O's avoid arbitration with 3, tender 3 others

BALTIMORE -- The Orioles did not part with any of their core players at Tuesday’s non-tender deadline, but it will take additional work to bring John Means and Trey Mancini back for 2022. The club on Tuesday tendered contracts to Means, Mancini and the rest of its six arbitration-eligible players but signed only three.

Additionally, Baltimore signed free-agent second baseman Rougned Odor to a one-year deal on Tuesday.

Those deals include one-year pacts with Anthony Santander ($3.15 million), Jorge López ($1.5 million) and Paul Fry ($850,000), while Means, Mancini and Tanner Scott remained unsigned as of 8 p.m. Tuesday night. The team also released right-hander Brooks Kriske and lost infielder Lucius Fox on a waiver claim to the Nationals, reshaping its 40-man roster a bit on a day it also gained its first payroll clarity heading for 2022. Santander, López and Fry represent the Orioles’ first financial commitments for the upcoming season.

The Orioles will pay Odor the Major League minimum; he is also owed $12 million by the Rangers. The Orioles confirmed the moves but not the monetary figures, which are according to sources.

Tuesday was the deadline for teams to exchange salary figures on new one-year contracts for players with between three (sometimes two) and six years of Major League service time. Teams and players frequently use the deadline as an impetus to sign a new deal, and if the two sides cannot agree, the final step in the process is to have an independent arbiter choose either the team’s or the player’s suggested salary.

Mancini is third-time arbitration eligible after returning from Stage 3 colon cancer to hit .255/.326/.432 with 21 home runs in 2021, earning American League Comeback Player of the Year honors. He earned $5 million in 2021.

Means and Scott are first-time arbitration eligible, as were López and Fry. The team’s undisputed ace, Means went 6-9 with a 3.62 ERA despite missing six weeks with shoulder fatigue in 2021. He threw the franchise’s first solo no-hitter in 52 years, and remains under team control for two more seasons. Scott was one of the game’s top left-handed relievers in the first half but suffered a knee injury in July and imploded down the stretch, finishing with a 5.17 ERA in 62 appearances. Means, Mancini and Scott all remain trade candidates this winter.

Odor, 27, averaged 28 homers per year as a stalwart for the Rangers from 2016-19, helping the club to two playoff appearances in his seven seasons in Texas. He hit .202 with 15 homers, 39 RBIs, 100 strikeouts and a .665 OPS in 102 games for the Yankees in 2021. He was released by New York last week. A career .234/.289/.433 hitter, Odor would project as the Orioles' everyday second baseman heading into 2022, though the team is expected to search for additional infield help.

The full list of players who agreed to deals on Tuesday is as follows:

Anthony Santander, $3.15 million (per sources)
Second-time arbitration eligible; 2021 salary: $2.1 million

Through one lens, Santander looked like a potential non-tender candidate given his down 2021 season, which saw the switch-hitting outfielder bat .241/.286/.433 with 18 homers, 50 RBIs and a 92 OPS+ amid various injuries. The lingering effects of the sprained right ankle he suffered in April limited Santander to 110 games; he’s yet to play a full season in the Majors due in part to consistent health issues. Essentially the Orioles needed to decide whether Santander is the player he was in '20, when he broke out with 11 homers and had an .890 OPS in 37 games. Since ’19, he’s slashed .252/.295/.474 across 240 games. They bet on the upside, and can now dangle it in trade talks if they deem fit.

Jorge López, $1.5 million (per sources)
First-time arbitration eligible
The talented but erratic López, 28, represented the Orioles’ most difficult tender decision. The right-hander struggled mightily as a starter (6.35 ERA) before impressing as a one-inning reliever in a small sample down the stretch, when his stuff ticked up without the burden of facing hitters multiple times. All told, López went 3-14 with a 6.07 ERA in 2021; he projects now as a bullpen piece, perhaps in a multi-inning role.

Paul Franko, $850,000 (per sources)
First-time arbitration eligible
As the Orioles searched for trustworthy options around him, Fry was their most consistent bullpen arm through mid-July, after emerging as a value middle-inning weapon in 2020. Then the wheels fell off. Fry owned a 1.78 ERA on July 18, then pitched to an 11.05 ERA in 26 appearances. He finished the season at Triple-A.