Baltimore Orioles: Orioles sign Welington Castillo on one-year deal

The Baltimore Orioles had been quiet this offseason. However, they have finally made their move and signed a Major League catcher.

The Baltimore Orioles have been quiet this offseason, even during the Winter Meetings. However, the Orioles finally made their first move of the offseason, and it fills the recently vacant catcher’s spot.

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Orioles have signed Welington Castillo on a one-year, up $13 Million contract with a player option for the 2018 season. In order to get the entire $13 Million of the contract, Castillo would have to exercise his player option in 2018.

With the signing of Castillo, does that mean the Orioles are going to venture away from Matt Wieters? Well, unfortunately that would be the case.

The Orioles and Castillo had been talking about a deal as early as last week. Orioles GM Dan Duquette wasn’t interested in waiting until January to get a deal for a catcher done. However, for less money Castillo will give the Orioles about the same production as Wieters.

Castillo broke into Major League Baseball with the Chicago Cubs and played there for five full seasons before splitting his time with three teams in 2015. Along with the Cubs in 2015, Castillo played for the Seattle Mariners and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Castillo played for the Diamondbacks during the 2016 season before he was shockingly non-tendered prior to the Rule 5 deadline.

In 113 games with the Diamondbacks, Castillo had a .264 AVG with 14 homers, 68 RBI and a .322 OBP.

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The Orioles knew that they weren’t going to re-sign Wieters and prior to the Castillo signing envisioned Caleb Joseph as the starting catcher. Wieters was the Orioles main catcher since 2009 and became a free agent after the Orioles failed to offer him a qualifying offer. Of course, the Orioles didn’t want to make the same mistake twice. The team offered him a qualifying offer at the end of the 2015 season which led to Wieters taking the one-year deal.