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If you're waiting for the Orioles to do something significant, you can keep on waiting. If you're waiting for the Orioles to keep signing random schmucks to minor league deals with invites to spring training, you're in luck, because they have delivered for you one Alfredo Aceves, spotted most recently being terrible for the Red Sox.
Tim Dierkes of MLBTR broke the news of the deal being struck and noted that Aceves "could start or help in bullpen". If the standard being used for a player to start is ability to hurl the first pitch of a baseball game in the general direction of home plate, then I, too, could start for a team. Aceves, who was a long man/spot starter in his best years, is probably not someone who belongs in a rotation except for the most desperate of teams, which, to be fair, the Orioles could be.
As with all minor league signings, you kind of have to take it with a grain of salt. If the Orioles thought Aceves would matter, then probably so would other MLB teams, and he would not have to fight for scraps on a minor league deal. This is yet another long shot hope for a diamond in the rough. Maybe they scouted him out in winter ball and thought he was looking better and was worth taking a flier on. If he can pitch, he'll find his way onto the team at some point. If he can't, whatever. Enjoy Norfolk or being back on the scrap heap.
Aceves got the most press of his career for repeatedly scuffling with then-manager Bobby Valentine when on the Red Sox in 2012. There were no winners there. Aceves somehow saved 25 games for that awful Red Sox team - about which I can no longer take any satisfaction, since they turned around and won the World Series - even though he had a 5.36 ERA. He was nearly as bad in 2013. After a terrible April, he was banished, appearing in only six more games for the remainder of the season and none after July 9.
The Orioles are throwing a glut of relievers at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's not a bad strategy. It's only frustrating because that's their only strategy. They've also been doing that for left field, second base, and designated hitter. Maybe they can cash in a lottery ticket in all of those spots, but probably we are in for another year of the lineup being weighed down by anchors at one or more of these positions.
