The Orioles have a deal with veteran shortstop Jose Iglesias, according to a report by MLB.com. Iglesias will be paid $3 million for this season with a $3 million option for 2021.
Since the Orioles traded infielder Jonathan Villar to the Marlins early last month, they’ve been looking for a replacement. Villar, who could make $10 million or more in arbitration, could have been a free agent at the end of the 2020 season. He was dealt to Miami for minor league left-hander Easton Lucas.
Iglesias, who turned 30 on Sunday, is a native of Cuba. Last season, he hit .288 with 11 home runs and 59 RBIs, both career highs, with Cincinnati. He had a .724 OPS. Iglesias stole six bases and was thrown out six times.
He made just nine errors in 144 games at shortstop. Villar, who split time between shortstop and second base, committed 12 errors in 97 games at short.
Iglesias finished second in the American League Rookie of the Year voting in 2013 when he played for Boston and Detroit. He began his career with the Red Sox in 2011 but was part of a three-team trade with the Red Sox, White Sox and Tigers in July 2013.
Iglesias played with Detroit through 2018 and signed as a free agent with the Reds early in spring training last year.
In eight major league seasons, Iglesias has a .273 average with a .687 OPS.
When the signing becomes official, the Orioles will have to remove a player from the 40-man roster.
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Iggy has some Pop!
Good signing by Elias & Co., going right after their most glaring roster hole. Maybe more pitching will be next
Hey, there we go! A bit of sunshine in all this darkness. .288 average and gold glove caliber leather up the middle, I'll take that all day and twice on Sunday.
Great signing!
A very good signing by Elias. This gives them an experienced shortstop who is a good hitter and plus defender. They can let Martin play at Norfolk to get more seasoning.
it Looks like he does everything as well or better than Villar except run the bases. Yet Villar will make $7 million + more this season. What am I missing?
Villar had 24 homers and 40 steals. Julio had 11 homers and ? steals.
Yes, this signing is encouraging. As I've said before, I think the key test will come in 2021-2022, when we see if ownership willing to spend enough to make the team competitive.
Good placeholder for a year, maybe trade bait at some point.
Good, solid signing for 2020 and maybe 2021. Always enjoyed watching him play defense.
Thumbs up.
This is absolutely awesome news! Now if we could only sign Willie Nelson to play 2nd, we might have something!
Now THAT is excellent. Lol. And how 'many girls has HE loved before?"
:)
Great signing. A career year last year and we only have to pay $3 million? Yes please. Fans will be entertained and hopefully he will bring in some trade pieces by the deadline
A slick defensive Short Stop is worth way more than a decent offensive one. This is why we sent Villar packing. Great signing. Iglesias will help the pitchers significantly.
A good signing. I’m a big fan of defense and think it’s is especially important when a team has a young and inexperienced staff. The pitchers will make mistakes and it should be encouraging to know that there will be a defender who can make up for some of them...or won’t be making more of them.
I bet he catches 30 or 40 would be homers since that is the O's pitchers biggest problem.
At SS?...g O’s...