The Baltimore Orioles declined the 2018 options on shortstop J.J. Hardy and starting pitcher Wade Miley on Friday, making them both free agents. The Orioles will pay Hardy a $2 million buyout and Miley a $500,000 buyout instead of giving them $14 million and $12 million, respectively. Miley was a disappointment with an 8-15 record and 5.61 ERA in 157 1/3 innings in 2017. Hardy continues to deal with a long list of injuries, and he only saw 254 at-bats, hitting .217 with four homers and 24 RBI. Neither will find prominent roles on other teams and will not be fantasy factors in the majority of leagues.
J.J. Hardy Goes Deep In Likely Final Home Game As Oriole
J.J. Hardy hit a two-run homer in the fourth inning, a shot that would break a 4-4 tie and proved to be the impetus for Baltimore's 9-4 win on Sunday. After rounding the bases, he bounded out of the dugout to acknowledge the crowd's ovation, raising his batting helmet to the sky. It was his near-tacit admission that he was not going to be in an Orioles uniform in 2018, what with Tim Beckham playing as well as he did before his left-hamstring injury, which was the reason why Hardy was in there in the first place. Fantasy baseball is not sentimental, though. Don't waste a roster spot on Hardy for the last week of the season.
J.J. Hardy Has Strong First Game Back In Loss To Yankees
J.J. Hardy, who is auditioning for a job outside of Baltimore in 2018, had a good return to the lineup on Saturday, several months after having his wrist fractured by a pitch. He went 2-for-3 and scored a run. He's a fantasy afterthought this season, since Buck Showalter is going to be hard-pressed to give him much playing time with how well Tim Beckham has done. Still, it was a nice day for the veteran.
J.J. Hardy finally got the green light from his ballclub. The question is, when is he going to play? Tim Beckham has locked down the shortstop job and it would take a slump of epic proportions to knock him out. Either that or an injury. As stated in the past, Hardy is pretty much irrelevant in the fantasy world now. It's going to be interesting to see where he lands in 2018.
Rich Dubroff of PressBoxOnline tweeted that Baltimore was not going to activate J. J. Hardy yet. He didn't elaborate but it's presumably because the veteran's arm still hasn't recovered from the soreness that required a shot. This is still pretty much non-news because Tim Beckham has the job. Hardy may get the odd start, but he's not really worth picking up.
J.J. Hardy May See Game Action Either Against Yankees Or Indians
J.J. Hardy may see some time on the field this week, either in the series against the Yankees or Indians, depending on how fast his arm bounces back. He said the reason for his elbow soreness was because he'd pretty much condensed a six-week Spring Training into a week and a half. It's going to be interesting to see what Buck Showalter does, because Tim Beckham has proved he's the shortstop now. I'd wait to see what happens.
J.J. Hardy Will Likely Have To Wait Few Extra Days To Be Activated
Poor J.J. Hardy. He's already waiting to come back to a team where he's lost his starting job to Tim Beckham. Now he has to allow his sore elbow to heal - his arm is sore from baseball activities like swinging the bat. It's basically like tennis elbow and manager Buck Showalter thinks he'll be ready by Monday. Still, Hardy is not fantasy material, especially with the September crowd.
According to Rich Dubroff of PressBoxOnline, Buck Showalter indicated that J.J. Hardy would be activated "between Friday and Monday." The Orioles have been very hot of late and Tim Beckham's performance at the plate has played a large part in that. It would be foolish of Baltimore to disrupt that by making a change. From a fantasy standpoint, it looks like Hardy will have very few at-bats, barring an injury to Beckham. The veteran shortstop has to know that he's probably going to be auditioning for other teams when he does play. I'd just monitor the situation for a few days, but it looks like Hardy's a fantasy afterthought as well.
Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com reports that J.J. Hardy is going to go to Triple-A Norfolk to start getting back into game shape. Let's be honest, though. Hardy probably knows that he's going to have meager chances when he comes back, be it before or after Sept. 1. The rosters are going to expand and Tim Beckham would have to have one of the most epic slumps ever for the veteran shortstop get his job back. Hardy hasn't been a fantasy stud for quite a few years and he's going to be an afterthought for the rest of this season. Don't pick him up unless something drastic happens.
Now it seems like JJ Hardy may try to come back in September, according to Rich Dubroff of PressBoxOnline. Hardy, who is rehabbing from a right wrist fracture, keeps pushing his date back. It may be because a wrist injury is a tricky thing. It may also be because Tim Beckham is hitting lights out right now and he's either hoping he cools down or is resigned to possibly finishing the season on the bench. Either way, the best thing to do, fantasy-wise, is to play Beckham if you have him.
