Sarasota, Florida The Orioles have returned to Kyle Gibson in their search for starter depth.
Gibson was signed to a one-year contract by the club, which was announced tonight. $5.25 million is guaranteed by the deal, according to a source. The Athletic also reported that Gibson can earn $1.525 million in performance bonuses.
With a 15-9 record and a 4.73 ERA in 33 starts, Gibson, 37, became one of the Orioles’ most popular players during the 2023 season. In 30 starts during the previous season, he recorded a 4.24 ERA while pitching for the Cardinals.
For Gibson, the free-agency process took longer this winter.
After a 9-1 loss to the Tigers at Ed Smith Stadium, manager Brandon Hyde remarked, “Kyle was amazing for us a couple years ago, what he did in the clubhouse, plus how he took the ball every five days and kept us in almost every game.” He was an extraordinary leader. I had a great year in St. Louis last year, and I’m so glad he’s back.
The effect won’t happen right away. Although Gibson has been pitching at home, he is not yet prepared to enter the major leagues.
“He’s gonna have to go through pretty much a whole spring training type of ramp-up,” Hyde said, “so it’s gonna be a while.”
Gibson has started 30 or more games in five of the last six seasons and four in a row. He started 31 and 32 games with the Twins in 2014 and 2015, and 29 games in 2017 and 2019.
The 41-year-old Charlie Morton, who is the second-best pitcher in the Orioles’ rotation after Zach Eflin, is one of seven major league pitchers who have made at least 30 starts in four consecutive seasons.
Given that Grayson Rodriguez will not be on the Opening Day roster because of discomfort behind his right elbow, which necessitated a cortisone injection, the team needs durability. Rodriguez returned to the field today, but he will be placed on the disabled list.
In order to make room for Gibson on the 40-man roster, Kyle Bradish was placed on the 60-day disabled list tonight. If the Orioles require another spot, Tyler Wells can join Bradish. Following reconstructive elbow surgeries, both pitchers are recuperating.
In Toronto, Eflin will start the March 27 opener, followed by Morton. Albert Suárez is competing with Cade Povich for the final berth, and Tomoyuki Sugano and Dean Kremer will also be in the rotation to start the season.
Hyde responded, “He’s not going to be ready for a long time,” when asked about the other starters’ health. It takes a lot of starters, as you seen last year. We believed that adding another rotation piece was crucial because we used a lot of starters the previous season. Anything can occur.
Hyde stated, “Kyle will need to go through a whole progression to get up in a starter workload.”
Hyde deemed Félix Bautista’s performance tonight “OK” after the bullpen gave up a home run to Zach McKinstry and threw 26 pitches in two-thirds of an inning. In addition, Bautista struck out two batters and walked two.
Hyde remarked, “I thought he kind of got tired there toward the end a little bit.” He threw several nice splits, in my opinion. Tonight’s command wasn’t his greatest, in my opinion. He has a little trouble getting opponents to hit his fastball. For him, this is spring training. I believe that the adrenaline will likely kick in a bit more when the season begins and there are 40,000 people present.
In 4 2/3 innings, Suárez was tasked with seven hits and eight runs.
“During spring training against the Tigers, he really threw his off-speed stuff in hitters’ counts well,” Hyde remarked. They took excellent swings at him on balls in the strike zone, and I felt they were aggressive. After the second inning, he struggled for a few innings to get the men off the barrel, but he has had an incredible camp with a small setback.
