Baltimore Orioles: Projected Arbitration Figures And Decisions

Miguel Castro will get one last opportunity with the Baltimore Orioles.

2019 salary- $569,000            MLBTR projected salary- $1.2 million

We all know the Miguel Castro story very well by now. Maybe we’re just being suckered in again, but Castro’s strong end to 2019 (minus his six-run outing against Toronto) allows a bit of optimism to pop back in as we look forward to spring training 2020.

Armed with a high-velocity fastball and wipe-out slider, Castro will be just 25 years old when Opening Day rolls around next year and is worth the $1 million or so to give him one last opportunity to prove himself in the major leagues.

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The $1.1 million projected salary for Bleier is a bit much, but I’ll gladly pay around that same amount for Castro’s potential upside.

Castro walked an extreme amount of hitters (5.03/9 IP), but his 8.71 K/9 IP was a massive increase over his high of 5.94/9 IP as a member of the Orioles. Entering 2019, Castro had accumulated -0.7 fWAR in parts of four seasons and was worth 0.4 fWAR this year, while also posting the lowest FIP of his career at 4.73.

To wrap it all up, don’t be surprised to see all seven players tendered before the deadline in a few weeks, but Richard Bleier is right on the bubble and the likeliest to be non-tendered due to his down season and age. Bundy and Mancini remain trade candidates, but odds are low either are moved. We may not be able to say the same about Villar and Givens.

If you didn’t check out the link at the beginning of the article, you can view every projected salary for all arbitration players here.