Dec. 21: The Orioles officially announced the deal today.
Dec. 19 6:22pm: Feinsand reports the specifics of the mutual option (on Twitter): Givens receives a $3MM salary in 2023. The option price is valued at $6MM. If Givens declines his end of next year’s option, he’d receive a $1MM buyout. If he triggers the option but the Orioles decline their end, he’d pick up a $2MM buyout.
6:08pm: The deal contains a mutual option for the 2024 campaign, report Dan Connolly and Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (Twitter link).
5:50pm: It will be a one-year deal for Givens with a $5MM guarantee, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
5:40pm: The Orioles and reliever Mychal Givens are in agreement on a contract, per Robert Murray of FanSided. The terms of the deal, which is pending a physical, are not yet known. The club’s 40-man roster is full, meaning a corresponding move will be required once the deal is official. Givens is represented by Excel Sports Management.
Givens, 33 in May, returns to his original organization, as the O’s drafted him back in 2009. He worked his way up to the majors and debuted with them in 2015, establishing himself as a solid MLB reliever in the years to come. In each of the three seasons from 2016 to 2018, he made at least 66 appearances for Baltimore, throwing at least 74 2/3 innings and never posting an ERA higher than 3.99. In 2019, he took a noticeable step back, posting a 4.57 ERA, though it’s worth pointing out that was the season of the “juiced balls” and his 22.8% home run per fly ball rate was almost double his career rate of 12.1%.
In the three seasons since, Givens has made that 2019 showing look more and more like an outlier. He’s bounced to the Rockies, Reds, Cubs and Mets in that time, posting a 3.41 ERA over that three-year period. For his career as a whole, Givens has a 3.40 ERA over 419 appearances, with a 28.4% strikeout rate, 9.8% walk rate and 37.9% ground ball rate.
The club has some exciting young pitchers in their bullpen, such as Félix Bautista, Dillon Tate and Cionel Pérez, but Givens will give them an experienced option. If the club is in contention down the stretch, he can play a key role for them, but he could also turn into deadline fodder otherwise. That would be nothing new for Givens, as he’s been traded near the deadline in each of the past three years.
Givens reached free agency for the first time after 2021 and signed with the Cubs for 2022. It was a one-year deal with a mutual option, with Givens making $3.5MM in salary and a $1.5MM buyout on the option, amounting to a $5MM guarantee but with $1.25MM available in bonuses as well. He’ll land a matching deal this time around.
The Orioles have given out one-year deals to Kyle Gibson and Adam Frazier already this offseason, adding some veteran presence around their young core. The O’s had just $60MM committed to their 2023 payroll thus far, per Roster Resource, and this move pushes them up around $64MM. The club’s ledger for 2024 remains completely blank, aside from the buyout figures attached to Givens’ mutual option.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Headed home. Not a bad signing
He’s back! Thanks for Vavra, Colorado!
Most creative rendition of the name Michael in human history. Personally I would have ran with “Myechaele.”
Miychaelae.
I always liked ‘Micheal Ray Richardson’. Transposed the ‘a’ and ‘e’ and it probably gave editors nightmares. I read a biography about him once (‘Sugar’) and even in that, the traditional spelling snuck in a few times.
Druggie
Solid contribution as always, Blue Baron.
Not wrong about Richardson, however. You, on the other hand, contribute nothing except being a pot calling the kettle black.
Dang, Blue Baron. Bad vibes all around and inaccurate to boot. RCT has another comment on this thread that’s a researched opinion on the player in question which contributed to a discussion.
Gotta get with the times, dude. We’re on that “love the addict, hate the addiction” mindset nowadays. Really showing your age here, buddy.
We’re not talking about your mom.
It’s a givens he close
What about Dempster Diving Theo? (Ryan Dempster, Cubs Pitcher, guy who got the Cubs Kyle Hendricks)
Winner winner Texas dinner! What i get – the 9.99 sirloin Longhorn steakhouse or Taco Cabana goodness.
Bautista will close, not Givens.
Givens when asked how felt:
“Ah shhh here we go again”
Good Signing by the O’s
Welcome back, Mychal! Good depth signing for the ‘pen.
Golf clap!
good pitcher. under rated
“O’s sign shortstop (turned reliever)”
Can’t understand why the D-Backs didn’t take a chance with him.
