DALLAS—As the Winter Meetings begin, the Orioles to-do list has narrowed. On Saturday, they signed outfielder Tyler O’Neill and catcher Gary Sánchez as replacements for outfielder Anthony Santander and catcher James McCann, both of whom are free agents.
The Orioles weren’t going to spend huge money on Santander, even though he hit 44 home runs and won a Silver Slugger last season. Even though McCann had a strong season as Adley Rutschman’s backup, he is going to be 36 next June and a commitment beyond 2025 was unrealistic.
Saturday’s night’s action makes starting and relief pitching the Orioles’ primary goal.
While executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias finally signed a player to a multi-year contract, O’Neill can opt out after the 2025 season. If he has a strong season, he probably will.
Sánchez could be a short-term Oriole. If he recaptures the power that made him a two-time All-Star for the New York Yankees in 2017 and 2019, he’ll have some value come trade deadline time—as long as the Orioles decide that 20-year-old catching/first base prospect Samuel Basallo is ready for the majors.
In a best-case scenario, Sánchez makes himself valuable as Rutschman’s 2025 backup and re-establishes himself as a hotter commodity a year from now.
The Orioles hope Sánchez’s bat outweighs his defense. Last year, he had a -.2 Defensive WAR (Wins Above Replacement) compared with McCann’s .2.
Since Sánchez’s last All-Star appearance with the Yankees in 2019, his offense has gone south, and the Orioles will be his sixth team since 2021.
Even the Sánchez of 2023 might be a upgrade from McCann. He hit .218 with 19 home runs and 46 RBIs with a .792 OPS in 72 games with San Diego, and overall he had a 2.5 WAR.
Last season, Sánchez hit .220 with 11 home runs and 37 RBIs in 89 games with Milwaukee as his WAR slipped to .2.
McCann’s bat was never his primary attribute with the Orioles. In two seasons he hit .228 with a .657 OPS.
Many pitchers, especially veterans, loved pitching to him. Corbin Burnes had some great performances with McCann catching. Burnes’ ERA in 15 starts with McCann was 2.65, a half-run better than the 3.16 in 17 starts with Rutschman.
Zach Eflin was won over by McCann in his very first start with the team in late July when he watched McCann get hit in the face with a pitch that broke his nose in the bottom of the first inning, and remain in the game.
That toughness endeared him to Oriole fans and to his teammates. To some Oriole fans, McCann represented not only stability, but insurance. If Rutschman doesn’t bounce back from his bad second half, what will the Orioles do?
McCann probably wouldn’t have caught much more than the 65 games that he did last season, and maybe Sánchez won’t, either. But if Rutschman doesn’t have a bounce-back season, that’s a serious issue, and one that won’t be solved just by having an adequate backup.
As for O’Neill, he’s had a history of injuries. Last season’s 113 games were the second most in his career. In 2021, he hit 34 home runs, drove in 80 runs and hit .286 with a .912 OPS in 138 games with St. Louis.
O’Neill is 29, a year younger than Santander, but even if he stays with the Orioles throughout the three-year, $49.5 million deal, he’ll be only 32 when it’s completed.
Now that the Juan Soto sweepstakes are over, then Santander and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernández become the primary outfielders in the free-agent market. Santander could fetch double what O’Neill did, and for four or five years.
O’Neill led American League outfielders with seven errors in 95 games. He’ll be paired with two excellent outfielders, Colton Cowser, a finalist for a Gold Glove in left field, and Cedric Mullins, who often delivers spectacular play in center.
If Burnes moves on, the Orioles will have to find alternatives. There’s talk that the Chicago White Sox’s Garrett Crochet may be traded during this week’s meetings, and the Orioles are expected to participate in the bidding.
Adding a reliever or two will be secondary news, but perhaps there will be some progress on that front here.
Notes: Dick Allen, who died in 2020, and Dave Parker were elected to the Hall of Fame by the Classic Baseball Era Committee. … Merv Rettenmund, an outfielder on three Orioles World Series teams in hie eight years with the team, died on Saturday at 81. His best year came in 1971 when he hit .318 with 11 home runs and 75 RBIs in 141 games with an .870 OPS.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.