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It’s been a busy Friday afternoon for the Orioles, who started out by\u00a0adding reliever Andrew Kittredge\u00a0on a short-term deal and have now made a trio of roster moves to re-set their 40-man roster.<\/p>\n
The newest Oriole is righty Roansy Contreras, who spent the bulk of his career in Pittsburgh before getting dealt to the Angels back in May of 2024.<\/p>\n
While Contreras was primarily a starter early in his career, he was shifted to a swing-man role and pitched almost exclusively out of the bullpen in 2024.<\/p>\n
For his career, Contreras has a 4.72 ERA, which isn’t all that attractive. However, there are some things that stick out as interesting tidbits that could make him an effective part of the O’s 2025 bullpen. For one, he’s been quite a bit better against same-side hitters than he has against lefties.<\/p>\n
His 21.7% strikeout rate against righties was over 7 percentage points better than his mark against lefties, and his walk rate was over 3 percentage points better as well.<\/p>\n
While Kittredge will likely fill the void left by\u00a0the departing Jacob Webb, Contreras will hopefully be able to fill in during low-leverage spots and provide a good bit of length to a fairly shallow bullpen.<\/p>\n
While Contreras and Kittredge are the two guys coming in,\u00a0there are two players headed out as well. The recently acquired Rene Pinto, former catcher for the Rays, was apparently placed on waivers earlier this week and on Friday was claimed by the Diamondbacks.<\/p>\n
Additionally, infielder Livan Soto was designated for assignment and could potentially be traded over the weekend, though he could also be claimed on waivers before that happens.<\/p>\n
Soto had been primarily functioning as minor league depth\u00a0since the O’s acquired him in July of 2024.<\/p>\n
He played in 12 games at the major league level and hit well during that time, but there’s little in his profile that suggests he’s got the potential to be a regular in the majors.<\/p>\n
There was some speculation that Pinto could serve as the O’s backup catcher in 2025 but with the addition of Gary Sanchez, Pinto was little more than a depth piece.<\/p>\n
It’s likely that Pinto voiced his opinion regarding his future in Baltimore and as the Orioles hadn’t given up anything to acquire him earlier this winter, let him walk to try to find a job elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It’s been a busy Friday afternoon for the Orioles, who started out by\u00a0adding reliever Andrew Kittredge\u00a0on a short-term deal and have now made a trio of roster… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25619,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n