the incident and called the Mets “the worst team in probably the whole f***ing MLB” (video provided on X by SNY).

López, a native of Puerto Rico, conducted his postgame media scrum in English. While it was initially unclear whether he intended to call the Mets “the worst team” in the league or if called himself “the worst teammate,” he answered “probably” to a follow-up question when asked whether he called the Mets “the worst team.” MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo tweets that López subsequently indicated he intended to criticize both himself and the club — calling himself the worst teammate on the league’s worst team.

The Mets may very well have been prepared to move on from López even before his comments. Called on to pitch in the eighth inning with the team trailing 5-3, he surrendered a double to Miguel Vargas that scored a pair of inherited runners. López retired Mookie Betts before serving up a two-run homer to Shohei Ohtani. He was ejected during the next at-bat after arguing with third base umpire Ramon De Jesus on a check swing. López flipped his glove over the protective netting on his way off the field. After the game, manager Carlos Mendoza called López’s behavior “not acceptable” and said the team would address it internally (video from SNY).

A veteran of nine MLB seasons, López inked a $2MM free agent deal with the Mets in December. This afternoon notwithstanding, he had serviceable run prevention numbers. In 26 1/3 innings, he turned in a 3.76 earned run average. López only punched out 17.2% of opponents while walking nearly 10% of batters faced. While he probably wouldn’t have been cut loose if not for today’s glove toss and postgame comments, it wasn’t a resoundingly impressive performance either.

López was an All-Star with the Orioles back in 2022, when he turned in a 1.68 ERA with 19 saves in 48 1/3 frames for Baltimore. The O’s controversially traded him to the Twins at the deadline. López’s production plummeted after the deal, as he turned in a 4.81 ERA in Minnesota. He continued to struggle after being swapped to the Marlins last summer and in a late-season return to Baltimore.

The Mets are riding a three-game losing streak and have dropped 19 of 26 this month. They’re a season-worst 11 games below .500 and ahead of only the Rockies and Marlins in the National League. The bullpen entered play today with a 4.42 ERA in May, ranking 21st in MLB. They lost the struggling Edwin Díaz to the injured list before the game. Adam Ottavino, Reed Garrett and Jake Diekman are taking high-leverage work.

Mets To Sign Jorge Lopez

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The Mets are in agreement with free agent reliever Jorge López on a one-year contract, reports Carlos Rosa (X link). It’s a $2MM guarantee, per Jeff Passan of ESPN (on X).

It’s another low-cost bullpen flier for a New York team that has also brought in Austin Adams and Michael Tonkin this offseason. López had a rough 2023 campaign, allowing a 5.95 ERA in 59 innings. He split the year between a trio of clubs. The righty opened the year with the Twins, was flipped to the Marlins for Dylan Floro in a swap of struggling relievers, then landed with the Orioles on waivers.

The 30-year-old (31 in February) didn’t find much success at any of those stops. He was tagged for more than five earned runs per nine with all three teams. López struggled with home runs in Minnesota and Baltimore and posted generally lackluster strikeout and walk numbers. His strikeout rate rebounded in his 12-inning stint with the O’s but sat below 18% in Minnesota and Miami.

Overall, López concluded the 2023 campaign with a modest 18.4% strikeout percentage. His swinging strike rate sat at only 9.3%. The Puerto Rico native had also struggled late in the 2022 campaign after being traded from Baltimore to Minnesota. Since that deadline deal, he carries a 5.54 ERA through 81 2/3 innings.

That makes it moderately surprising that López secured a major league contract. The Mets still clearly remain intrigued by the form he showed in the first half of the ’22 campaign. He had tossed 48 1/3 frames of 1.68 ERA ball with a near-28% strikeout rate for the Orioles before being traded. López saved 19 games in that time and earned an All-Star nod.

While his production has plummeted in recent years, his velocity has not. He averaged 96.8 MPH on his sinker last season and just above 84 MPH on his breaking ball. The sinker velocity is down only slightly from the 97.7 MPH he’d brandished in 2022; his curveball speed is exactly the same. The Mets will try to harness that stuff and find better results than López has managed over the past 18 months.

With over five years of MLB service, López can’t be optioned to the minor leagues. He’ll almost certainly get a spot in the season-opening middle relief corps. The Mets are in the third tier of luxury tax penalization and will pay the tax for the third straight season in 2024. As a result, they’re taxed at a 95% rate. The total cost amounts to a $3.9MM roll of the dice.

Jorge Lopez Elects Free Agency

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The Orioles announced this morning that right-hander Jorge Lopez has cleared waivers and elected free agency. He’ll test the open market this offseason alongside a bevy of right-handed relief options who figure to be available this offseason.

Lopez, 30, made his MLB debut back in 2015 with the Brewers and bounced around the league as a swing option for several years, struggling to a 6.04 ERA and 5.15 FIP from 2015-21 while playing for Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Baltimore. Prior to the 2022 campaign, the Orioles moved Lopez to the bullpen full time, and the early returns on that decision looked to be nothing short of revelatory: the righty was among the most dominant relievers in baseball for Baltimore in 2022, earning his first career All Star appearance while posting a 1.68 ERA with a 2.99 FIP and 27.6% strikeout rate across 48 1/3 innings of work.

On the back of those career-best numbers, the Orioles shipped Lopez to the Twins for a prospect package that included right-hander Yennier Cano and lefty Cade Povich. While the trade was a controversial one at the time thanks to the young Baltimore squad’s impressive run to that point in 2022, the move proved prescient. While Cano has broken out as an elite set-up man for the Orioles in 2023 and Povich is one of the club’s best pitching prospects, Lopez regressed with the Twins last year, posting a 4.37 ERA and 4.35 FIP in Minnesota that was 10% worse than league average by measure of ERA+.

