When news broke that the Orioles were acquiring Eloy Jiménez, a six-year veteran of the league who was in the midst of his worst season for the White Sox, a Chicago broadcaster celebrated the move for the South Siders.
“This is a joyous day. ... I can’t believe a team would take him on. Can we get a thank you Orioles graphic made?” Ryan McGuffey said on NBC Sports Chicago.
Well, maybe the Orioles should be thanking the White Sox. It’s the White Sox who are paying the bulk of Jiménez’s remaining salary this season, meaning the Orioles get essentially a free gamble on a player who has hit 30 home runs in a season and won a Silver Slugger.
Yes, it’s been at least four years since he did either of those things. But so far, Jiménez has fit right into the Orioles’ lineup — he’s 5-for-8 in his first two starts with two RBIs.
So did he just need to leave the White Sox, the team with the worst record in baseball, and get a fresh start to get things going again?
“I think so, yeah,” he replied. “Unfortunately. I got good memories over there, but now I’m here and this is going to be fun.”
The Orioles had a feeling that could be the case — as they did with Aaron Hicks last season. He was hitting .188 with the Yankees and being booed every night by the New York crowd when he was designated for assignment. The Orioles picked him up, and he hit .275 with seven home runs the rest of the season.
It helps, too, that Jiménez has a long history with manager Brandon Hyde, who was the Cubs’ farm director when Jiménez was signed as the top international free agent in 2013. They met for the first time that year, when Jiménez was just 16 years old and Hyde went to visit him in the Dominican Republic.
“As soon as I knew that I was coming here, I was like thinking about all the memories that we have together in the Cubs organization,” Jiménez said. “Now we are here and we are going to do everything we can to help the team.”
Jiménez will not play in the field, at least for now, as he’s still dealing with left hamstring and left abductor issues that landed him on the injured list earlier this season. He will be the designated hitter, primarily against left-handed pitching, while he works toward being at full strength again.
It’s only been two starts, but Jiménez said he has had no trouble adjusting to a new team. He loves the energy the young Orioles have and noted that the “good vibes” are giving him a new energy.
“I feel really good,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been playing here for a year. And I just have, like, three days here. To be able to feel like that, it tells you something. That’s all I want.”
