Orioles closer Zach Britton said again yesterday that he’s interested in working out a long-term deal with Baltimore, tweets MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Britton stated that he hopes to spend his “whole career” in an Orioles uniform. Of course, any long-term commitment to Britton figures to come at a staggering cost for the O’s. The 29-year-old has morphed into one of the best relievers in baseball, and arguably the single best reliever the game has to offer. Over the past three seasons, Britton has a comical 1.38 ERA with 9.3 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 and an MLB-leading 77.9 percent ground-ball rate. He’s set a new Major League record for single-season ground-ball rate in each of the past two campaigns, including an unthinkable 80 percent mark in 2016. Both Kenley Jansen and Aroldis Chapman landed $80MM+ contracts this winter, and one has to imagine that Britton could challenge those figures in free agency following the 2018 season, barring any sort of collapse. And, with an $11.4MM salary already agreed upon for the 2017 season, it’s not as if he hasn’t already earned quite a bit of financial security.
A few more notes on the Orioles…
- Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com takes a look at first base prospect Trey Mancini’s future with the O’s now that Mark Trumbo has agreed to a new three-year deal. As Connolly writes, Mancini isn’t considered an outfielder, so he’s not likely to platoon with trade acquisition Seth Smith in right field. However, the Orioles still could add another outfielder to upgrade the team’s defense (and possibly platoon with Smith), which would likely cost Mancini his roster spot and send him back to Triple-A. Connolly argues against trading Mancini, noting that he’ll turn 25 in March and has yet to have a dominant season in Triple-A. Connolly suggests that while Mancini isn’t considered a top-tier prospect league-wide, some additional time to prove he’s mastered Triple-A pitching could bolster his value. A bench role is theoretically possible for Mancini, but as the Baltimore Sun’s Jon Meoli observes, with a backup catcher (likely Caleb Joseph), outfielder Joey Rickard and infielder Ryan Flaherty all occupying spots, there’s only one place left, and the O’s may not be done adding pieces.
- GM Dan Duquette would still like a left-handed-hitting outfielder with a trustworthy glove, writes Kubtako, which keeps the Orioles alive as a possibility for someone like Michael Bourn (or, as Connolly suggests above, Angel Pagan). However, any new addition would be limited to a reserve role, as Adam Jones is entrenched in center while Smith and fellow lefty Hyun Soo Kim figure to get looks in the outfield against right-handed pitching. Kubatko notes that the Trumbo addition should put to rest any chance of the Orioles re-signing Pedro Alvarez or of the team serving as a landing spot for Chris Carter — another right-handed slugger to whom the O’s have been linked throughout the winter. Kubatko also adds that the Orioles aren’t going to move Chris Davis to right field, despite the fact that his glove there is passable, as his defense is considered too much of an asset at first base.
It would be a great signing for the O’s if they got Britton for a long term deal. He is one of the best closers in the game and they can’t afford to lose him now.
The O’s have, arguably, the best bullpen in baseball. If there’s a time they can afford to lose him, it’s right now. If they could pull a return anywhere close to what we’ve seen top-tier closers go for in the past year, then it would be a poor move to keep him.
I couldn’t agree more. We meed cheap talent to bolster the roster in 2-3 years. I like Britton, but closers usually fall off a cliff in regards to their edge. It’s rare to have Hoffman, Lee Smith or Rivera longevity. Cash out now if you can get a haul like in the Adam Jones trade.
and at 11 million it makes sense to so it as soon as possible. I don’t do it unless the haul is massive but I could easily see a team that thinks they need a closer giving up way to much. The Os were without Oday most of last season so now hes back and healthy to soften the blow of losing Britton. No way the Os pay him market value so time to cash in. I’d look for a major league ready outfielder, strong pitching prospect, and low A prospect with a decent ceiling.
Or…deal him for some much needed young talent. Closers aren’t the hardest players to find.
@dorfmac Yes, but he has a ground ball rate of 80%. He is so useful to the O’s because of how easily he can get someone out. No one can really score runs off him because they can’t seem to hit a fly ball very much at all. If he keeps his GB rate this high he will be the best closer for many years to come and the O’s will probably regret that they didn’t keep him. He already has a career as a closer with a 1.38 ERA with 120 SV’s in 3 years.
Chapman and Jansen are better and it’s not even close. Both have better K and BB% and lower FIP’s.
