At long last, Pedro Alvarez has found a team for the 2017 season. And all he had to do was agree to change positions and accept a minor-league contract. Alvarez is returning to the Orioles as an outfielder.
Alvarez agreed to return to orioles. Deal is he will play the OF for them. Been working on it 3-4 months.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 11, 2017
Alvarez is minors deal. About 2M plus 3.5M incentives. @StokkeTommy was 1st with story @FanRagSports
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 11, 2017
Alvarez, 30, had a sneaky good year for Baltimore in 2016. He hit .249/.322/.504 (115 OPS+) with 22 home runs in 109 games, and most of that damage came against righties. The left-handed hitter authored a .251/.326/.522 (126 OPS+) batting line with 21 of those 22 homers against northpaws.
The position switch is the more interesting story here. Alvarez is, putting it nicely, a below-average defender. He started his career at third base and has since moved to first, where he still isn’t any good defensively. Putting him in the outfield now could be disastrous given his general lack of experience and mobility.
Then again, the Orioles played Mark Trumbo in outfield much of last season, and he’s no great shakes defensively either. I guess as long as Alvarez mashes, the club will live with the glove for a few innings, then get him out for a defensive replacement late in the game.
Right now the Orioles have Adam Jones, Hyun Soo Kim, and Seth Smith slated to start in the outfield. Joey Rickard figures to be in the mix, and Rule 5 Draft picks Aneury Tavarez and Anthony Santander could be factors as well.
