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Baltimore Orioles: Latest player signing irritates fans

By Kristen Bentley

BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 30: General manger of the Baltimore Orioles on the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden yards on April 30, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE, MD - APRIL 30: General manger of the Baltimore Orioles on the field before a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox at Oriole Park at Camden yards on April 30, 2016 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
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With FanFest on the horizon, the Baltimore Orioles signed another player that will not fill the holes in the pitching rotation.

And, the fan responses on Twitter clearly show that they want the Baltimore Orioles to do something better.

In a Tweet from the Orioles organization, the team announced they signed Engelb Vielma from the San Francisco Giants. The Orioles will give the Giants a player to be named later and some cash.

This uneventful signing is just another in a line of uneventful signings of minor league players and unwanted Rule-5 players. Vielma has been shuffled around the league as of late. He began his career in the Minnesota Twins organization. In fact, he has been the busiest player in this horribly slow offseason.

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Deadspin covered this poor kid’s dance through the MLB in a recent article. In the past 135 days between September 12, 2017, and January 26, 2018, he has been involved in eight transactions. On September 12, the Twins designated him for assignment. The Giants picked him up, then they placed him on waivers. The Phillies picked him up, then placed him on waivers. The Pirates picked him up, then designated him for assignment. The Giants snapped him up again, the designated him for assignment. Then, today happened.

And, with all of that movement, Vielma has never seen a pitch at the Major League level.

This is ridiculous.

The Orioles don’t need this guy. He is an infielder who plays everything but first base. The team already has two of the best infielders in the game in Manny Machado and Jonathan Schoop, as well as Tim Beckham and Chris Davis.

What’s really odd is that the Orioles have had their eyes on this kid for some time. Roch Kubatko shared this treasure in a Tweet today:

There aren’t any Major League stats to share, but Vielma played 87 games with the Twins Triple-A team in 2017. He hit a slash of .206/.233/.260. I bet you’re shaking your head in amazement. Vielma has two home runs to his name in six minor league seasons. And, in a handful of games at second base in Triple-A, his fielding percentage was .833. At shortstop, his fielding percentage was .981 in 84 innings.

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Maybe this kid has something. But, the stats don’t show much. He’s 23 years old and stands 5’11, weighing in at 155 pounds. He’s from Maracaibo, Venezuela. Do the Orioles think he’s the next Jose Altuve? Because he clearly is not. At age 23, Altuve was in the MLB hitting .283. This kid isn’t even close.

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