A five star player reveals his decision before signing with the Orioles
Julio Teheran, a veteran right-hander, has opted out of his minor league contract with the Orioles, the team said this morning. After choosing to opt out of a prior minor league contract with the Cubs, the 33-year-old veteran signed with Baltimore earlier this month. However, he will now return to free agency in quest of a better opportunity elsewhere.
After spending 13 seasons in the major leagues, Teheran made his major league debut with the Braves in 2011, but he wasn’t a regular member of the team’s rotation until 2013. After that, the right-hander played in the club’s mid-rotation for the following seven seasons, making at least thirty starts each time and pitching to a 3.64 ERA (111 ERA+) and 4.22 FIP altogether. Because of his remarkable endurance, he started fewer games than only Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, and Max Scherzer during the 2013–2019 big league season, yet nevertheless recorded the ninth-most innings of any pitcher in the league.
Teheran left the Braves after the 2019 season and started to travel the league, spending the previous five years with stops in a number of different clubs. When considering only his major league career, he has suit up for the Mets, Brewers, Tigers, and Angels. He has participated in every major league season since that time, with the exception of 2022, when he pitched in the Mexican League and Atlantic League outside of affiliated ball. He has labored to a 6.10 ERA and nearly matching 6.11 FIP in 110 2/3 innings of work in recent years, however he did manage a 4.40 ERA (100 ERA+) in 71 2/3 during his stint with Milwaukee.
past year’s innings.
Teheran returned to free agency and signed with the Mets when the Orioles decided not to include him on their Opening Day roster, but that respectable performance with the Brewers was sufficient to earn him a minor league deal with Baltimore coming into Spring Training. After just one start in which he gave up four runs on six hits and two walks in two and a third innings, Teheran was designated for assignment by the team. After a string of injuries to the Cubs big league roster, he eventually signed on with Chicago as a depth option. However, he never received a call-up to the majors and left the team before his option was granted.
That is essentially the same story as his second stint in Baltimore this year. He joined the Orioles in the midst of injuries to Tyler Wells, John Means, Dean Kremer, and Kyle Bradish, but despite that, he was unable to make an impact on the big league roster, giving up an 8.94 ERA in 12 Triple-A starts during his time with the Cubs and Orioles organizations combined. The terrible outcomes undoubtedly played a part in Baltimore’s decision to keep him off the big league roster, but it’s still feasible to envision the righty drawing enough attention in the free market to warrant aif he can get his performance in the minors back on track, a spot in the minor league system of another club, where he may be a depth option for a team in need of a rotation.
