November 22nd, 2014 at 12:44 pm 
by Ron Cervenka The only thing worse than being a good minor league baseball player and not making it to the big leagues is being a good minor league baseball player and not making it to the big leagues in seven years.
On Saturday morning it was being widely reported that longtime Baltimore Orioles minor league utility infielder/outfielder Buck Britton had signed a minor league contract with the Dodgers with an invitation to big league camp. The deal also reportedly includes an opt-out clause.
Veteran minor leaguer Buck Britton will get an opportunity to possibly play in the ballpark located less than 25 miles from where he was born. (Photo credit – Steve Earley)
Britton, who grew up a short 30 minutes from Dodger Stadium in nearby Panorama City, CA, was initially drafted by the Orioles in the 35th round of the 2008 MLB First Year Player Draft out of Lubbock Christian University in Lubbock, TX. In his seven years in the Orioles farm system Britton spent one season in Rookie ball, one season in A- ball, one season in Low-A, and all or parts of three seasons in High-A, five seasons in Double-A and four seasons in Triple-A. Yet according to Roch Kubatko of Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), the Orioles wanted Britton back for another season in the minors.
“The Orioles wanted to re-sign infielder Buck Britton, who spent seven years in their organization before becoming a minor league free agent. However, they sensed that he had a better offer waiting for him and figured they were going to lose him.”
One would think that had the Orioles actually wanted to re-sign Britton or honestly believed that he had a legitimate shot at making it to their big league club, they would have already done so. By the same token, why on earth would Britton even consider re-signing with an organization that has all but acknowledged him as a career minor leaguer and saw him as nothing more than potential depth for their big league club, and with very little chance of ever making it to The Show? In fact, Britton all but said this himself (in a very classy and professional manner) on Twitter:
In his seven professional seasons Britton has a career triple slash of .280 / .338 / .410 for a career OPS of .748 – certainly not earth-shattering numbers by any means but good enough that at some point he deserved a September call up by the O’s. And though the right-handed throwing / left-handed batting Britton was originally drafted as a second baseman, he spent considerable time at third base, first base, and as a corner outfielder.
We all know that there are no guarantees in baseball and the cold hard truth is that Britton will have a monumental task of trying to make it onto the Dodgers opening day roster out of spring training. But after busting his butt for seven seasons in the minors, the Southern California native has got to feel good about at least having a shot at playing for the team that he undoubtedly grew up rooting for.
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@Think_BlueLA @BuckInHere sounds like a b movie actor.
I never understand these minor league signings. The Orioles let Buck Britton go, but in the meantime sign Paul Janish and Osvaldo Martinez (Lookouts).
Perhaps they figure Britton will not make their club but may have a chance with another MLB team.
The guy I would like for the Dodgers to sign as a minor league free agent is Rey Navarro. He will be 25 in December and has gotten progressively better the past three years. In 2014 – 81 games at short, 55 at 2B – he hit .282 with an OBP of .343. Between AA and AAA he hit 12 home runs and had 57 RBI.
I understand the desire for an organization wanting to want to keep a guy because he’s ‘pretty good’ in the event that they may need him somewhere along the line due to an injury on the big club, but it certainly isn’t fair to block a guy from possibly making it to the bigs with another organization.
As you noted, I suspect that this was the case with Buck and why the Orioles didn’t re-sign him right away hoping that he may have a better shot with another team. My guess is that they probably would have re-signed him if nobody else picked him up before spring training.
This certainly isn’t to say that Buck will make it onto the Dodgers OD roster out of spring training – in fact the chances that he will are astronomical, but you just never know.
Buck and his agent were very wise to include an opt-out clause in the deal so that he could still sign with another team in hopes of making it to The Show. I imagine that we will start seeing this more often with MiLB players that are long in the tooth. As we all know, the shelf life of a professional baseball player is extremely short in the big scheme of things.
This is proof yet again of just how difficult it is to be among ‘the chosen 750.’
Too late.
The Orioles have signed infielder Rey Navarro to a major league contract, writes Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com.
Navarro, 25 in 2015, is coming off a solid season in the Reds farm system. He hit a combined .282/.343/.435 in 542 plate appearances split between Double-A and Triple-A. The switch hitter – originally signed by the Diamondbacks in 2007 – tied a career high with 12 home runs this season. His defense is his calling card, with Kubatko describing it as “plus” at shortstop. In 2011, Baseball America named him the best defensive second baseman in the Carolina League. It seems likely he will compete for a utility infield role.