According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Orioles and free agent reliever Andrew Kittredge have reached a deal on a one-year, $10 million guarantee. The Paragon Sports International client receives a $9MM salary for the upcoming season and is guaranteed a $1MM buyout on a $9MM club option in 2026. Baltimore currently has a full 40-man roster and will need to make a move once the contract is approved.
Kittredge will take on a setup position in front of standout closer Félix Bautista, who is returning from Tommy John surgery. The veteran joins Seranthony Domínguez, Yennier Cano, and Keegan Akin as potential high-leverage players in Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. Kittredge has plenty of seventh and eighth-inning expertise. He led the National League and was second in MLB (after Houston’s Bryan Abreu) with 37 holds for the Cardinals last season.
The righty won the trust of St. Louis manager Oli Marmol as the primary setup pitcher in front of standout closer Ryan Helsley. He pitched 70 2/3 innings, with a 2.80 earned run average. Kittredge struck out a league-average 23.3% of batters while walking only 7%. He struck out on an above-average 13.7% of his pitches while keeping the ball on the ground.
Kittredge, who turns 35 just before Opening Day, is not a flamethrower. He pitched in the 94-95 MPH area with both his sinker and four-seam fastball. That’s respectable velocity, but not exceptional for a modern late-inning reliever. Kittredge’s expertise is beating hitters with his excellent slider. He turned to the breaking ball about half of the time.
Opponents hit.177 against the pitch and swung through it more than 40% of the time. He was particularly good at getting hitters to leave their comfort zone. Opponents swung at over 42% of Kittredge’s pitches outside the strike zone. Among pitchers with 50 or more innings, only Arizona left-hander Joe Mantiply received more chases.
Last season, Kittredge suffered from a troublesome platoon split. Pitchers who rely on a slider-sinker combination sometimes struggle against opposite-handed hitters. That was absolutely the case with Kittredge. He held right-handed batters to a.188/.247/.291 line in 183 plate appearances. Lefties batted.296/.337/.571, with six home runs in 104 games. His career platoon differences aren’t as pronounced, but lefties have a solid.244/.320/.455 slash in over 400 plate appearances against him. If healthy, Baltimore’s southpaws Akin, Gregory Soto, and Cionel Pérez are all locks for bullpen slots. That provides Hyde some alternatives for shielding Kittredge against opposing teams’ greatest lefty bats.
Despite being vulnerable against southpaws, Kittredge has a solid multi-year track record. He joined the Rays in 2017 and spent portions of seven seasons in Kevin Cash’s bullpen. Kittredge spent his first few years as a middle reliever before breaking out in ’21. He earned an All-Star selection after pitching a career-best 71 2/3 innings with a 1.88 ERA. Kittredge damaged his elbow early the next year and needed Tommy John surgery. The timing of the treatment limited him to 31 appearances between 2022 and 2023.
Last winter, Tampa Bay traded him to St. Louis for outfielder Richie Palacios. During his sole season with the Cardinals, Kittredge continued where he had left off prior to surgery. He has a 2.48 ERA in 162 appearances dating back to the start of the 2021 season. That made him one of the better relievers in this year’s free agent class, though his age limited his contract options.
MLBTR ranked Kittredge as the #40 free agent this summer. We expected a two-year, $14 million contract covering his 35-36 seasons. He falls short of the multi-year contract and overall guarantee, but he receives a good income for the forthcoming season. Kittredge is the third pitcher and fourth free agent that the Orioles have signed to a one-year contract this winter. Baltimore has signed Charlie Morton ($15MM), Tomoyuki Sugano ($13MM), and Gary Sánchez ($8.5MM), as well as their largest addition, outfielder Tyler O’Neill, to a three-year, $49.5MM contract with an opt-out clause after the first season.
The five free agent expenditures totaled $63 million to next year’s salary (including Kittredge’s option buyout). Baltimore has been a much greater player under first-year owner David Rubenstein than they were under John Angelos. The Orioles have avoided making large long-term commitments, instead focusing on adding shorter-term senior pieces to their prized position-player core. RosterResource estimates that their ’25 player payroll will be about $156 million, their highest sum since 2017. O’Neill is their lone player with a contract that extends beyond this season.
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