As spring training games ramp up and the regular season fast approaches, Major League Baseball teams are starting to wrap up their offseason shopping lists.
The odds dictate that not many veteran position players signed at this point in the offseason will make a major impact on their new teams’ seasons. But on Monday, the Baltimore Orioles picked up a longtime major league infielder with a decent track record, at least relative to the majority of the remaining free agents on the market.
According to the league’s official transactions log, the Orioles signed 30-year-old Thairo Estrada to a minor-league contract on Monday with a non-roster invite to spring training.
Estrada has had some strong seasons, particularly from 2021 to 2023 with the San Francisco Giants. In 312 games during that time frame, he posted a .266/.320/.416 slash line with 35 home runs, 133 RBIs, and 153 runs scored.
However, Estrada is also coming off back-to-back brutal seasons. A negative-WAR campaign in 2024 saw the Giants outright Estrada off the 40-man roster, and after signing a guaranteed deal with the Colorado Rockies last January, he started the season on the injured list with a fractured wrist and never got his season back on track, finishing with negative WAR once again.
Because he has over five years of major league service time, Estrada will likely have some sort of opt-out clause in his deal that would allow him to hit free agency at some point this spring if he didn’t get called up, even after hypothetically accepting a minor-league assignment to begin the regular season.
Estrada broke in with the New York Yankees as a rookie in 2019 and has accrued 4.4 bWAR and 436 hits over his seven partial seasons in the big leagues.
More MLB: Blue Jays Could Trade 7-Year Veteran Over Role Dispute: Insider