Noel, 24, was placed on waivers two days ago. It may seem strange to hire a player and then immediately cut him from the roster, but this sequence of events is becoming increasingly common in baseball and the Orioles are one of the more aggressive teams attempting this. The ideal outcome for the team is for the player to ultimately clear waivers and remain in the organization as a depth piece without taking up a roster spot.
Baltimore fans should be familiar with the benefits of this move. The O’s have been acquired Ryan O’Hearn from the Royals in January 2023. Two days later, he was designated for assignment and placed on waivers. He returned to the squad a few months later and was a productive member of the club for over two years.
Until he was claimed by the Orioles, Noel had spent his entire career with the Guardians. With that club he has shown enormous power potential, but also a poor approach at the plate. He has made 351 major league appearances with 19 home runs so far, but his 4.8% walk rate and 32.8% strikeout rate are both terrible numbers. Despite the long balls, he has a batting line of .193/.242/.401 and 79 wRC+, which indicates he is 21% worse than the average hitter in the league.
He exhausted his last option season in 2025, which has pushed him into marginal roster territory. The guards pushed him away and the O’s picked him up. He is now back in DFA limbo, which could last up to a week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the O’s were able to gather trade interest over the next five days, but the Guards have been unable to line up a trade in recent weeks. Most likely, Noel will be back on the waiver wire.
Despite the rough results in the Major League, he was able to generate interest because of the raw power and also because of his better minor league numbers. Over the past two years, he has made 536 appearances at Triple-A. His 7.5% walk rate and 23.7% strikeout rate at that level are still not great, but are much closer to average. That’s helped him put up a .285/.349/.538 line and 130 wRC+.
If another club picks him up, Noel will have just over a year of service in the big league. That means he could be monitored for five full seasons and is still two years away from an arbitration raise. If he clears waivers, the O’s can keep him. Since he has not been employed for three years nor has he had a previous career, he has no right to reject a direct assignment.
The situation with Walker is somewhat similar. The O’s claimed him off waivers from the Phillies in August. The O’s then signed him to a major league deal in November. The salary terms of that pact were not disclosed, but it will likely pay Walker something slightly above the $780,000 minimum since he still has not qualified for arbitration.
Two days later he was selected for assignment. As with the O’Hearn and Noel situations, the O’s hoped Walker would clear waivers and remain at the club in a non-roster capacity. It didn’t work at first, as Atlanta claimed to him. But that club designated him for assignment a few weeks later, allowing the Orioles to reclaim him. The O’s then tried again, reassigning Walker for assignment on December 19.
DFA limbo normally lasts a week at most, but different rules apply around the holidays, so Walker stuck around on the air for a few weeks. Today he finally has clarity about his status. While he’s probably not happy about losing his roster spot, he at least now knows which spring training site he’ll report to.
Walker will look to take over in Baltimore’s bullpen sometime in 2026. His Major League track record isn’t great, as he has a 6.59 average in 27 1/3 innings. However, he just posted some intriguing minor league numbers in 2025. Split between the Blue Jays, Phillies and Orioles, he logged 42 2/3 Triple-A frames. His 4.64 ERA in that series isn’t too exciting, but he struck out 24.1% of batters and got grounders on 52.1% of balls in play.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
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