You’re outta your mind.
Actually, Andrew Miller is better than any of those three. Better WHIP and FIP. 9 walks 42 hits allowed and 123 Ks in 74 innings last year.
Couldn’t they just have Trumbo DH Smith RF against righties and Trumbo RF Mancini DH against lefties?
Or Machado at SS, Davis at 3B, Trumbo at 1B, Mancini DH
No, no, no. Davis at 3B is a horrible idea. He is bad there. Not quite Pedro Alvarez bad or Mark Reynolds bad, but still pretty bad. Buck values defense, so he won’t move Davis off 1B any time soon.
I know the metrics have disagreed with this, but I’ve seen Davis play 3rd. He has a cannon for an arm and not bad range. I think he could be just fine as an occasional 3rd baseman. From the times I’ve watched him, I think given time he could be a fine 3rd baseman with some time to get more comfortable there.
While I agree Davis is better than the metrics say on 3rd, as long as Hardy is healthy he’s on short and manny is on 3rd but Hardy is probably a 120-130 games/year guy now so who knows …
That is the most obvious situation. I don’t know why no one is pointing that out. Mancini can occasionally play 1st when you want to give Davis a break as well. I agree this puts the Alvarez talk to rest but not Carter. Carter is a righty and could DH (for the right price of course) against LHP if they want to send Mancini back to AAA.
Why would they take machado off of third…?
Because he’s an excellent shortstop, and his bat is much more valuable there
A 1.38 era! That’s funny!
I could see both sides of the argument for trading/not trading Britton. He is the best closer in the game and the O’s know that when the game gets to the 9th inning, it is pretty much over. But trading Britton would bring back an unreal haul of talented prospects that the O’s haven’t had in a few years. If they can’t work out a deal between now and next years Winter Meetings, I’d say the O’s need to seriously consider making a trade.
Britton 1.94 FIP 9.9 K/9 2.4 BB/9
Jansen 1.44 FIP 13.6 K/9 1.4 BB/9
Chapman 0.82 FIP 15.5 K/9 3.4 BB/9
Britton is definitely not the best or even second best closer. He was very lucky in 2016 but it’s doubtful it’ll happen in 2017. They should trade him for prospects since they’ll be lucky to even be in the playoffs.
Britton had a lower xFIP/SIERA than Chapman. There’s no luck in an 80% groundball rate.
Chapman’s FIP last year was 1.42. I think you’re only looking at his Cubs numbers.
Playing Davis anywhere but DH is a bad idea…
What Davis are u watching? Davis plays an excellent 1st base. He is also passable in right and 3Rd though he should stick to 1st. I like him as an option in right sometimes to get Mancini more at bats but if Mancini is going to AAA then CD should only be at 1st
If the Orioles would sign Franklin Gutiérrez it would solve everything!!!!
Truly curious as to why you want Gutierrez so badly, he hasn’t played over 100 games since 2010. I’ll admit I used to be very intrigued by his skillset, but he just cannot stay on the field.
He would fit in nicely with Smith and he can hit left handed pitching
I am not expecting the Guti of 2010, but if he can play like 78 (field) -90 (total) games like he did last year, that platoon of Guti and Smith would work.
The obvious solution is to do what they did last year. Play Trumbo in right (yeah he stinks, but he stunk last year, too), split DH between lefty (Smith) and righty (Mancini). It’s not like Smith is any good in the outfield, has was a pretty big negative last year.
They need to trade britton and restock the farm
Farms are over rated
Look at the rays
I don’t know if I would say that… yes, the Rays are not the best team in the AL East right now, but they were never really able to afford monster contracts for free agents, so that puts them back. This team has gotten a lot of value from their prospects over the past five years or so, but they just can’t keep them around.
Britton breaking bank would kill O’s going forward. Relievers drop off year to year. They don’t have the budget to do that. Davis contract will already be a mistake before long.
Trey Mancini hit 7 hrs in 63 at bats at Bowie before being moved up to Norfolk. The year before he led minor leagues with 182 base hits. His call up he had 3 hrs in 15 at bats in September. This kid can hit. He will be giving pitchers headaches for years to come. Move Davis to RF and have him play first or DH but he needs to get 450 at bats.
How can anyone say farms r overrated, Just look at what the RSox done with there’s.
The Os should trade there closer, To me anyone can close plus they could get good value now before he tanks.