DECEMBER 14: The team has announced the signing.
DECEMBER 10, 10:37pm: Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links) has more details. O’Day will earn $5MM in 2016, $6MM in 2017, and $8MM apiece in 2018 and 2019. He’ll then take home $1MM annually for each of the next four years (though obviously won’t be obligated to play for the team in that stretch).
The no-trade clause allows him to designate seven clubs per season, though Connolly notes that he stands to reach ten-and-five rights during 2018.
8:35pm: The deal is “official,” Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets, though it has yet to be announced by the club. $1MM of O’Day’s salary each year will be deferred, per the report.
DECEMBER 7: A deal is in place between the O’s and O’Day, pending only a physical, per Connolly (via Twitter). It is indeed for four years and $31MM, he adds.
O’Day will pick up some limited no-trade protection, Connolly adds on Twitter.
DECEMBER 6, 7:30pm: The matters being worked out involve “language/stipulations,” ESPN.com’s Buster Olney tweets. From the report, it certainly does not sound as if the sides expect any serious difficulty in finalizing the arrangement.
6:29pm: O’s executive VP Dan Duquette said today that there’s more work to be done to complete any deal with O’Day, as Rich Dubroff of CSNmidatlantic.com tweets.
12:16pm: O’Day himself tweets that the deal is not yet complete. “Contrary to the news, I have not reached an agreement with the O’s yet,” he says. “I am flattered by all the attention, but reports are premature.” Heyman clarifies (Twitter links) that one explanation might be that O’Day hasn’t yet taken a physical, and physicals given by the Orioles have sometimes not turned out as the players taking them have imagined. (For example, Grant Balfour and the O’s had a disagreement with the Orioles over a physical two years ago.) O’Day and the Orioles do have a deal in place, Heyman writes.
11:21am: Details of the deal have yet to be finalized, Connolly tweets. Also, obviously, O’Day will still have to take a physical for the deal to be complete. MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweets that the deal might not officially be done until the end of the week, since team doctors are attending the Winter Meetings.
8:48am: Righty reliever Darren O’Day has agreed to terms on a four-year deal with the Orioles, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (who originally tweeted that a return to the Orioles was likely) says O’Day will receive $31MM. O’Day is a client of the Ballengee Group.
O’Day had reportedly been deciding between the Orioles and Nationals. He had also been connected to the Braves and Dodgers, but O’Day’s wife is a reporter based in Washington DC, and it had been thought that influenced his preference to stay in the DC area. Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun tweets that O’Day came close to agreeing to terms with the Nationals on Friday, but that the Orioles made a last-second bid of four years, sealing O’Day’s decision to return to Baltimore.
O’Day has been a major part of Baltimore’s bullpen in the past four seasons, never more so than in 2015, when he pitched 65 1/3 innings with a 1.52 ERA and a terrific 11.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9. He’s effective against both righties and lefties, making him far more than a situational pitcher, despite his funky delivery and modest velocity. He will likely return to an eighth-inning role with the Orioles.
O’Day was the top reliever on Tim Dierkes’ list of the top 50 free agents, so retaining him looks like a coup for Baltimore, at least in the near term. The $7.75MM average annual value of his new contract is reasonable, although its four-year length is interesting, given O’Day age (33) and the fact that he isn’t a closer (although perhaps it isn’t that surprising — last week, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick noted that the expectation within the industry was that O’Day would get a four-year deal in the $32MM-$34MM range). Last offseason, only two relievers, Andrew Miller and David Robertson, received four-year deals, and both of them were considerably younger than O’Day is now. And as Eduardo A. Encina of the Sun tweets, the Orioles don’t often give pitchers four-years — the only free-agent pitcher who’s ever received a four-year deal from them is Ubaldo Jimenez. That they’re giving a four-year deal to a 33-year-old setup man suggests they think O’Day can continue to be a crucial part of their bullpen.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
I’m kind of split between this. The Nationals really could have used O’Day. However, if the reports turn out to be true, 4 years is a lot to give a player like O’Day. I would not have minded at all if they got O’Day. but can’t blame them for not going that long to a non-closer. However, the Nationals have to rework their bullpen.
