Orioles Claim Infielder Alexi Casilla off Waivers from the Twins

This card isn't in my collection, yet at least, but I "borrowed" it from COMC. It's an affordable, on-card auto and would fill a potential hole in my collection if I can't get Alexi's autograph at FanFest or Spring Training.

The Orioles made their first move this afternoon to bring in a player from outside the organization when they claimed infielder Alexi Casilla off of waivers from the Twins. He has played parts of the past seven seasons in Minnesota, mainly at second base, which is a position that the Orioles are non-coincidentally trying to fill.

Brian Roberts, Robert Andino, and Ryan Flaherty all remain in the fold for now, but Roberts has faced myriad injury issues in recent seasons, Andino profiles best into a super-utility role or could be non-tendered, and Flaherty is no longer hampered by his Rule 5 status and can be sent to the minors. And with Casilla owed $1.8 million for next season, I would say that it's logical the O's are going to give him a fair shot at the 2B job in spring training.

Alexi doesn't have much power to speak of, having hit just eleven in over 1,700 plate appearances (and seven of them were hit in 2008), but he does flash some speed, having stolen 71 bases while only being caught nine times in his career.

He also interestingly has connections with two former Orioles who played in Baltimore during the 2012 season. After originally signing with the Angels in 2003, he was traded to the Twins in December 2009 for relief pitcher J.C. Romero. And then when the Twins signed Jim Thome prior to the 2010 season, since Alexi had been wearing Big Jim's preferred #25 jersey, he changed his jersey number to 12 to accommodate the future Hall of Fame slugger.

Welcome to Baltimore, Alexi! I hope that things work out for you here.

Taking Care of J.C.

When I wrote about J.C.'s Orioles debut back in mid-August, I had hoped to get him to sign his 2012 Norfolk Tides card in person at an Orioles game, but that never happened. His tenure with the Orioles lasted just about two weeks, from August 13th-27th (the O's were out of town for about half of that time), and was cut short due to his relatively ineffective work out of the Orioles bullpen as their situational lefty, or LOOGY if you prefer. He appeared in five games, totaling four innings and pitched to the tune of a 6.75 ERA. He gave up seven hits including one home-run, walked one and struck out one.

Since I wasn't able to get J.C.'s signature during his time in town and he didn't latch on with another team at the end of the season, I was resigned to buy his autograph online. He has a number of certified autographs, which really helps out a collector like me, but none of them are particularly attractive, and pretty much all of them are plastered with a sticker signature. This Upper Deck ProSigs Diamond Collection certified autograph was one of the better looking of the bunch, mainly because the grey sticker kind of blends in with the grey background, although my scanner makes the sticker stand out much more than it does in person. Anyway, his name is now knocked off my need list and I'm back down to needing a single autograph for my collection to, once again, sit at 100% complete. Anyone have an extra Dick Luebke autograph sitting around?

Oriole # 938- J.C. Romero

J.C. Romero, the Oriole new lefty bullpen specialist, made his orange and black debut in last night's 7-1 win against the Red Sox. He worked a scoreless eighth inning, giving up one hit, and became the 938th player to appear in a game for the O's. I don't currently have an autograph of J.C., but he was included in the 2012 Norfolk Tides team set, so I hope to have him sign that card for my collection in the near future.

J.C. has pitched in the Major Leagues since 1999 with seven different franchises, most notably the Twins and Phillies, and over those 14 seasons, he has appeared in 676 games, almost exclusively as a reliever. He was a major key to the Phillies' 2008 World Series Championship victory, even earning the win in the decisive game five to secure the series win. However, that following off-season, he was suspended for 50 games for testing positive for a performance enhancing drug, which he claimed was due to a tainted supplement.

Over the past two seasons, J.C. has bounced around between the majors & minors for seven different clubs, and the story of how he came to the Orioles is rather interesting.

Prior to the 2012 season, the Cardinals signed him to a one year contract but released him in mid-May. The Orioles quickly signed him to a minor league contract and assigned him to the AAA Norfolk Tides, and Romero had an opt-out date of July 10th if he hadn't been called up to Baltimore by that time. Well, that day came and Baltimore's bullpen was doing just fine, so the Orioles let him get away. The Indians proceeded to sign him to a deal and assigned him to their AAA club, but it was to some sort of conditional deal that allowed the Orioles to get him back if they needed him for the big league club. And that time came on Monday, when Troy Patton, the only lefty reliever the O's had used all season, injured his ankle and had to head to the D.L. So the Orioles got Romero back from the Indians, albeit in return for one of Kalina's favorite minor leaguers, Carlos Rojas.

Car-los Ro-jas! clap clap clapclapclap  Car-los Ro-jas! clap clap clapclapclap

So, it's nice to have Romero as a, possibly short-term, part of the bullpen, but it's unfortunate that it cost the Orioles a player, even if clubs consider Carlos to be an organizational type of player.