Veteran infielder accepts outright assignment with Orioles

The Orioles announced that infielder Emmanuel Rivera, who they designated for assignment earlier this week, has cleared outright waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. He’ll stay in the organization and provide them with some non-roster depth.

This was the expected outcome once Rivera was bumped off the 40-man roster. Players with at least three years of major league service time have the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency. However, if they have less than five years of service, they have to forfeit their remaining salary to exercise that right.

Rivera has a bit more than three years of service. He and the O’s avoided arbitration in the offseason by agreeing to a $1M salary. They passed him through waivers in February. He could have elected free agency at that time but made the obvious choice to accept, as it kept that $1M salary on the table for this year.

He got his roster spot back in April when Jordan Westburg landed on the injured list. Rivera got 76 plate appearances, hitting .232/.303/.275 for a wRC+ of 70. Westburg returned from the IL a couple of days ago. Since Rivera is out of options, he was bumped off the 40-man. Similar to his last outright, it’s logical for him to accept the assignment to keep his salary flowing.

He’ll give the O’s a bit of experienced non-roster infield depth. In his career, he has hit .243/.306/.363 for a wRC+ of 86. However, his grades for his third base defense have been strong. Thanks mostly to that glovework, FanGraphs has credited him with 1.9 wins above replacement in 367 games.

The O’s are having a disappointing season, with a 27-39 record that leaves them eight games out of a playoff spot at the moment. Unless they charge ahead in the coming weeks, they will go into the deadline as sellers. Players like Ryan O’Hearn, Ramón Urías, Ryan Mountcastle and others may end up on the move, which could open some late-season playing time for Rivera. Even without trades, another injury situation could pop up at any time.

If he’s not added back before the end of the year, he would be able to elect free agency, as is the case for all players with at least three years of service who are outright off a 40-man roster during the season.