Tillman’s run with O’s ends after 11 years
Pitcher declines to play in minors; Ramírez sees major opportunity
Rays, 1:05 p.m., MASN2
Chris Tillman’s tenure in the Orioles’ organization — a stretch that spanned 11 seasons — ended Wednesday when the team gave Tillman his unconditional release after he declined the club’s offer to pitch at Triple-A Norfolk.
The Orioles designated Tillman for assignment Friday when his minor league rehabilitation assignment expired. At that point, the Orioles had 10 days to trade, release or waive him. The club offered him an opportunity to pitch in Triple-A, but Tillman declined the offer Wednesday, and the Orioles released him, making Tillman a free agent.
“I was hopeful he would come back with us, but I understand why he didn’t,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. “There’s a chance somebody can still sign him. I don’t know if Chris is going to go home and just kind of start clean all over. It’s his call now. I still think he’s got the potential to be a solid starter again.”
From 2013 to 2016, Tillman was the Orioles’ most reliable starter, averaging 32 starts, 14 wins, 190 innings and a 3.91 ERA with a 56-30 record. But after going on the disabled list with a shoulder injury toward the end of the 2016 season, his performance dipped.
Since the beginning of 2017, Tillman is 2-12 with an 8.42 ERA in 32 games (26 starts). He went 1-5 with a 10.46 ERA in seven big league starts before going on the disabled list with a lower back strain.
“There’s some things that he’s got to get over, so speak, a hump that he’s got to get over,” Showalter said. “I would not count him short. But I understand his thinking and his reasoning. I’m sure he and his family talked about it a lot, and your paths have a way of crossing again. We wish him well. He’s done a lot of great things here, very much like the two guys we lost.”
The move marks the end of the tenure of another key member of the Orioles’ recent resurgence, as the team continues to turn its focus to its rebuild.
He was part of the trade that best set up the Orioles’ core for their stretch of three playoff berths over five seasons. He was acquired in a 5-for-1 deal with the Mariners that included center fielder Adam Jones and sent left-hander Erik Bedard to Seattle before the 2008 season. Ramírez sees opportunities for new farmhands: This time last year, the Orioles acquired right-hander Yefry Ramírez from a log jam in the high minors of the NewYork Yankees’ system and watched him join the major league rotation 10 months later.
The 24-year-old pitcher believes the trio of Dillon Tate, Cody Carroll and Josh Rogers, acquired in a trade for closer Zach Britton, will embrace the same situation as they get out of the crowded pitching situation in the Yankees organization and join a rebuilding Orioles club, with opportunities abound.
“I think the opportunities that are here are going to help them in their development,” Ramírez said through interpreter Ramón Alarcón on Wednesday. “You learn even more and improve each day. They’re going to take advantage of the opportunities here.”
Like Ramírez last summer when the Orioles acquired him for international signing bonus money, this trio of Yankees prospects was going to need to be added to the 40-man roster this offseason or be exposed to the Rule 5 draft, making it easier for the Orioles to pry them away from New York.
All three were 2015 college draft picks — with Tate the fourth overall pick — and could push for a major league roster spot by early next year. Ramírez said it’s exciting to see a pair of players in Rogers and Carroll that he came up with in the Yankees’ system join Baltimore, though he didn’t play with Tate. Hess returns: Right-hander David Hess took the roster spot vacated by Britton after making three starts since he was sent down July 6 after an extended run in the Orioles’ rotation.
Hess struggled in his first two outings, allowing four runs in 22⁄ innings July 8 and five runs in 61⁄ innings July 16 before pitching seven shutout innings Saturday. Around the horn: Center fielder Adam Jones’ sixth annual “Stay Hungry” tailgate will be Sunday, Nov. 25, outside M&T Bank Stadium, with proceeds benefiting Boys and Girls Club of Metro Baltimore. Tickets will go on sale Aug. 1, Jones said in the announcement on Twitter. ... Outfielder Anthony Santander went on the seven-day disabled list Wednesday with an undisclosed injury at Double-A Bowie. … Low-A Delmarva’s doubleheader at Hagerstown was rained out Wednesday, and the games will not be made up. … Right-hander Jay Flaa hasn’t allowed an earned run in 16 innings over nine outings after 2 1/3 innings with an unearned run in Bowie’s 10-5 win Wednesday.