The final two players on this list are also certain to demand more than one discussion about their future. With an injury to Jose Iglesias limiting his time at shortstop in 2020, Pat Valaika emerged as yet another Mike Elias waiver claim to provide much-needed value.
While Valaika put up some of the worst defensive numbers among all major league shortstops, Valaika did hit .277 with a .315 OBP, eight home runs, and a 112 wRC+ in 52 games. This after recording a wRC+ of 9 and 34 in 2018 and 2019 with Colorado, respectively.
Assuming the Orioles pick up next year’s option on Jose Iglesias, notable play from Ramon Urias and the return of a healthy Richie Martin in 2021 provides a notable upgrade defensively for Baltimore and a possible trade or non-tendering of Valaika.
Finally, there’s relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong. Injuries limited his time on the mound in 2020, but Armstrong has been one of the more over-looked pitchers on this Baltimore Orioles roster over the last two seasons.
The 30-year-old righty struck out 25% of hitters he faced this season, cut his walk rate in half compared to 2019, and saw his groundball rate jump from 30% to 44% while posting a 1.80 ERA and .170 batting average against in 14 outings.
Baltimore’s bullpen, while good, is young and having a reliable veteran arm who can go more than one inning if necessary would be an asset next season. Odds are that Shawn Armstrong returns in 2021, but if he pitches as well as he did in 2020 next season, don’t be surprised to see the Orioles try and make another move similar to the types of deals made for Castro and Givens.
There aren’t any arbitration-eligible players who you can point to and say for sure that they won’t be tendered a contract this offseason, but the Baltimore Orioles will have to take long looks at some of the names on this list and make a few tough decisions.