Orioles sign infielder Freddy Galvis to one-year contract

No one can say that the Orioles won’t sign any major league free agents this offseason. On Tuesday evening, they announced the signing of infielder Freddy Galvis to a one-year contract for the 2021 season.

Galvis has been suggested as an Orioles infield target for a lot of the offseason, especially once the O’s traded Jose Iglesias to the Angels. According to The Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli, Galvis will make $1.5 million on this contract, with a possible $250,000 bonus if Galvis is traded during the season. That money’s not in his bank account yet, but he might be thinking real hard about what to do with it.

The 31-year-old Galvis first broke into the bigs in 2012 with the Phillies. Over a nine-year MLB career, he’s batted a combined .247/.291/.385, which is, uh, not very good hitting. Despite that batting line, Galvis posted at least 2.0 bWAR in 2017, 2018, and 2019 because he was able to provide enough defensive value at shortstop and second base. Most of that playing time was at shortstop.

Galvis’s defensive prowess has not netted him any Gold Glove awards to date, though he did come in as a top three finisher in each of the 2016, 2017, and 2018 seasons. If he can field well in an Orioles uniform, that will make him a decent stopgap solution at the position. Between the signing of Galvis and the addition of former Gold Glove winner Yolmer Sanchez, the O’s have brought in a couple of middle infielders who bring a good defensive reputation with them.

In announcing the Galvis signing, the Orioles also announced that Chris Shaw has been designated for assignment. If your reaction to that name is, “Who?” that is probably because Shaw has only been an Oriole on paper since being claimed on waivers by the O’s two months ago. Shaw is a lefty-batting first baseman who has hit .153/.244/.222 in 38 big league games across two seasons. That’s a sub-Davisian OPS.