Baltimore Sun

Beckham, Joseph become free agents

O’s nontender infielder, catcher; Schoop hits market

- By Jon Meoli

The Orioles have decided not to tender 2019 contracts to infielder Tim Beckham and catcher Caleb Joseph, the team announced at Friday night’s deadline to issue deals to arbitratio­n-eligible players.

All other players on the 40-man roster, including infielder Jonathan Villar, starter Dylan Bundy and reliever Mychal Givens, were tendered contracts for next season.

Beckham, who was acquired at the 2017 nonwaiver trade deadline for minor league pitcher Tobias Myers, wasacometi­nhis first month with the Orioles. He hit .394 with a 1.062 OPS and 18 extra-base hits in August 2017, but hit .180 the rest of that season. Hehit .230 with a .661 OPS this past season and failed to hold down either the third base or shortstop jobs on either side of a groin injury that required core muscle surgery.

A former No. 1 overall draft pick of the Tampa Bay Rays, Beckham represente­d the Orioles’ last significan­t trade acquisitio­n under former executive vice president Dan Duquette. Beckham was a spark in place of injured shortstop J.J. Hardy at the time, but now represents one of the biggest changes made so far under new executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias. Beckham, 28, was projected to make $4.3 million in arbitratio­n by MLB Trade Rumors.

Joseph’s departure chips away at the remnants of the Orioles’ most recent playoff team from 2016. As a Super Two-eligible

ORIOLES , player who earned an extra year of salary arbitratio­n, Joseph was set for his third year of arbitratio­n, which has brought about somewhat modest raises.

He first hit arbitratio­n after the 2016 season in which he didn’t drive in a run or hit a home run, but rebounded in 2017. His 2018 numbers — a .219 average with three home runs and a .575 OPS — reflect a player who struggled with a lack of opportunit­ies and spent time in the minors.

Joseph, 32, was projected to make $1.7 million in arbitratio­n. He was a 2008 seventh-round pick of the Orioles and has played 402 major league games with the club since 2014.

The Orioles are able to continue negotiatio­ns with both nontendere­d players, but so is every team now that they’re on the free-agent market.

The case for keeping either was simple — the contracts aren’t guaranteed, and the Orioles would only be on the hook for 30 days salary if they released an arbitratio­neligible player on or before the 16th day of spring training, and 45 days salary after that — the latter being equivalent to one-quarter of their salary.

The Orioles used such methods by going through the arbitratio­n process with and ultimately cutting right-hander Miguel González in spring training in 2016.

The other players who were tendered contracts — Villar, Bundy and Givens — required little debate. Villar, projected to make $4.4 million, hit .258 with 21 steals in an impactful first few months with the Orioles. Bundy, projected at $3 million, is their most promising young pitcher at the major league level, even if 2018 was uneven. Givens is the Orioles’ most experience­d and reliable reliever, with a projected $2 million salary. (All projection­s via MLB Trade Rumors.)

Schoop becomes free agent: Former Orioles All-Star second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who was traded July 31 to the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the team’s massive teardown, wasn’t tendered a contract by his new club ahead of Friday night’s deadline for arbitratio­n-eligible players.

In lieu of paying Schoop the estimated $10.1 million he could be owed in his final year of club control, according to MLB Trade Rumors’ arbitratio­n projection­s, the Brewers are casting one of their trade deadline acquisitio­ns to the market a year before he was supposed to be a free agent.

While Schoop, 27, was in the midst of a significan­t turnaround in July when the Orioles sent him packing on trade deadline day as the final of their five sell-off deals, he struggled badly upon his arrival in Milwaukee. He hit .202 with four home runs and a .577 OPS in 46 games (29 starts) for the Brewers, failing to hold down a starting spot or make much of an impact as he adjusted to his new surroundin­gs.

The move puts Schoop on the open market where a team will hope he regains the form he showed in July with the Orioles, and all through his 2017 All-Star season. After years of showing promise, Schoop broke out in 2017 to hit .293/.338/ .503 with 32 home runs, earning Most Valuable Oriole honors.

Schoop was batting .197 on July 1, but hit .360 with nine home runs in July to bring his average to .244 when he was dealt for infielder Jonathan Villar, right-hander Luis Ortiz and shortstop Jean Carmona.

Since he wasn’t tendered a contract, Schoop joins his friend and former teammate Manny Machado as one of the younger free agents on the market. Only Machado and Bryce Harper are younger than Schoop among establishe­d free agents this winter.

A reunion with the Orioles makes sense in theory, though a long-term contract for a player who might be in his decline by the time the Orioles are truly contenders again might not make sense for the team. It’s clear that Schoop valued the comfort and stability the Orioles provided him before he was somewhat blindsided by the trade, but Schoop figures to have plenty of suitors.

The Brewers weren’t the only teams to trade for second baseman last summer — others include the Chicago Cubs (Daniel Murphy), Los Angeles Dodgers (Brian Dozier) and Boston Red Sox (Ian Kinsler). All those teams have recently lost their starters at second base.

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