Orioles sign Aaron Laffey to minor-league deal
Click here to access our MLB Tracker, which includes every offseason rumor, trade and signing.
Left-handed pitcher Aaron Laffey, 28, will go where arms are needed. He's signed with his eighth team in five years:
The #Orioles have signed LHP Aaron Laffey to a minor league contract. The seven-year Major League veteran will report to minor league camp.
— Norfolk Tides (@NorfolkTides) January 23, 2014
Laffey's from Cumberland, Md., which is 139 miles west of Baltimore. If Laffey ends up pitching for the Orioles, this will be a homecoming of sorts.
Laffey will have to earn innings at the Orioles' major-league camp in the spring, writes The Baltimore Sun's Eduardo A. Encina. "Ultimately," Encina adds, "he'd be competing for a rotation spot at Triple-A Norfolk."
Encina has more on Laffey's travels last year:
"Laffey spent time in four different organizations last season, making the Mets’ Opening Day roster after coming to camp as a nonroster invitee. But he was designated for assignment by the Mets in late April after four appearances with New York.
"He was claimed by the Blue Jays on April 23, but made just one start for them before he was designated for assignment and refused an outright assignment to the minors.
"Laffey spent the remainder of the year pitching in the Pacific Coast League for the Triple-A affiliates of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers."
The life of a minor-league baseball player is far from glamorous. Ask Aaron Laffey.
Laffey has a career 4.45 ERA and 1.52 WHIP in 487 big-league innings. He has a 4.82 ERA and 1.50 WHIP in 373 1/3 innings at Triple-A. We wish him the best.