Orioles avoid arbitration hearings

The Orioles avoided arbitration with their remaining three eligible players, agreeing to contracts with right-handed reliever Mychal Givens, first baseman/ outfielder Trey Mancini and infielder Hanser Alberto on the day of the deadline to exchange salary figures for the 2020 season.

By doing so, the Orioles eschewed the need to prepare for an arbitration hearing with any player next month and instead can gear up for the start of spring training, with pitchers and catchers due to report to Sarasota, Florida, on Feb. 11.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias has expressed the Orioles

will use the “file and trial” approach adopted by most other clubs, meaning that, if Baltimore was unable to agree to terms with the players Friday, negotiations between the two sides likely would end with the salary being determined by a panel of arbitrators in February. Instead, the Orioles seemed to have reached agreements with a handful of their most experienced players.

Givens, 29, agreed to a one-year, $3.225 million deal, per a source, marginally above the $3.2 million salary MLB Trade Rumors projected him to receive in his second year being eligible for arbitration. Givens is coming off a season in which he struck out a career-high12.3 batters per nine innings but also allowed 13 home runs, one fewer than the previous two seasons combined.

Manager Brandon Hyde effectively used him as the team’s closer, saying Givens would enter in the most significant situation of each night’s game, which often proved to be the ninth inning. However, he was far better outside of that frame; in the ninth inning or later, he posted a 6.75 ERA, compared to a1.67 mark when pitching earlier. On the season, Givens had a 4.57 ERA. USA Today first reported Givens’ agreement.

Mancini, 27, was voted the Most Valuable Oriole for a 2019 season in which he was one of only six major leaguers with at least 35 home runs and 35 doubles. He also set career highs in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and thus OPS for a full season.

This is Mancini’s first year of arbitration, meaning he has three seasons remaining before reaching free agency. Projected to earn $5.7 million through arbitration, Mancini agreed to a one-year, $4.75 million deal, according to The Athletic, after making $575,500 in 2019.

After spending last offseason and spring training shuffling from organization to organization on the waiver wire, Alberto agreed to a deal worth reportedly $1.65 million to avoid arbitration in his first year of eligibility. The 27-year-old nearly led the majors in batting average against lefthanded pitchers, hitting .398 off lefties and eventually serving as Baltimore’s leadoff hitter against left-handed starters. Alberto spent the season shifting between second base and third base and enters 2020 in position to likely be the Orioles’ everyday second baseman. MLB.com first reported the Orioles’ agreement with Alberto.

The offseason began with the Orioles facing seven arbitration cases, but they narrowed that to five by December’s non-tender deadline, signing left-hander Richard Bleier to a one-year deal and trading infielder Jonathan Villar to the Miami Marlins for 2019 draftee Easton Lucas. Two days later, they dealt righthander Dylan Bundy to the Los Angeles Angels for four minor league pitchers.

MLB Trade Rumors’ projections had the Orioles saving about $16 million with the two trades, but Villar reportedly settled with the Marlins for $8.2 million, according to MLB Network, instead of the projected of $10.4 million. By trading Villar and signing shortstop José Iglesias to a oneyear, $2.5 million deal with a $500,000 buyout on a $3.5 million club option for 2021, the Orioles saved more than $5 million, added a pitching prospect and improved their middle infield defense.

Thursday, the Orioles avoided arbitration with right-hander Miguel Castro with a $1.05 million contract. He ranked second on the team in appearances, and outside of one blowup in late September, he posted a 1.98 ERA from mid-June on.

Mancini on the mic

Mancini will host a show on MLB Network Radio beginning at 3 p.m. Tuesday as part of the station’s “Players Week.”

Other hosts throughout the week include Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer, Tampa Bays Rays right-hander Tyler Glasnow and Boston Red Sox infielder Michael Chavis.

Dominican arrests

The national police of the Dominican Republic announced Friday that they have captured two of the three men who robbed Orioles pitcher Miguel Castro at gunpoint Tuesday.

Castro, a native Dominican who detailed the event on his Instagram account Tuesday, was preparing to train at a facility in La Romana when the men robbed him of two gold chains. The police investigation determined that one of the men, Willy Medina Castillo, had sold the chains, which have since been returned to Castro. The police also arrested Manuel Loyen Tussaint. Both men have a criminal history, per a police release.

A search is continuing for the third man, Julio Ángel de la Rosa Manuel.

Castro, 25, agreed to a $1.05 million contract with the Orioles on Thursday to avoid arbitration. He has a 4.06 ERA with Baltimore since he was acquired in a trade with the Colorado Rockies before the 2017 season.