BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Orioles reached an agreement with veteran pitcher Felix Hernandez with a minor league contract.
Hernandez won an American League Cy Young Award, two cash titles and made six All-Star teams for 15 seasons with the Seattle Mariners before becoming a free agent last low season.
The 34-year-old signed a minor league contract with Atlanta and looked good during spring training, but eventually opted to leave the 60-game season shortened by the pandemic.
In his most recent Major League action, Hernandez had a 1-8 mark with effectiveness from 6.40 to 2019. He hasn’t finished effectively below 4.00 since 2016, and his last appearance in the All-Star Game was in 2015. He has won 169 games and has a career effectiveness of 3.42.
Hernandez could earn a spot in the rotation with the Orioles under reconstruction, who have left-hander All-Star 2019 left-hander John Means as the starter, but not much else.
They traded Alex Cobb to the Angelinos on Tuesday, leaving Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, Jorge Lopez, Wade LeBlanc, Thomas Eshelman and Bruce Zimmermann as the only players to return to start at least one game in 2020.
Baltimore also announced Wednesday that it has agreed minor league deals with boxers Seth Mejias-Brean and Malquin Canelo, right-handers Dusten Knight, Konner Wade and Spenser Watkins, and left-hander LeBlanc.