Orioles' Franchy Cordero: Inks deal with Baltimore

Major League Baseball's offseason is in full swing, and that means everyone is thinking about the future. In most cities, that means next season; in some, though, it means the bigger picture, the next three to five years. You're either selling wins or you're selling hope, the old saying goes. We here at CBS Sports like to provide as much hope as we can around this time of the winter by evaluating each team's farm system.

Voth has avoided arbitration with the Orioles and signed a one-year contract Thursday, which includes a club option for 2024. Voth will be guaranteed $1.85 million with this new deal, and the 2024 option is worth $2.45 million with escalators that could add another $500,000. The 30-year-old right-hander struggled out of the gate last season with Washinton before moving on to Baltimore and registering a sharp 3.04 ERA with 72 strikeouts in 17 starts and five relief appearances covering 83 innings. He projects to operate in a swingman role again for the O's in 2023, shuffling between long relief and emergency starting/opening duties.

Sheffield cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma by the Mariners on Thursday. Sheffield got the boot off the 40-man roster last week to open up a 40-man roster spot for Tommy La Stella. A former top prospect, Sheffield holds a career 5.47 ERA in 186 innings (33 starts, 15 relief appearances) at the major-league level. It's certainly notable that he didn't draw much interest from other MLB teams on the waiver wire leading into what will be his age-27 campaign.

Tatis (shoulder/wrist/suspension) took batting practice Thursday, Hector Gomez of Z101Digital.com reports. Tatis was cleared to resume baseball activity Jan. 6 and this was his first public step toward returning to the field since. He is expected to be ready to participate at the start of spring training, though he'll still be required to sit out the first 20 games of the season due to a PED suspension. After missing the entire 2022 campaign, Tatis will have high expectations in 2023 after posting an OPS above .930 in all three of his previous seasons in the majors.

Bolt signed a minor-league contract with the Brewers on Friday and received an invitation to major-league spring training, Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports. Bolt slashed .326/.385/.526 in Triple-A last season, though he was never able to put it together in the majors, where his numbers dropped to .198/.259/.330 across 116 plate appearances with Oakland. Milwaukee already has plenty of outfield talent at the major-league and minor-league levels, so Bolt will likely serve as organizational depth.

Sills signed a reserve/future contract with the Giants on Thursday. Sills opened the 2022 season as a member of the Giants' starting wide-receiver corps, playing at least 63 percent of offensive snaps in all but one of the first four games. However, the 26-year-old logged more than two receptions just once, and he saw a significant drop in playing time before being ruled a healthy scratch six times between Weeks 10 to 16. Sills was then waived Dec. 31 and finished the season on the practice squad. He'll now work to earn his way back onto the Giants' 53-man roster ahead of the 2023 campaign.

Duffy signed a minor-league contract with the Royals on Friday. The veteran infielder will be given an invitation to major-league spring training. It's a good landing spot for Duffy, as the Royals recently freed up some playing time in the infield when they traded Adalberto Mondesi. Duffy was solid for the Cubs in 2021 but struggled last season with the Angels, putting up a .619 OPS across 247 plate appearances.

Antone's offseason throwing program has been slowed by a right forearm injury, per MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. The good news is that the issue is not thought to be related to Antone's elbow, which required Tommy John surgery more than two years ago and gave him a lot of trouble in the aftermath. The 29-year-old reliever will be eased into action at Reds camp this spring with the hope that he might be ready to be used in high-leverage situations at some point in the early part of the 2023 season. Antone posted a 2.48 ERA with 87 strikeouts over his first 69 major league innings between 2020-2021.

Hurst (calf) was limited at practice Thursday, Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic reports. Hurst practiced fully Wednesday, so the tight end's addition to the Bengals' injury report makes his status worth tracking as Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Chiefs approaches. He dealt with a calf issue back in December, but it's unclear if his listed limitations Thursday are indicative of a setback in practice or a case of workload management.