Orioles News & Notes - February 2025

[Orioles]

From NBCSports.com:


... The Athletic’s Evan Drellich reports the Athletics and Lawrence Butler are engaged in discussions regarding a long-term contract extension. MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand adds that it’s unclear how close the two sides are to getting an agreement across the finish line. The Athletics made a significant financial commitment last month when they signed Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60 million extension and appear to be making a similar effort here to lock up one of their potential franchise cornerstones. The 24-year-old burgeoning fantasy stalwart made some mechanical tweaks to his swing and hit .291 with 20 homers and 15 steals over his final 84 contests after being recalled on June 18. He’s still going to strike out roughly a quarter of the time, but near-elite batted ball metrics, including a 47.7 percent hard-hit rate, point to a rising star just beginning his takeoff sequence.


... Padres manager Mike Shildt said Wednesday that he sees the catcher spot as an open competition with Luis Campusano, Elias Díaz, Martín Maldonado and Brett Sullivan. Shildt wasn’t interested in pointing out any favorites for playing time. Expectations are that that Díaz and Campusano will be the team’s catchers, but Campusano, who finished last season in the minors, does have one option year remaining. While Campusano is clearly the most interesting fantasy catcher in the group, defense has been an issue. Díaz might see the majority of the time in the early going.


... Vaughn Grissom added 20 pounds of muscle during the offseason. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow made the revelation to reporters at the outset of spring training. Grissom is coming off an injury-marred Boston debut last year where he played in just 31 contests in the majors, batting .190 (20-for-105) with zero homers and two steals. At 24 years old, it’s too early to give up on him completely, but he’s going to have to show something in Grapefruit League action to have any shot at holding off top prospect Kristian Campell for Boston’s starting second base role.

[Orioles]

From Brendan Tuma of BA's Fantasy Baseball Value Picks For Every American League Team In 2025:

Lawrence Butler, OF, Athletics

Butler’s overall numbers last season were strong. As a 23-year-old rookie, he hit .262/.317/.490 with 22 homers and 18 stolen bases in only 125 games. Butler’s 130 wRC+ led all rookies with at least 350 plate appearances and his 3.3 fWAR ranked second on the A’s.

From June 30 through the end of the year, he hit a scalding .304/.347/.596 with 20 homers. Here’s a list of hitters with a higher wRC+ than Butler during this three-month sample:

Aaron Judge
Bobby Witt Jr.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Brent Rooker
Shohei Ohtani
Juan Soto

Butler had a high homer-to-fly ball rate during this heater, and it isn’t as if his season-long batted-ball numbers are in outlier territory. Per Orr’s metrics, his pulled fly ball rate was in the 18th percentile.

That should keep expectations in check, but note that Butler was a perfect 18-for-18 when swiping bases. Per Statcast, he tied for 13th in the majors in “stealing value runs,” which includes outs created. His stolen base efficiency could lead to more attempts in 2025, paving another pathway to fantasy goodness.