McFarland moving on from disappointing 2016 season

SARASOTA, Fla. - T.J. McFarland didn't know whether the Orioles would tender him a contract over the winter. Whether he still was regarded as a fit for their bullpen. Whether a lost season made him disappear from their plans.

The first question no longer is in play. The Orioles reached agreement on a deal that pays McFarland $685,000 for the upcoming season.

Manager Buck Showalter wants a third left-handed reliever, a guy capable of giving him multiple innings. McFarland has done it in the past, which theoretically makes him a fit.

McFarland doesn't have a job waiting for him, but he's allowed to compete for it. The rest is up to him.

"With the year that I had, it's tough to read into it and know exactly if you're going to get tendered, but I really wasn't focused one way or the other," he said. "I was kind of just more focused on whatever happens happens and go from there. But it's obviously great that I ended up getting tendered and they showed the confidence in me that I can still help the ballclub."

McFarland's appearances with the Orioles dropped from 30 in 2015 to 16 last season, his innings lowered from 40 1/3 to 24 2/3. He wasn't effective or healthy, a bad combination for any player.

McFarland registered a 6.93 ERA and a 1.743 WHIP last season and averaged 3.6 walks to only 2.6 strikeouts per nine innings. The Orioles optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk on May 7, June 18, June 25 - after recalling him earlier in the day as the 26th player for a doubleheader - and Aug. 29, and placed him on the disabled list June 30 with left knee inflammation.

The DL move came a month after McFarland, 27, injured the knee while covering home plate in a game with the Tides.

"That definitely played a factor into (the struggles), but at the end of the day I think it was just one of those years where I faced a lot of adversity and how I bounced back from it is going to show a lot with everything between my character and my talent level. I'm trying to just bounce back and get to where I know I can be and pitch to the ability that I know I can," said McFarland, who's 12-7 with a 4.27 ERA in 121 major league games over parts of four seasons.

"It was my left knee, my push-off leg from the mound. Over the course of a few weeks I got a cortisone shot earlier in the year that helped out a little bit, but it just kind of snowballed from there. But it ended up being some inflammation under the patella and then I ended up getting a PRP injection, which ended up wiping it out."

The problem, of course, is that the injection doesn't work immediately. He had to be shut down.

"I didn't necessarily have the luxury of time to take off," he said. "Eventually it went away, but it took a little time."

Camp is different for McFarland because it's the first time that he's been out of options. He has no idea whether this works in his favor or against him and he's not worrying about it.

"Whether you have options left or you don't, at the end of the day the main goal is to make the team," he said. "I mean, you really can't look at it any other way. Obviously, it is a different aspect of it, I think, when determining whether or not I make the team, but in the sense of urgency, in the sense of trying to do the best that I can, it really doesn't change anything."

The former Rule 5 pick has gained Showalter's trust in the past and must do it again as the club sifts through its candidates for third left-handed reliever.

"Yeah, that's certainly something that I've done before, that I know I can do, so I think it's just a matter of me proving that I can do that for the team and that I can do it successfully," he said. "I think that's kind of where I'm at right now, just proving myself."

* Though the Orioles have signed Craig Gentry to a minor league contract and brought him to camp, they still could add another outfielder before opening day. They're always building the roster and trying to improve their depth. Don't assume he's the final piece.

Showalter said there will be plenty of at-bats and innings available to the outfielders this spring.

"We can do it," he said. "We've got two intrasquad games. We've got people leaving. We've got B games. It's just a matter of whether you're willing to stay here to play the games.

"What else are we going to do? We've got plenty of reps. We've got games down below. We've got all those. I think the evaluation of Craig won't take that long. I could see him moving around the outfield (yesterday) and the infield in the drills. That part of it kind of sticks out. He can really defend."