Orioles bring back Young on one-year contract

Delmon Young will be in the Orioles’ DH mix, not their outfield mix. (USATSI)

The Orioles won 96 games in 2014 and took the AL East title with ease, finishing 12 games up on the second-place Yankees. Their offseason has been relatively inactive, however. They lost Nelson Cruz, Nick Markakis and Andrew Miller to free agency, and, prior to Wednesday, their only addition was lefty reliever Wesley Wright, who signed a one-year contract worth $1.7 million.

On Wednesday, the team finally made another move, this one designed to bolster their lineup and add another body to their patchwork outfield. They re-signed Delmon Young to small one-year contract.

Young, who is still only 29, hit .302/.337/.442 (120 OPS+) with 11 doubles and seven home runs in 255 plate appearances as a part-time player for Baltimore this past season. Despite his reputation as a lefty masher, Young played more against righties (168 vs. 87 plate appearances) and actually performed better against them (132 vs. 103 OPS+).

The Orioles need outfield help after losing Markakis and especially Cruz, but even they know Young is no outfielder. He’s a disaster defensively, which is why he started 38 games at DH and only 18 in the field in 2014. I would be surprised if manager Buck Showalter is planning to use Young as a regular corner outfielder, even as the short end of the platoon.

Since Young’s best position is the batter’s box — he had a 91 OPS+ in nearly 1,500 plate appearances from 2011-13, by the way — the O’s are likely looking at him as part of the DH mix, where Cruz spend most of his time a year ago. Alejandro De Aza, David Lough and Steve Pearce are the team’s current corner outfield options. That’s really underwhelming.

GM Dan Duquette has have a very quiet and mostly inactive offseason so far, though that was the case last year as well. It wasn’t until spring training had started that he scooped up Cruz and Ubaldo Jimenez. There are no qualified free agents falling through the cracks this winter — I fully expect Max Scherzer and James Shields to have big contracts in place before the start of camp — so the patient approach might not work as well this winter, at least when it comes to free agency.

The trade market is another story. The O’s need outfielders and several teams, most notably the Red Sox and Padres, have outfielders to spare. It’s unclear if an Orioles-Red Sox trade is doable — they did get together for the Miller trade, but Boston was far out of the race and clearly selling, now they’re going for it and might not be so willing to deal with a division rival — but Orioles-Padres certainly would. Carlos Quentin (another DH masquerading as an outfielder), Seth Smith and Will Venable are all available. Duquette might be able to nab one or two later in the offseason.

For now, the Orioles seem content to sit back and let the offseason pass them by. It worked a year ago and even though the Yankees, Blue Jays and Red Sox have made some moves to improve in 2015, you could argue the O’s are still the AL East favorites. They lost some serious firepower in Cruz, Markakis and Miller though. Wright and Young are okay complementary players. At some point Duquette will have bring in some real help.

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