The Orioles traded shortstop José Iglesias to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, barely a month before they picked up his $3.5 million option for 2021. The return was right-handed pitchers Jean Pinto and Garrett Stallings.
Iglesias hit .373 with three home runs and 17 RBIs in 39 games with the Orioles, who had signed him to a one-year contract with an option for 2021 in January.
He missed time with injuries to his left quadriceps and wrist.
Pinto, 19, pitched three games in the Dominican Summer League in 2019. Stallings, 23, was the Angels’ fifth-round pick in 2019 and has yet to pitch professionally.
“We continue to view the accumulation of talent as a priority,” executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said in a video conference call on Wednesday night.
“The reality is when you’re in a phase like we are, anytime you sign a free agent, it’s in the back of your mind that trade possibilities exist with that player. He’s not a player that we would have traded lightly, but we knew there were some open shortstop jobs around the league.
“We knew he was very attractive for his offensive, defensive and leadership skills that he put on display with the Orioles, and I think that we got two quality arms from the Angels, one of whom, in particular, is somebody that we’ve been focused on since he was in the 2019 draft, Garrett Stallings, one of the best pitchers in the Southeastern Conference that year.”
Besides dealing Iglesias, the Orioles did not tender a contract to infielder Hanser Alberto on the deadline day for players eligible for arbitration. Alberto, who hit .299 in his two-years with the Orioles and was especially productive against left-handed pitching, could have made at least $2 million in arbitration, according to MLBTradeRumors.com.
“We have absolutely loved having Hanser in every way, shape and form since he got here, ” Elias said. “He’s a terrific player. I expect that he’ll have opportunity and interest. Part of our job is to operate within the economic framework of the collective bargaining agreement, and the rules that are in place and the quirks of the arbitration system.
“You saw today a lot of really good players around the league get non-tendered as part of this process. He’s somebody that we continue to have interest in pursuing. We feel this is a great home for him, and continues to be, and we will continue talking to him. I think the interest is mutual, but it’s his right to explore opportunities, and we’re going to have to compete for him.”
On Tuesday, they signed catcher Pedro Severino to a reported $1.8 million contract. On Wednesday, they signed infielder Yolmer Sánchez, who they acquired on waivers in October to a reported $1.1 million, and right-handed pitcher Shawn Armstrong and infielders Pat Valaika to one-year contracts.
Because of injuries to Iglesias, Valaika played much more than was originally thought, and appeared in 52 of the club’s 60 games, hitting .277 with eight home runs and 16 RBIs.
As expected, the Orioles tendered contracts to first baseman/outfielder Trey Mancini and outfielder Anthony Santander.
The Orioles have 38 players on their 40-man roster.
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What the H**L!
WTF...back to tanking...just when Elias gets some of your trust...go O’s...
Angels snookered us. I was looking forward to seeing him play.
Don’t think the Angels snookered us, Elias is the one who snookered us...go O’s...
Figured they would trade Iglesias eventually. You trade the present for potential long term future benefits. At most Iglesias was only going to help you in 2021. The Orioles don’t have a lot of trade chips, so they were able to use Iglesias to add pitchers to their pipeline. You can never have enough pitching. Just have to wait and see how they develop
Seems like the O's are always the ones that have to "wait and see what happens". They just traded away their one solid major league infielder. Genius 1 can't have more than 1, maybe 2 MLB players because people might expect him to win, Heaven forbid.
Iglesias is a free agent after next year. So is Dylan Bundy. So the Orioles have been able to get 6 pitchers for the future for 2 guys who would have been gone next year anyway. Don’t forget the Orioles signed Iglesias in the first place. So they were able to parlay the original signing of Iglesias for 2 pitching prospects down the road. These guys might help the Orioles in 2022 and beyond. Iglesias wouldn’t have
C D, six pitchers for Bundy and Iglesias? Is there any guarantee that even one will make it to the O's bullpen or even to the Tides bullpen? Wouldn't you like to see a semi competative team then one that's going to lose 100+ games?
When does the present be just as important then the future.
Iglesias is projected to be < 2 WAR player. The present will be as important as the future when winning 2 more games in a season might matter. What difference does in make if we win 75 or 77 games next year?
