Lewin Díaz, 26, hit .181/.227/.340 in 343 major league appearances across three seasons with the Miami Marlins. (Jeff Dean, AP)
After trading away Trey Mancini, the Orioles largely lacked an obvious backup behind Ryan Mountcastle at first base. A handful of players who had never appeared in the majors at the position — Anthony Santander, Terrin Vavra and Adley Rutschman — got occasional pregame work there, though none played the position in a game. Baltimore eventually signed veteran Jesús Aguilar as a salve, but he offered little upside.
In their most active day of the offseason beyond those inspired by league deadlines, the Orioles made a pair of moves that improved their first base depth ahead of the winter meetings.
First was claiming Lewin Díaz from the Pittsburgh Pirates less than an hour before announcing they agreed to terms with Franchy Cordero on a minor league deal. With Baltimore also putting outfielders Daz Cameron and Jake Cave on waivers — losing Cave to the Philadelphia Phillies while Cameron cleared and was outrighted to Triple-A — the club has three openings on its 40-man roster as its front office prepares for next week’s meetings in San Diego.
Both Díaz and Cordero are left-handed hitters, emphasizing that one of those capable of playing first base could continue to be a target for Baltimore in the coming weeks. Díaz, 26, hit .181/.227/.340 in 343 major league appearances across three seasons with the Miami Marlins. He has shown impressive power in Triple-A, hitting 39 home runs and slugging .504 in 680 plate appearances at that level over the past two seasons. Originally signed by Minnesota, he was traded for current Orioles pitching prospect Chris Vallimont and reliever Sergio Romo in 2019.
Cordero, 28, has long been a Statcast darling despite a meager career batting line of .221/.290/.386 in parts of six seasons with the San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox. Since 2017, he has put 10 balls in play at 115 mph or harder, while the Orioles as a team have 11 such drives in the same span. Exclusively an outfielder during his time with the Padres and Royals, he played 64 games at first base in his two years with Boston, spending nearly 150 more innings at first than in the outfield for the Red Sox in 2022.
Given that Díaz is a waiver claim now with his third franchise in two weeks and Cordero settled for a minor league contract after being nontendered, there’s no guarantee either has much of a role to play for the 2023 Orioles. But it shows the type of player executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias might target over the coming weeks.
Given that Camden Yards’ new left field wall has made the ballpark designed to suppress right-handed hitters’ power, adding left-handed bats would be a sound approach to improving an offense that ranked 19th in both runs per game and OPS in 2022. And unless they again explore Santander, Vavra or Rutschman — Vavra being a lefty and the others switch-hitters — at first base, the organization lacks a clear left-handed option there.
The Orioles could continue to peruse the open market for a solution. Coming off a Silver Slugger campaign in the National League split between the Washington Nationals and Padres, Josh Bell could tandem with Mountcastle at first base and designated hitter, giving manager Brandon Hyde more matchup-based options. Projections have Bell, 30, receiving a three-year deal for about $40 million, according to FanGraphs; the Orioles have yet to give a free agent a guaranteed multi-year deal in more than four years under Elias. After setting a franchise rookie record for home runs in 2021, Mountcastle was, by some metrics, the majors’ most unfortunate hitter, producing relatively poor results given his amount of hard contact.
Even if the Orioles don’t aim higher than Díaz or Cordero as a secondary option at first base, they could do worse than considering two players with upside and power potential.
()
Originally published at Tribune News Service