Baltimore Orioles trade for catcher Francisco Pena

The Baltimore Orioles traded cash considerations to Kansas City for catcher Francisco Pena.

The Baltimore Orioles and Dan Duquette have been active in the trade market the past few days. The most recent development is that they traded cash considerations to Kansas City yesterday for journeyman catcher Francisco Pena. Don’t assume right of the bat that this is Duquette taking someone off the scrap heap or anything else. I suspect this is just a move to replace Steve Clevenger in the organization.

Pena was drafted by the NY Mets, and later ended up in Kansas City’s

Courtesy of Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

organization. As I said, he’s somewhat of a journeyman, and has played sparingly in the majors. This is obviously a move by the Orioles in the name of depth, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pena is the starting catcher for the Norfolk Tides in April.

However also keep in mind that Clevenger saw time in the big leagues here and there, so don’t be surprised if Pena occasionally gets called up. He’s also an insurance policy on Wieters and Joseph – you just never know what can happen in the way of injuries. This is utimately a good move that’s costing the Orioles nary anything.

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Duquette on Pena (quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, masnsports.com)

"Pena is a solid addition to our roster. He gives us catching depth and should help our club in 2016."

Pena’s been around since 2007 (in professional baseball, that is), so he’s a veteran. That should be a good presence on a Norfolk team that will feature lots of future Orioles. As often as the O’s tap into the Tides’ roster, I suspect his experience will be valuable in terms of passing savoir faire onto various players as they come and go. The fact that he was previously part of an organization that ended up as world champions doesn’t hurt either.

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For the record, Pena’s also the son of former MLB all-star, Tony Pena. Anytime you have someone in your organization cut from that type of stock, you’re in good shape. The O’s also non-tendered outfielder David Lough yesterday, allowing him to become a free agent. Nolan Reimold also found a contract tendered his way. He will make $1.3 million next year if he’s on the Opening Day roster. 

Next: Baltimore Orioles trade for Mark Trumbo

So the Orioles have set their table very nicely this week as they head into the winter meetings next week. It’ll be interesting to see which big names fall off the board and so forth, and which don’t. Every year teams say they’re going to come home with some sort of big ticket item, but few ever seem to be able to do so. The O’s are certainly hoping that they’re able to swing something.