Orioles, Jake Cave avoid arbitration

The Orioles announced that they have agreed to terms with outfielder Jake Cave on a contract for 2023. The financials of the deal are not yet publicly known. Nathan Ruiz of The Baltimore Sun reports that it’s a split contract, meaning Cave’s salary will be dependent on how much time he spends in the majors. Additionally, the club announced that right-hander Chris Ellis and catcher Aramis Garcia both rejected an outright assignment and elected free agency.

Cave, 30 next month, was originally drafted by the Yankees but was traded to the Twins before making his MLB debut. He spent at least some time with the Twins in each of the past five seasons. His first few campaigns were quite encouraging, as Cave hit .262/.329/.466 over 2018 and 2019, producing a wRC+ of 111. It’s been a rough go since then, however, with Cave’s line dropping to .206/.262/.351 since the start of 2020. That amounts to a wRC+ of only 70 in that stretch.

Cave was outrighted in the 2021-22 offseason and spent most of his time in Triple-A before being selected back to the bigs in August. He had encouraging results for St. Paul, hitting .273/.370/.509 for a wRC+ of 130 in 85 games, though he wasn’t able to bring that up to the big-league team.

Nonetheless, Baltimore must have been intrigued, as they grabbed Cave off waivers in mid-October. That was after the season was done, meaning Cave has yet to suit up for the O’s. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a salary around $1.2M, though he and the club will steer clear of a hearing by agreeing to a figure well ahead of time.

Cave still has one option year remaining, which it seems the O’s intend to use given the split nature of his deal. The current Baltimore outfield consists of Cedric Mullins, Austin Hays, Anthony Santander and Kyle Stowers. The club also has a highly regarded outfield prospect in Colton Cowser, who finished 2022 at Triple-A and could be ready for an MLB debut in 2023. In order to accommodate Cowser, it’s possible that the O’s swing a trade of one of their existing outfielders. Since prospects often take some time adjusting to MLB pitching, it’s sound strategy to have an experienced depth option like Cave on hand. Stowers also has just 34 games in the big leagues on his ledger and isn’t a lock to hold down a job going forward, adding another reason to prioritize a depth option.

As for Ellis and Garcia, they were each outrighted off Baltimore’s roster on the weekend but were eligible to elect free agency. In Garcia’s case, he has more than three years of MLB service time whereas Ellis qualified for free agency by having a previous career outright.