Even with Iglesias the Orioles weren’t going to be very good next year. And by picking up the option on Iglesias, they got 2 pitching prospects down the road. They did offer contracts to Santander and Mancini, so they will be putting a team on the field next year. Considering Iglesias only played less than half the the games in the field last year, the Orioles got a good return on their investment
Welcome back Richie Martin I hope you can hit just a little. Ruiz , Martin , Sanchez three no
hit Infielders along with Crush. 2021 down the drain I guess
Once again, the GM shows he's the master of the subtraction-by-subtraction technique.Never miss a chance to trade a ribeye for two meatballs.
I can understand non tendering Alberto. He seemed to have regress this past year and probably would have again. I’m surprised that Iglesias was moved. Seemed sudden. But I understand why the did it one of the last chips they had and a good time to cash in after the year had. Baseball America likes the return the orioles got back. They infield might be good defensively but probably won’t hit a lick outside of first base.
“We continue to view the accumulation of talent as a priority,” says the boy genius. Obviously, winning now is still NOT a priority. This is called tanking, plain and simple. This also will save the Angelos family a couple million before they sell Baltimore out. Scruples are a thing for past generations, not this one.
Now ... all that being said, I'm not really all that upset with the trade. Let's put Martin our there and let him cut his teeth on the job. I'd also suggest the same be done with young Mr. Rutschman, but we all know that will never happen. Regardless of if he's ready or not, and regardless of if he'd be an upgrade at the postion, winning now is simply not priority. The accumulation of talent (especially dirt-cheap talent) is. This is called tanking.
It's the Houston Blueprint or bust for our young GM.
You stole my name for Elias, Boog. . I should have trademarked "Boy Genius". I have been calling him that since day 1.
Next you will be calling his Astro's blueprint "Tankers R Us."
Really? Honestly, I used it years ago as well, I just don't overuse it. If I stole it, I apologize, I don't remember it that way and I certainly didn't mean to step on your creative sensitivities. But no ... you don't have to worry that I will EVER use "Tankers R Us".
The O’s were 16th in team ERA in the just completed abbreviated 60 game season. The Angels were 25th. So I’m supposed to believe that a team with pitching more woeful than the O’s just in the last 6 months traded 6 of their own prospects to the O’s for Bundy and Iglesias? Seems to me, a rank amateur baseball person, that the Angels received two good major league players and gave up 6 guys who weren’t in their plans. I’ll give Elias a very little bit of wiggle room here but if none or maybe only one of them ever pitches in Baltimore then both were bad deals. To me it’s obvious they simply didn’t wanna pay them.
:)...go O’s...
I honestly understand trading Iglesias, we know he isn’t going to be part of the future plans and we were able to get 2 prospects who seem to have some potential. My confusion is non tendering Alberto. My thought process is to tender him a contract and if you really don’t want to pay him, trade him just like they did with Iglesias. Its the same confusion I had with the Nunez decision. Why drop them for nothing when you can trade them and get at least something back? I don’t really know the explanation for this. Does anybody lol?
Iglesias had trade value. Alberto and Nunez didn’t. By the way, don’t say goodbye to Alberto just yet. Elias said the lines of communication are open. Wouldn’t be surprised if Hanser came back at a lower cost
Remember we traded Cashner for 2 Dominican teenagers. So Elias isn’t afraid to basically get nothing back in a deal. So I can only assume Alberto didn’t even draw “2 Dominican teenagers” worth of trade offers. Otherwise he’d have been traded.
Why the (pick your expletive) are they cheating out this much. I didn’t do my homework on the 2 prospects, but I’m assuming they aren’t projected to be much. Why not resign both and trade at the deadline? The return would likely be better (especially if both played up to last yr numbers). Why is this team this frugal, when you could buy fairly cheap free agents and flip them at the deadline for a handsome return. I know covid is hurting finances, but this is utter incompetence.
I don’t know how good the prospects are either. But for perspective Iglesias in 2019 signed a *minor league* deal with Cincy. He made the team and went on to earn $3 million that year. All we was able to parlay that into was a $3 million deal with a “rebuilding” (at best) franchise. You can probably imagine the Orioles didn’t win a bidding war for him.
He had a good year in 2020. But even then they were able to flip him at the trade deadline. Maybe they could’ve had he been healthy. But in no way do I think the guy who played on a minor-league deal in 2019, then signed with the Cheapest Team in Town in 2020, was likely to bring some significantly better trade haul at the 2021 deadline. If he was all that, he never would’ve signed with the Orioles in the first place. Somebody would’ve bid two more dollars for him and the O’s would’ve dropped out of the auction.
So on that basis, I think it was actually a pretty good little piece of business to get whatever they got for him.