Per Eduardo Encina of the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles are on the verge of signing infielder Everth Cabrera.
#Orioles are very close to a finalizing a one-year deal with IF Everth Cabrera, according to an industry source. Has 99 steals last 3 yrs.
— Eduardo A. Encina (@EddieInTheYard) February 18, 2015
Cabrera, 28, a native of Nicaragua, has played parts of six seasons with the San Diego Padres, where he put up a career slash line of .248/.319/.333 in 1963 AB. He has stolen 99 bases and been caught 24 times over the past three seasons.
Cabrera has had some off-field issues as well. He served a 50-game suspension in 2013 for his involvement in the Biogenesis scandal. Encina also reports that Cabrera has an April 13 court date stemming from a resisting arrest misdemeanor charge back in September. He was non-tendered by San Diego.
While this could, in a perfect world, help solve the O’s issue at leadoff I’m not sure, at first glance, where he fits. Though he is mainly a shortstop, he has played 190 games at 2B between the majors and minors (h/t Tim Anderson). Roch Kubatko reports that he has a minor-league option left, always a consideration for Dan Duquette and Buck Showalter.
Cabrera is a bit of insurance for J.J. Hardy (we all hope his back issues are cleared up, but who knows?) while he’ll also push Jonathan Schoop and Ryan Flaherty in Spring Training. I don’t love the idea of him taking AB from Schoop, or of super utility guy Flaherty being in AAA, but in the end isn’t competition always a good thing? If Schoop struggles offensively (against non-Yankee pitching) again, Cabrera might provide a more appealing option than did guys like Jemile Weeks or Steve Lombardozzi last season.
Roch, Eddie, and others report that Cabrera has already taken his O’s physical, and the team is just waiting for the results, so…don’t go out and buy those jerseys just yet.
