Orioles Say no for a Trade Requests of a 94 Million deal…
Amidst an already busy day of Orioles transactions, the O’s announced two more moves, as infielder Jean Segura has been released from his minor league contract and left-hander Nick Vespi was outrighted to Triple-A Norfolk.
Segura signed his minors deal in August, and hit only .137/.250/.196 over 60 plate appearances in 14 games with Norfolk. This marked Segura’s first game action of any kind since his last game as a member of the Marlins on July 31, 2023. The Marlins traded Segura to the Guardians the next day as part of the deadline deal that brought Josh Bell to the Miami, and since Segura was only included in the trade as salary offset, Cleveland immediately released the veteran infielder.
MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko (via X) notes that Segura asked to be released and the Orioles granted the request, which could be interpreted in a few ways. It could be that Segura wanted to pursue other opportunities if Baltimore wasn’t going to add him to the MLB roster, or it might be a hint that Segura might be considering retirement. Because Segura didn’t play any winter ball and there wasn’t any indication that he was seeking out another playing contract in the year since the Guardians released him, his deal with the O’s could be viewed as one final attempt at reviving his playing career.
The two-year, $17MM free agent contract Segura signed with the Marlins in the 2022-23 offseason expires at the end of this season, which could also provide something of a clean break for the official end of his playing career. It remains to be seen if Segura is indeed thinking about calling it a career, but if so, his rough results with Miami in 2023 shouldn’t obscure an otherwise very solid 12-season run in the majors that included a pair of All-Star nods.
