Busy week for Orioles as Framber Valdez remains unsigned

While three of the top remaining free agents — left-handed starter Ranger Suárez, outfielder Kyle Tucker and infielder Bo Bichette — chose new teams in the past few days, there’s still a free-agent starter the Orioles would love to have.

Left-hander Framber Valdez is unquestionably the most attractive starter available, and many Oriole fans, who were excited about the early offseason acquisitions, are counting on president of baseball operations Mike Elias to deliver an ace.

Elias has already added first baseman Pete Alonso and closer Ryan Helsley as frontline free agents while bringing back starter Zach Eflin and outfielder Leody Taveras for depth. They also reacquired a useful late-inning reliever in Andrew Kittredge.

The surprising trades of Grayson Rodriguez for slugging outfielder Taylor Ward, and four top prospects for starter Shane Baz made for a busy two months.

On Thursday, the Orioles had another good day. Five of the 10 players they signed — shortstop Jose Luis Acevedo (14^th), outfielders Ariel Roque (18^th) and Pedro Gomez (35^th), left-handed pitcher Andri Hidalgo (25^th), and outfielder/first baseman Gabriel Rosario (41^st) — were among MLB Pipeline’s top 50 prospects.

Those five prospects cost the Orioles $6.85 million—more than 85 percent of their $8,034,900.

For fans demanding a top starter, the big haul on international signing day doesn’t satisfy them. Those players may not play in the major leagues until 2030—or later, but it shows that Elias’ talent pipeline, which was weakened when the four Top 30 prospects went to Tampa Bay for Baz—is still flowing.

In the midst of the international signing news came word than fans will be able to watch 20 spring training games on MASN. That’s the most games televised from Florida, something that fans have been disappointed about for years.

Because the Nationals no longer have parity with the Orioles on MASN, the Orioles can televise as many games as they wish. Sure, the Orioles could have televised 20 games in past years, but MASN would have been obligated to show an equal number of Nationals games, and those games were low-rated and not cost-effective.

No longer will fans have to wonder if the Orioles will be on MASN or MASN2. They will all be on MASN

Besides the international signing and MASN, the Orioles signed a catcher, Sam Huff, and claimed left-handed pitcher José Suárez off waivers from the Braves.

This month, the Orioles claimed utilityman Marco Luciano and enigmatic slugger Jhonkensy Noel off waivers. Luciano was waived to claim Suárez while Noel was waived to claim Luciano. Noel wasn’t claimed, and he can come to camp as a minor league player.

So can Huff, signed to a minor league contract on Thursday.

The Orioles are accumulating a large collection of players who’ve passed through waivers with major league experience. Besides Noel, outfielder Will Robertson, catcher Maverick Handley, first baseman/outfielder Ryan Noda, utility infielder Luis Vázquez and left-hander Josh Walker are all expected in camp next month.

So is Albert Suárez, who was non-tendered by the Orioles but signed to a minor league contract.

While most top-tier position player free agents have signed, that’s not the case with starters. Besides Valdez, Zac Gallen, Chris Bassitt, Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell and future Hall of Famers Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are still available.

Some former Orioles are still on the market, too. Outfielder Austin Hays, utility player Ramón Urías, infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo, catcher Gary Sánchez, reliever Seranthony Domínguez and Japanese starter Tomoyuki Sugano haven’t signed.

There was chatter that Domínguez and the Minnesota Twins had talked, but it doesn’t seem likely that any of those former Orioles will be in Sarasota next month.

The team will hold its annual Birdland Caravan next weekend, including a question and answer session at Baltimore’s historic Senator theatre featuring new manager Craig Albernaz and Pete Alonso.

This week, the team announced some inventive promotions. A Tupac bobblehead will be handed out on May 8^th and an Alonso bobblehead will be featured on August 22^nd.

My favorite, Bark at the Park, returns on April 11^th and May 27^th.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.