Nats have been connected with Aroldis Chapman (trade talk with the Reds). Maybe now they can afford him! Trade Storen and spend his money on Chapman, sign Chapman to his own 4-5 year deal…..
I doubt WSH would spend the prospects it would take to get him. And then what do you do with Pap – release him and eat his money? I believe he has a no-trade clause, right? And he wouldn’t go to CIN.
There’s a prime opportunity to acquire a premium closer instead of another setup man (O’Day ). They can slot Pap into the 8th inning. Storen needs to go (I have never liked him…lol…:-/…)
Attempting to take Papelbon out of the closer role would lead to an attitude explosion beyond anything we’ve seen so far
My guess you live near Boston and I am in the Mid West. I bet both of us would be able to hear the explosion from our front porches.
Chapman is going to demand a fortune when he reaches free agency next year.
Big piece to our bullpen.hope its true.
As he would be a big piece to the other 29 MLB teams who will not get a crack at him now, as well. Job well done, Duquette.
4 years 31 mil to Baltimore. Good but gamble like deal.
I’m sure he’s thrilled to continue facing Jose Bautista 19 times a year.
Accept Bautista isnt even the best hitter in the division and is a free agent next year?
Its not that. Those two have had a lot of beanball, bat flips, and trash talking (from Joey Bats) incidents. The Os and Jays have a lot of bad blood brewing between these squads.
except*
Bad move. Orioles keep losing prospects each and every year from the July trade deadline. They may have to rebuild at some point in order to rebuild the farm as they are not big spenders (the other way to compensate the farm). The Nationals are actually going somewhere AND is where his wife works.
The Orioles have won playoff series unlike the Natinals. Not to mention the Orioles have more TV revenue due to their larger ownership share in MASN.
But will they spend it? You have O’Day, Davis, Chen, Pearce, and Parra all on free agency. You also have Markakis, Miller, and Cruz skip town too a couple years ago. You also have given up a lot in prospects for midseason trades like E-Rod and even Arrieta (though the evaluation on Arrieta at the time was different).
Orioles will need to spend greatly in order to improve their team, and paying for the same players to come back does not improve the team. It keeps the same .500 together for another year.
You do realize that Baltimore and Washington, DC are less than an hour from each other. That is a reasonable commute to work. It’s not like he is working in LA while his wife is in DC.
They currently live between Baltimore and D.C. so a move will not be necessary. That is another factor I bet was used in this decision.
The O’s and Nats are both good teams still hoping for a beltway WS
The leadership alone that he brings good to see o’s not being cheap maybe CD next ok wishful thinking
I’m glad Braves weren’t giving him 4/31.
Solid re-signing by the O’s. O’Day is one of the best set-up guys out there and coupling him with Britton at least seals the back end of the Birds bullpen. This is a good deal. O’Day does add a lot to the bullpen which will also helps guys like Givens develop. Now, DD needs to sign someone for the rotation (relying on the current crop isn’t going to work.) Maybe this means Davis is back, but I’m doubting that now. Especially with how much the Giants overpaid Samardzija. Some club will put $140/$150 million on the table, and who wouldn’t walk away from that?
Bad siging imo. Too long, 4 is crazy for a 33 yo.
Sox already have arguably the 2nd best rotation in the division, id love to see a 3 come in and stabilize things.
I doubt they sign Davis now. They got Trumbo to play 1st and shelled out 31 million to O’Day, and they still need an SP (even the 3rd tier guys will be 14-15 million/yr)…..
I don’t see the need to sign Davis since it would mean him or Trumbo playing OF. Why not go after an actual OF guy with speed and power like Heyward or Upton?
Trade Britton to Atlanta for Miller and you add a quality starter. Then sign Heyward and you have solved your outfield problem. You would also add the needed top of the order guy, (high OBP/base stealing ability), and vastly improved team defense!
