Good morning, Camden Chatters.
There was some middle-of-the-night Orioles news as the O’s inked veteran reliever Andrew Kittredge to a one-year, $9 million deal, as reported by The Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka. The contract also includes a $9 million team option for 2026.
Until this signing, the bullpen had been the only area of the team that Mike Elias hadn’t yet added to this offseason. In fact they had only subtracted, non-tendering Danny Coulombe and declining their option on Jacob Webb, two of their more reliable relievers from 2024.
Kittredge is a 34-year-old right-hander who was an All-Star for the Rays in 2021 before undergoing Tommy John in 2022. He came back strong with St. Louis last year, posting a 2.80 ERA in 74 games. He gives the O’s a solid late-inning option to set up closer Félix Bautista, who is returning from Tommy John surgery. Apropos of nothing, he also sported a glorious beard with the Cardinals, which hopefully he’ll keep in Baltimore.
The Orioles also took care of some in-house business yesterday, agreeing to 2025 contracts with 10 of their 11 arbitration-eligible players. The only one who didn’t agree to terms was Jorge Mateo. An arbitration hearing will be scheduled, with Mateo filing at $4 million and the Orioles at $3.1 million. But the two sides could reach an agreement at any point before then.
The full list of players and their 2025 salaries:
- LHP Keegan Akin: $1.745 million
- RHP Kyle Bradish: $2.35 million
- RHP Dean Kremer: $2.95 million
- 1B Ryan Mountcastle: $6.787 million
- OF Cedric Mullins: $8.725 million
- LHP Trevor Rogers: $2.6 million
- C Adley Rutschman: $5.5 million
- LHP Gregory Soto: $5.35 million
- IF Ramón Urías: $3.13 million
- RHP Tyler Wells: $2.075 million
Rutschman is getting the most significant salary bump in his first year of arbitration, up nearly $5 million from his 2024 salary of $760,300. Wells, who missed all but four starts in 2024, is getting the smallest raise of just over $110,000. In total, the Orioles will be paying these 10 players a little over $15 million more than last season. Mullins is entering his final season before free agency, while all the others on this list will be arbitration-eligible again next offseason. Chances are not all of them will still be on the Orioles by then.
Links
Orioles trying to sign arbitration-eligible players by tonight’s deadline (updated) – School of Roch
Roch Kubatko has more details about the players who just signed and their possible roles for 2025, from the essential guys (Rutschman) to the, uh, not so much (Rogers).
O’s pitcher Charlie Morton found out strikeouts are good, reinventing himself at age 33 – Steve Melewski
Not to brag, but I knew strikeouts were good long before I was 33. Why isn’t anyone paying me millions?
Brian Matusz: Teammates, friends remember the former Baltimore Orioles pitcher – The Baltimore Banner
Brian Matusz’s tragic death is difficult for anyone to wrap their head around, particularly his longtime teammates and coaches. Baseball aside, he seemed like a heck of a human being.
Orioles birthdays and history
Is today your birthday? Happy birthday! Your three Orioles birthday buddies are right-handers Rico Garcia (31) and Rick Bauer (48) and lefty Aríel Miranda (36).
On this fateful day in 1991, the O’s made the worst trade in franchise history, sending three youngsters to the Astros for slugger Glenn Davis. Davis’s ill-fated Orioles career saw him unproductive, injury-plagued, and out of baseball within three years, while the three guys the O’s traded for him — Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch — combined to play 53 seasons in the majors, compiling nearly 150 career WAR. Oops.
And on this date in 2012, the Orioles signed left-hander Wei-Yin Chen, a veteran of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Most O’s fans had never heard of the 26-year-old Taiwan native before he joined the Birds, but he put together a strong four-year O’s career, going 46-32 with a 3.72 ERA in 117 starts with the Orioles. Chen’s MLB career fizzled after he signed an $80 million deal with the Marlins, but the now 39-year-old is still pitching in the U.S. He spent 2024 with the independent Long Island Ducks, posting a 6.78 ERA in 17 starts (where his teammates included fellow ex-Orioles Chance Sisco and Chris Ellis).
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