While the Twins brought Lopez back to open the 2023 campaign, his struggles grew even worse this year. After 35 1/3 innings of 5.09 ERA baseball, Minnesota agreed to a change-of-scenery swap with the Marlins that sent Lopez to Miami in exchange for veteran righty Dylan Floro. Lopez continued to struggle in Miami to the point where the club designated him for assignment, leading him to return to the Orioles. His return to Baltimore saw his 2023 struggles continue, and he ended the season with a 5.95 ERA and 5.76 FIP in 61 appearances.

While Lopez’s huge success with the Orioles last season will surely pique the interest of clubs, his struggles this season figure to give even the most intrigued clubs some level of pause. It’s certainly possible he’ll be limited to minor league offers this offseason and have to earn his way back onto a major league roster for 2024 during Spring Training.

Orioles Designate Jorge Lopez For Assignment

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The Orioles announced that right-hander Jorge Lopez was designated for assignment.  Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann was called up from Triple-A to take Lopez’s spot on the active roster.

Baltimore claimed Lopez off waivers from the Marlins at the start of September, and Lopez posted a 6.10 ERA over 10 1/3 innings of work in the orange-and-black.  While Lopez had a 28% strikeout rate and a 4.0% walk rate over his brief time with the O’s, he also allowed four home runs, sending his ERA skyrocketing.  Lopez was ineligible for postseason play since he was acquired after September 1, and since he was looking like a clear non-tender candidate anyway, the Orioles look to have started his path to free agency a little early.  In all likelihood, Lopez will clear waivers and then be released, unless a team wants to take a quick evaluation before the offseason officially begins.

Lopez has a 5.53 ERA over 478 1/3 innings in the majors, appearing with five different teams over an eight-season career that began in 2015.  The clear highlight of Lopez’s career came during his first stint with the Orioles, when his exceptional first-half performance earned him a spot on the 2022 All-Star team.  The O’s were in postseason contention at last year’s trade deadline, but the team opted to sell high on Lopez by dealing him to the Twins for a four-player package that included Yennier Cano (an All-Star himself in 2023) and left-hander Cade Povich, arguably Baltimore’s top current pitching prospect.

It was a wise move on the Orioles’ part, as Lopez immediately started to regress in Minnesota.  Those struggles deepened in 2023, as Lopez posted a 6.12 ERA over 57 1/3 combined innings with the Twins, Marlins, and Orioles.  Minnesota dealt Lopez to Miami at the trade deadline for Dylan Floro in something of a mutual change-of-scenery deal for both relievers, though neither got on track on a new team. (By coincidence, the Twins just released Floro yesterday.)

Lopez earned $3.625MM in 2023, and would be in line for some kind of minimal raise in his third and final year of arbitration eligibility.  The 30-year-old may have to settle for a minor league deal this winter, in the wake of such a disappointing season.

Orioles Make Four Roster Moves

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The Orioles announced four roster moves prior to today’s game with the Diamondbacks.  Newly-claimed reliever Jorge Lopez has been officially activated, and right-hander Austin Voth was designated for assignment to create room for Lopez on the 40-man roster.  Baltimore also optioned Colton Cowser to Triple-A, as outfielder Aaron Hicks was activated from the 10-day injured list.

Voth has a 5.19 ERA over 34 2/3 relief innings this season, with a middling 21.3% strikeout rate and 9.4% walk rate.  His season was interrupted by a stint on the 60-day injured list, as elbow discomfort sidelined Voth from the middle of June to less than two weeks ago.  In two appearances since his activation, Voth tossed two scoreless innings against the Rockies on August 27 but was then tagged for three runs over 1 2/3 frames against the White Sox on August 30.

Between the injury and the inflated ERA, it has been a tough season overall for Voth, who seemed to have turned a corner after the Orioles picked him up from the Nationals on a waiver claim in June 2022.  Voth had been inconsistent at best over five seasons as a starter and reliever in Washington, but then delivered a 3.04 ERA over 83 innings for the O’s last season, starting 17 of 22 games.

It is possible a pitching-needy team might put in a claim on Voth, as experienced arms are harder to come by at this point in the season, even if Voth’s 2023 numbers haven’t been up to par.  If he clears waivers, he could reject an outright assignment and elect free agency since he has over three years of service time. But since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary in order to exercise that right. The O’s signed Voth to an arbitration-avoiding $1.85MM salary for 2023 and the deal contains a $2.45MM club option for 2024 that looks likely to be declined.  If Voth isn’t in the Orioles’ plans for 2024 anyway, Baltimore might choose to release him if he clears waivers, though keeping Voth as extra depth at Triple-A is also a logical move for a team in pennant contention.

Hicks return after missing a little more than two weeks due to a lower back strain.  Speaking of career revivals in Baltimore, Hicks has hit .261/.355/.440 in 155 plate appearances since signing with the O’s in late May — a big improvement over the underwhelming numbers Hicks posted in his final three seasons with the Yankees.  Unfortunately, the injury bug has followed Hicks to his new team, as he has played in just one game since July 24 due to both his back problem and an earlier hamstring injury that also necessitated an IL trip.

Hicks will step back into the Orioles’ outfield/DH mix, and Cowser will head back to Triple-A to await his next taste of the majors.  One of the Orioles’ top prospects and the fifth overall pick of the 2021 draft, Cowser has been crushing minor league pitching but has only a .433 OPS over his first 77 PA at the MLB level.

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