BALTIMORE – The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to sign veteran righthanded Felix Hernandez to a minor league contract.
Hernandez won an American League Cy Young Award, two ERA titles, and made six All-Star teams over 15 seasons with the Seattle Mariners before becoming a free agent for the last off-season.
The 34-year-old signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and looked sharp during spring practice, but he eventually closed down for the pandemic-shortened 60-game season.
In his most recent big league-action, Hernandez went 1-8 with a 6.40 ERA in 2019. He hasn’t finished with an under 4.00 ERA since 2016, and his last All-Star appearance was in 2015. He has won 169 games and owns an ERA of 3.42.
Hernandez could earn a rotation spot with the rebuilding Orioles, who have locked 2019 All-Star lefthanded John Means as a starter, but not much else. They traded Alex Cobb against the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, making Keegan Akin, Dean Kremer, Jorge Lopez, Wade LeBlanc, Thomas Eshelman and Bruce Zimmermann the only returning players to start at least one game in 2020.
Baltimore also announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to minor league deals with infielders Seth Mejias-Brean and Malquin Canelo, right-handers Dusten Knight, Konner Wade and Spenser Watkins, and left-handed LeBlanc.