Former Orioles Making Headlines

Over the past few days, two former Orioles got contracts for the 2011 baseball season. The biggest beneficiary of the offseason thus far has to be Jayson Werth. Werth inked a 7 year $126 million contract with our beltway neighbors, the Washington Nationals. For those who may not know, yes, Werth was in fact a former Oriole. We drafted him number 22 overall in the first round of 1997 draft. While Werth did not appear in any major league games for the franchise, he was very highly regarded. He had great athletic ability and even above average speed for a catcher. After spending years in the minors, the Orioles traded him to the Blue Jays in exchange for pitcher, John Bale.

Werth's major league debut for the Jays came in 2002. Two years later, Werth was again on the move; this time to the Los Angeles Dodgers. At this point, Jayson was converted to the outfield to better suit his athleticism. He was declared a free agent and eventually signed a deal with the Phillies in 2006. He originally was in a platoon with Geoff Jenkins but an injury to outfielder Shane Victorino gave Werth an everyday role. In the rest of that season and in coming years, he established himself as a legitimate power threat and a key piece of the World Series championship in 2008. He stayed in Philly until after the 2010 season.

With the Nationals loss of Adam Dunn, Werth was signed to give Ryan Zimmerman lineup protection and to produce for years to come in DC.

Another former Oriole, Melvin Mora, inked a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Terms of the deal were undisclosed, but the Dbacks get a great role player with veteran leadership and a true passion for the game of baseball. Mora had a great stretch last year with the Rockies, parlaying that into a contract with another NL West team.

Even though they are no longer Orioles, I wish the best of luck to both of these players in their future endeavors and for the remainder of their MLB careers.