Britton doesnt even come close to getting you Shelby Miller.
Oh really? One of the top young closers in the game under team control through 2019? Britton has a lot more value than you think.
Miller is a good young pitcher but we’re not talking about an ace here but a middle rotation guy. Miller has his share of question marks as well.
Very few trades are one for one and I did not say it had to be only those two involved. Atlanta needs a closer and has many other needs so I’m sure something could be worked out.
how many times are u gonna say britton for miller. if u remember and im sure u do because ur a big os fan.ike davis was almost traded for britton a cpl yrs back
Fair deal I guess. Orioles would be looking much better today had they moved Davis, O’day, and Wieters last July for a few pieces to inject into their farm system. Much like the Tigers they seem to be stuck in mediocrity which is a terrible place to be. I question the plan.
Stuck in Mediocrity? They were in the ALCS in 2014. And if Davis leaves they get a pick for him.
Are you serious? Davis return >>>>>>>>>>> pick lol
They need to be rebuilding, not offering 4 year deals to 33 yo setup men
Detroit won 4 of the last 5 Central Titles. Last trade deadline, they did exactly what you wished the Orioles would have done. I think you made a poor choice of a team to compare with the Orioles.
Bad, bad, deal for the Orioles. 4 years to a 33 yo setup man when they should be rebuilding? ouch
I think that the Orioles realize that if they don’t make some good moves it could be a rough season for them. O’Day definitely helps the team stay relevant. It would had been really bad if they had lost O’Day, Pearce, and Davis in a very competitive division.
Pearce is a replacement level player.
The fact that the Mets let this guy go so Nelson Figueroa could make a few starts still bothers me. He only went on to dominate with Texas after being claimed on waivers.
Ugh I know. The best thing Nelson has done is his work on sny. Frwaking waste.
While I like the idea of retaining ODay, that is too much to pay. The market used to be that you would overpay for closers. Now the market is resetting where closers don’t make high end salaries, but the setup men are starting to get the dough.
Between Wieters, Trumbo, and Oday, I’m not seeing the budget to go out and even try to sign Davis. It was doubtful they would be able to do so in the first place, but I think it has gone into the pipe dream category now considering how many holes they have on the roster.
My wish list has realistically become- a #3 starter like Kazmir, an on base/leadoff type hitter like Span, a platoon hitting outfielder like David Murphy or Joyce, and Alvarez just to see what he could do at Camden Yards as a DH. Maybe a reclamation project starting pitcher.
So, does anyone see the Orioles paying for both O’Day and Davis? Does this mean Davis is in the wind? Other than the walks, I don’t see Alvarez as that big a drop offensively, and he will be much cheaper.
This deal makes me confused, O’day is a great reliever but to offer that type of contract for someone that’s not a closer is ridiculous and why the Orioles? He should’ve picked a place where he could win, Orioles are not gonna win anytime soon. If he wanted to be closer should’ve just taken a hometown discount or taken that QO. Just saying
So the 96-win season in 2014 was a fluke? That’s a lot of winning by accident. Okay, then explain why the O’s have won the most games in the AL East over the last four seasons? If his decision was between Washington and Baltimore as reported, he did go with the team that seems to have a stronger case for winning. The Nats have been hyped but haven’t been able to seal the deal yet.
He said the Orioles dont have a good chance of competing in the coming seasons, not that they have not had success somewhat recently. They are losing Chris Davis and others to FA and are arguably the worst team in their division.
Jose Bautista is happy about this signing.
So bye davis..i see the angels hacking at davis now..
I think the Pirates will have a lot to say in the Davis battle.
I like the move but isn’t this basically the deal that the Orioles didn’t want to give a younger (and arguably) more dominant Andrew Miller?
I get that the Orioles are spending $1.25MM/year less over 4 years for O’Day but it’s still a bit of a head scratcher.
I thought they didn’t want to spend closer money on non-closers.
Since it was rumored that the Braves were one of the teams in on O’Day I wonder if Making O’Day the closer and moving Britton to Atlanta for Miller might not be an option?
