The Orioles will officially head to spring training later this week. It feels hard to believe that we’re already here, but pitchers and catchers are set to report to camp on Thursday and will begin working on Friday.
At present, the roster seems mostly set.
It’s still possible that Mike Elias finds a way to add an impact starting pitcher before Opening Day but the recent signings of Dylan Carlson and Ramon Laureano give the impression that the O’s are comfortable with the group they have.
There’s also not much in the way of available playing time after those additions, especially with the impending return of Jorge Mateo later this spring.
But interestingly, Roch Kubatko of MASN reported late last week that the Orioles nearly went in a different direction earlier this winter.
Kubatko wrote in a notes column that the O’s had expressed interest in signing former White Sox first baseman and corner outfielder Gavin Sheets to a free agent deal.
The Orioles were reportedly interested in former White Sox outfielder Gavin Sheets
Coming into the winter, it was clear that the Orioles needed to add at least one right handed bat to their lefty heavy lineup. Inking outfielder Tyler O’Neill and catcher Gary Sanchez filled that need, but the Orioles weren’t satisfied.
They went out and subsequently added Laureano, who’s been nails against left handed pitchers in his career.
The interesting part here is that Sheets is not, in fact, a right handed hitter.
And he’s not a particularly adept fielder either.
Adding another questionable left handed bat into an already crowded, lefty heavy lineup would have been an honestly shocking choice and it’s not entirely clear what the Orioles saw in Sheets to make them even remotely interested.
For his career, Sheets has been worth a dismal -1.7 fWAR. He’s hit .230/.295/.385 in about 3.5 seasons worth of playing time with little power, and he’s been basically unplayable against left handed pitching.
His .239/.315/.364 slash line against righties isn’t anywhere near good enough to function as a platoon bat, especially as a guy who doesn’t offer defensive versatility or any kind of base running value.
Thankfully, the Orioles didn’t pull the trigger on a deal with Sheets.
Even bringing him in on a minor league deal would have been questionable, as it would have taken playing time away from younger guys with a real shot at being major league contributors.
Sheets remains unsigned heading into spring training, so we’ll have to wait and see if there’s a team out there willing to give him another shot. We’ll cross our fingers and hope that team isn’t the Orioles.
