Baltimore Orioles To Collect Another Former Twins Player?
If you take a look at some of the players that the Baltimore Orioles have employed in recent years, you wouldn’t be hard pressed to find a few former Minnesota Twins names. As the offseason continues to roll on, it appears that the Orioles may be looking for help in a recently released Twins player.
More from Minnesota Twins History
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- Minnesota Twins: Taking a Look Back at the Original Taylor Rogers deal
- Minnesota Twins: Looking Back at Miguel Sano’s 2017 Home Run Derby
- Minnesota Twins: My Time With Hall of Fame Inductee Tony Oliva
- 15 for 15: Ranking the Top 15 Minnesota Twins from the Last 15 years
Following the Twins designating him for assignment, Chris Parmelee chose to reject his trip to Triple-A Rochester and instead is a free agent on the open market. With the Orioles losing both Nick Markakis and Nelson Cruz this offseason, legitimate outfield options have dwindled.
Roch Kubatko of MASN has suggested that Baltimore may be a landing spot for the former Twins first round draft pick.
J.J. Hardy and Steve Pearce are both integral parts of the Orioles roster and their impressive 2014 season. Looking back a little further Alexi Casilla made a stop in Baltimore, and Delmon Young resided there for a while as well. Each player has had some level of success in the Orioles organization, and Parmelee could become the next to continue that trend.
As of now, the Orioles appear to be keen on Colby Rasmus as a left field option, but Kubatko mentions that Baltimore is fond of Parmelee, and he would be a much less costly option. At the major league level, Parmelee owns a .249/.317/.392 slash line. He has shown glimpses of power but has never hit more than eight home runs in a season. His K/BB ratio (64/17 in 2014) causes concern, but if he could put more balls in play, the Orioles could find a useful player at just 27 years old.
Whatever ends up happening, Twins fans won’t be seeing Parmelee in limbo between Triple-A Rochester and Minneapolis any time soon. Best of luck to him wherever he ends up.