Britton for Miller?Yeah……no
Where did I say even up?
link to twitter.com
Interesting turn of developments, did Madson’s agent know about this?
I think he is as good as signed. He just needs a physical.
What everyone needs to move on to and what I want is for the Orioles to announce they are going to sign Jason Heyward
After reading the comments and seeing what is being said about the Orioles needs.. As a Braves fan, I would prefer if they made a package of Teheran and Markakis to ship to Baltimore. Give you a mid rotation guy and a fan favorite outfielder
Yes yes yes, we want kakes back
As an Orioles and Braves fan I wouldn’t mind that either, but I’ve gotten thumbs down twice now for suggesting a Britton-Miller deal even though I did not indicate it would be a straight up deal. Britton is far better than some of the uninformed here seem to think, and his numbers should be helped greatly by a move to the NL East, Miller or Teheran’s numbers moving to the AL East not so much.
I realize that the Braves have been shopping for position players in offering Miller but they also are in need of a closer, and let’s face it Miller alone does not get you a Pollock or Pederson like some are fantasizing.
Bringing back a .500 team will likely give you a .500 team. The Orioles should look to blow it up and rebuild, especially given the competition in the AL East.
If you buy into that argument, every team who wins the World Series should do nothing but bring back the entire roster and they’re set up for the same success the following year. A little common sense will tell you that’s not the way things work. Teams and players have up and down years and the roster that fell short one year could win it all the following year.
I agree that players age, different players over-perform or under-perform, etc. However, I do not see where the Orioles are doing to get any extra wins if they bring the same team back next year (which would be expensive). Davis, Parra, Chen, and even O’Day are all on free agency. So unless the Orioles want to trade the rest of their farm away, the only way to stay competitive is to spend to fill these holes.
The Orioles were set up this year to win. All they needed was to spend a bit more rather than bottom feeding with Snider, Lough, DeAza, Young, Parmalee. Aoki and Cruz (who cares about years 3 and 4, win now) would have helped when the Orioles slumped in hitting in Arizona, and one decent pitcher. We’ve wasted years of high draft picks, except on pitchers with bad wings. The Orioles have the money. They make much more with their cable networks, both of them. They deserve them as per the deal MLB made with them for the Nats. But spend it! They spend as much as smaller markets Milwaukee, Minnesota and Kansas City, which I believe have much smaller cable deals. Dan Duquette, if you don’t like the price of poker going up, then get up from the table and leave.
Of course you have to wonder about Angelos contraints on Duquette, and subsequently Duquette’s public desire to leave and not able to get out of his contract. Seemed like they caved in to public pressure to spend when they signed Ubaldo, and that backfired based on his performance. That was a good chunk of change for a team that doesn’t spend freely. Losing Arrieta, wow, but in fairness who would have figured that. The Wieters QO has backfired. The safest money seemed to have been on Cruz.
Nothing like burning $30MM on a relief pitcher and still have holes at 1B, SP, and OF. I doubt the Orioles will break .500 next year.
What is the deferment for in a deal like this? Does it benefit the team or the player? Why not just back load the contract?
Depends on who asks for it, but it could save on taxes for the player, and ease cash-flow for the team. Backloading might be adverse for the player–you want to earn the money, even if payment is deferred. You don’t want to risk losing it to an early retirement, or some disciplinary reason, etc.
Well, there goes the Davis money…
As much as I acknowledge the job O’Day has done in recent years, giving him four more is too much. I would have gone no more than 2 with an option year.
I can understand hesitation to go to 4 years but there’s no way you sign O’Day with less than 3 years. He was one of the best relievers on the open market and was sure to get a 3-year deal from a handful of teams looking to rework their bullpens. We can be certain that the Nationals and Orioles weren’t the only two offering up contracts — I’d expect that the Red Sox and Tigers were in early talks with O’Day’s agent as their bullpens needed work at the start of the offseason.
Solid add but need more to contend.
Hope Duquette has more moves up his sleeve.