Wesley Wright, Baltimore Orioles agree to one year deal

Dominoes continue to fall and deplete the left-handed reliever market, with Wesley Wright agreeing to a one year deal with the Baltimore Orioles. MASN’s Roch Kubatko first reported the agreement on Tuesday afternoon, with WEEI’s Rob Bradford relaying the contract value Wednesday morning.

Wright spent five and a half seasons with the Houston Astros before being acquired by the Tampa Bay Rays in August 2013. Tampa Bay non-tendered him after the season, leading him to sign a one year deal with the Chicago Cubs this time last year. He earned $1.425 million in 2014 and was effective, but hardly dominant, in 58 appearances with the team – posting a 3.17 ERA and 1.386 WHIP with a career-low 6.9 K/9 in 48.1 IP.

In just under 300 innings for his career, Wright has held left-handed hitters to a .238/.315/.331 line while giving up just seven home runs. Right-handers have hit .264/.354/.479 against him, likely pushing him more towards a specialist role.

The signing could end up being a key one for the Orioles. The team had made an effort to retain Andrew Miller, before he ended up signing with the New York Yankees, and they’ve been in search of an experienced left-handed option to add to the bullpen since. Baltimore is hardly without options, with Zach Britton and Brian Matusz already in place. The former is the team’s closer and the latter hasn’t fully lived up to expectations, but both already fill important roles for Buck Showalter. Wright’s presence adds to the mix around them.

Wright’s signing removes another option from the free agent market, leaving teams still in need of a left-handed arm for the bullpen to pick through a few limited options. Craig Breslow may be best of the group that remains, despite coming off a relatively poor 2014 season. Many of the others carry questions both about their performance and their health.