The Orioles have their 2021 shortstop, and it’s Freddy Galvis. On Tuesday night, they announced that they had signed Galvis to a one-year contract.
Galvis, 31, has played nine years in the majors with Philadelphia, San Diego, Toronto and Cincinnati. He has a lifetime average of .247 with a .647 OPS.
In the 60-game 2020 season, Galvis played 47 games for the Reds, hitting .220 with seven homers and 16 RBIs. He had an on-base percentage of .308.
Galvis has shown power. In 2016, Galvis hit 20 homers and drove in 67 runs for the Phillies. In 2019, he hit 23 homers and drove in 70 runs with the Blue Jays and Reds.
He’ll be the Orioles’ third primary shortstop during the time that Mike Elias has been general manager. Jonathan Villar started in 2019 and was traded to Miami that December. José Iglesias, who was signed as a free agent in January 2020, was traded to the Los Angeles Angels last month, shortly after the Orioles picked up his $3.5 million option for 2021.
According to The Baltimore Sun, Galvis’ contract is for $1.5 million and he receives $250,000 if the Orioles trade him.
To make room for Galvis on the 40-man roster, the Orioles designated infielder/outfielder Chris Shaw for assignment.
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Maybe this signing will silence the haters for a day or two... wishful thinking
I'm not a hater, in fact, I'm usually an Elias defender ... but don't see how anyone can consider this an upgrade (or even a lateral move) at shortstop ... looks to be purely $$ driven.
I hope this doesn’t mean they just hand him the SS job. As I’ve stated before, Richie Martin was, in my opinion, the most improved player on the team from beginning to end of season in 2019. He deserves a chance to be the starter. Now, how about bringing in some competition for 3rd base?
Freddy Galvis was a Gold Glove finalist from 2016-18 and with Yolmer Sánchez the projected starter at second, the Orioles up the middle defense/double play combo looks pretty solid and should really help the young pitchers and build their confidence. This also allows Richie Martin (broken wrist) to start at shortstop at Triple-A Norfolk until he shows he's ready maybe by the trading deadline. Really good smart move by Mike Elias, helps the pitching and defense.
I think there's been a odd lack of reporting on the Orioles asking to defer arbitration salaries for their two (arguably) best players. We're not talking a ton of money here. I see many other independent news outlets (Not MASN or Sun) reporting on this, but few other places. Does this not merit more follow-up? No other MLB team has been reported to ask their players to push money back a year.....
It was mentioned in my story this morning.
I like Galvis power and potential defense. Sounds like trade bait for the deadline. 2B-SS-3B in desperate need of an upgrade in Os lineup. Maybe Martin and Bannon will surprise. Maybe McCoy gets called up to. Or Vavra. We’ll just have to wait till Henderson and Westburg arrive. Along with Rutschman, Kjerstad, and Mayo.
With the current regime he is just a marketable commodity, don’t buy your jersey quite yet...go O’s...
Why would you buy a jersey for a guy with a 1 year contract? He’s a stop gap. He knows it, we know it, the team knows it. Who cares. He’s a major league proven shortstop. It’s exactly what the Orioles need. Great signing.
Well said. We all need to be realistic that this is what a rebuild looks like.
So touchy, being facetious about the jersey, apparently most of our players are gap fillers, can’t wait until we get real multi-year players...go O’s...
Dump one almost gold glove
...replace him with another almost gold glover. Pure genius.
Agree, wonder who will be the Reds SS this yr, can we sign him now for next yr?...go O’s...