The Orioles and the free agent Andrew Kittredge agree to a one-year, $10MM guarantee, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The Paragon Sports International client receives a $9MM salary for next season and is guaranteed a $1MM buyout with a $9MM club option in 2026. Baltimore has a full 40-man roster and will have to make a move when the contract is up. .
Kittredge will step into the setup role in front of the star closer Felix Bautistawho made his comeback from Tommy John surgery. A veteran joins Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano again Keegan Akin as potential high-powered pieces in Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. Kittredge has plenty of seventh and eighth inning experience. He led the National League and finished second in MLB (behind Houston Bryan Abreu) with 37 Cardinals last season.
The righteous gained the trust of the manager of St. Louis Oli Marmol as the top setting arm in front of the star closer Ryan Helsley. He worked 70 2/3 innings with a 2.80 earned run average. Kittredge struck out a league average 23.3% of the batters he faced while limiting the walks to a measly 7% clip. He missed balls on average over 13.7% of his pitches while doing a decent job of keeping the ball down.
Kittredge, who turns 35 before Opening Day, is no firebrand. He worked in the 94-95 MPH range with both his sinker and four-seam fastball. That’s a solid speed but not at all out of the ordinary for a late modern provider. Kittredge’s specialty is hitting hitters with an extra slider. He turned to the breaking ball about half the time.
Opponents hit .177 against the pitch while turning it over 40% of the time they served it. He was very successful in getting batters to get out of the zone. Opponents turned around 42% of the pitches Kittredge threw outside the strike zone. Among pitchers with 50+ innings, only Arizona is left-handed Joe Mantiply get the chase at a high level.
One blow to Kittredge last season was a problematic team breakdown. Pitchers who rely on the slider-sinker combo often struggle with opposite-handed hitters. That was certainly the case for Kittredge. He held right-handed batters to a .188/.247/.291 line in 183 plate appearances. Lefties hit at a .296/.337/.571 clip with six homers in 104 outings. His team splits aren’t that bad, but lefties have managed a solid .244/.320/.455 in over 400 plate appearances against him. Baltimore has three key southpaws for the bullpen when healthy: Akin, Gregory Soto again Cionel Perez. That gives Hyde more options if he wants to protect Kittredge from opposing left-handed hitters.
Despite being vulnerable to southpaws, Kittredge has a solid track record over the years. He pitched for the Rays in 2017 and spent seven parts of the season in Kevin Cash’s bullpen. Kittredge worked to moderate success the first few years but had a breakout season in ’21. He pitched a career-best 71 2/3 innings of ball with a 1.88 ERA to earn an All-Star selection. Kittredge injured his elbow early the following year and required Tommy John surgery. The timing of that process limited him to 31 appearances between 2022-23.
Tampa Bay traded him to St. Louis last winter to become an outfielder Richie Palacios. Kittredge picked up where he left off in surgery in his one season with the Cardinals. He owns a 2.48 ERA in 162 appearances dating back to the start of the ’21 season. That made him one of the best relievers in this year’s free agent class, though his age limited his contract upside.
MLBTR ranked Kittredge the #40 offseason free agent. We predicted a two-year, $14MM deal that includes his age 35-36 seasons. He falls short of a multi-year deal and that total guarantee but gets a solid salary for the upcoming campaign. Kittredge is the third pitcher and fourth free agent the O’s signed to a one-year contract this winter. Baltimore added Charlie Morton ($15MM), Tomoyuki Sugano ($13MM), and Gary Sanchez ($8.5MM) in line with their largest acquisition – a foreign player Tyler O’Neill on a three-year, $49.5MM contract that allows him to opt out after the first season.
Five free agent deals added $63MM (including Kittredge’s buyout option) to next year’s payroll. Baltimore has certainly been a bigger player under first-year owner David Rubenstein than it has been in recent years under John Angelos. IO’s avoided any significant long-term commitments, instead adding short-term veteran pieces around a core of prized position players. RosterResource lists their ’25 player salary at $156MM, which would be their highest number since 2017. O’Neill is their only player on a guaranteed contract that runs beyond this year.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.
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