2015, to be remembered as “The Year of the DFA” in Birdland, has claimed its latest victim. This time, it’s another outfielder, as Travis Snider joins the likes of Alejandro De Aza and Delmon Young before him. Snider was designated for assignment on Friday evening, as the team called up Junior Lake, acquired from the Chicago Cubs in last week’s Tommy Hunter trade, to take his spot.
Snider, who Dan Duquette had seemingly coveted for years before trading Stephen Tarpley & Steven Brault for him last winter, started off the year gangbusters for the Orioles. Hell, in that first series in Tampa, he was on base pretty much every time up, but he has been a disaster pretty much ever since.
After hitting .264/.338/.438 with 13 homers in 322 AB in Pittsburgh last year, the guy known as “Lunchbox” (who my dad had taken to calling “Trash Can”) slashed just .237/.318/.341 with three homers in 211 AB as an Oriole.
In the end, Travis was easy to root for, but hard to watch. I’m a bit surprised Snider was the one to go, as despite his performance, he was under team control for another season and, as mentioned above, Duquette has had a bit of a crush on him for years. This may have just been one of those years that players go through, and it wouldn’t surprise me to see Snider bounce back next year, if indeed he is able to catch on with another squad. As a former first-round pick, he likely won’t have too much trouble finding a job, though I’d be shocked if the O’s can get anything for him in a trade. Here’s hoping any future success he finds isn’t with another AL East squad.
The other night in Anaheim, Snider lost a fly ball in the lights, and Adam Jones, who bailed him out on the play, running over from center to make the catch, was extremely animated in his displeasure. We’re not suggesting that one innocent mistake had anything to do with this DFA, but that may have been “the last straw,” as they say.
Fare thee well, Lunchbox. Thanks for that one play you made that one time.
Duquette: "Travis gave his best effort & we tried to have as much patience as we could but our production from our OF has been below average
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) August 7, 2015
Dan Duquette on DFAing Travis Snider: "This one was tough. It just didn't work out. We tried to have as much patience as we could." #orioles
— Roch Kubatko (@masnRoch) August 7, 2015
Lake went 1-for-4 in his O’s debut in Friday’s loss.
