Former Baltimore Orioles First Baseman Mark Reynolds signed by Cleveland Indians- MLB News
Former infielder for the Baltimore Orioles Mark Reynolds, who was recently non-tendered by the ball club and became a free agent, has been booked by the Cleveland Indians for a one-year, $6 million deal plus incentives.
The Cleveland Indians have yet to make the deal official and it is suggested that it will only happen after the results of Mark’s physical arrive. Should the deal go through, Indians will be the third ball club Mark will play for in the Major League.
The 29-year-old from Pikeville, Kentucky was a part of the Baltimore Orioles for two seasons. He was acquired by the ball club in 2010 during a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Orioles had a club option on Mark worth $11 million for 2013 which the
club declined to exercise, buying it out for $500,000.
The club also could have gone into arbitration with Reynolds but they did not offer him a contract and thus, he became a free agent. In case of arbitration, the first baseman would have approximately ended up with a $9 million salary, a raise from the $7.5
million he earned in 2012.
Mark had expressed the desire of staying with the Orioles earlier, stating that he liked Baltimore. Reynolds connected well with the fans and his team mates were happy with how he conducted himself.
The fact that the O’s have their spring training in Arizona was also an appealing factor for Mark as his family resides in Arizona. That would not change much as the Indians also have their training in the same state.
Mark wasn’t at his best with the Orioles as a batter and posted an identical .221 batting average in both 2011 and 2012, several points below his career average. In the last season, he managed 23 home-runs and 69 RBI’s in 457 at-bats. The numbers most likely
contributed to him being non-tendered by the Baltimore ball club.
He had a good time with the glove at the first base, posting a .995 fielding average. His work at the third base was a horror show though, where he posted a below par .850 fielding average with six errors in just 40 chances.
There were some suggestions that the Orioles may still opt for Reynolds as a free agent but as the events unravelled in Nashville during the Winter Meetings, it became quite clear that the Orioles had decided not to make any such moves.
Mark Reynolds is a first baseman with a lot of potential. He, however, will have to work on his certain short comings including his high strike out ratio as well as needs to be more flexible in the infield to have more value as a player. One hopes that he
will be able to do justice to his potential for the Cleveland Indians.
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