They might have reached out to him, but he also may not have wanted to go there. I can see why he’d prefer to go back to the O’s: he’s been there before, they’re a pretty exciting young team and if it’s a one-year deal he’s probably being traded at the deadline whether he’s an Oriole or a Dback; better chance of having meaningful games late in the year with the former though.
Givens is also from Tampa. I’m sure he didn’t mind having his spring training site an hour down the road from home.
This was a nice (re)signing. We all know he’s comfortable pitching in Camden. Still some work to do O’s!
Phillies should have grabbed him. Good pitcher, probably not expensive and he’s consistent. Always a Givens fan. He’ll be a trade deadline grab for some team.
Consistent with the Cubs the first half. Not so much with the Mets in the second half.
Really now…
I would rather have brought back Britton
When Bautista went to closer, they lost the Bautista/Dillon set up to closer duo. Everyone they tried to team up with Dillon in that role failed. Could Givens be that guy?
That’s the plan.
I like Givens experience in high leverage spots better than I like Baker. Keep him in the 6th inning.
Me gusta – that means I like it in Spanish
Love this.
LMFAO Givens is awful
I wouldn’t go that far, but he was definitely overrated his first stint in Baltimore. They made him out to be a lights-out reliever. Which he never was.
Givens was always good in Baltimore. Until he was given the closers role.
He was an ideal set up man. Not a closer. Some guys aren’t.
No, he’s not. ERA+ the last three seasons is 138, 143, and 120 and he can pitch a lot of innings. His short stint with the Mets was marred by his first appearance where he gave up 5 runs in 0.2 innings. He pitched another 20 innings down the stretch with a 2.70 ERA. $3 million plus an option is a steal for him. He walks a fair number of hitters but he’s a very effective middle reliever.
Agreed, RCT. The stats just don’t support calling Givens awful.
Very solid career thus far. Walks are an occasional problem for him with that high-torque/Johnny Cueto-style delivery but he usually gets the next guy to strike/ground out.
I think sometimes people forget the human element of this too. This dude got shipped all over the country for the past 3-4 years and still had respectable #’s.
He is definitely a steal at 3 million.
DocBB;
Coaches count.
This O’s administration works very well getting the best out of pitchers….particularly relief pitchers.
No guarantees, but this should be interesting to follow.
[Citation Needed]
He will help them August 2nd next year.
I don’t understand how a guy like Givens gets $5 million when someone like Brad Boxberger (or the like) receives under $3 million.
Feinsand reports the specifics of the mutual option (on Twitter): Givens receives a $3MM salary in 2023. The option price is valued at $6MM. If Givens declines his end of next year’s option, he’d receive a $1MM buyout. If he triggers the option but the Orioles decline their end, he’d pick up a $2MM buyout.
If OPACY Blows up Givens gets an extra five million dollars
Good signing. He is a different pitcher than when he left.
I’m surprised he wasn’t able to get more of a guarantee than that. Unless he took less to go back to Baltimore.
He was rock solid for the Cubs last year, along with Robertson.
That’s true. I know the Yankees reportedly had interest in him at the trade deadline too. Unless perhaps it’s his price range for what teams fee he will provide? I really don’t know, man, this market has been strange if nothing else.
Orioles FO continues to impress.
Making the small moves that cumulatively are so beneficial to a team as the season goes on.
Defense and the bullpen support starting pitchers. If the O’s are in contention by mid-season, they’ll have everything set-up to make the one big move that can put them into overdrive.
This is truly one of the great FO’s / organizations I’ve seen built the past 20 years. Colleges that teach pro sports management need to use this as a case study.
Mychal should like the park a lot more now, with the Great Wall of Baltimore looming over left field.
https://www.fangraphs.com/players/mychal-givens/10430/spray-charts?position=P&type=battedball&pid2=10430&ss1=2015&se1=2019&ss2=2022&se2=2022&cht1=hittype&cht2=battedball&vs1=ALL&vs2=ALL
Was thinking this same thing.
When Givens does get punished…it’s usually pull-hitting righties catching a hanging slider. Mount Walltimore should help keep some of those reigned in.
Welcome back, buddy.
The same guy who said it’s a 1 year deal with a 5 million guarantee just said it is 3 million with
a 1 million buyout if he opts out. That’s not the same thing. The 2 million only applies if the team declines his option after he doesn’t decline his. I wonder how details of the contract are leaked one by one instead of all at once. Do they have 3 different partial sources, or are guys reading through the contract and updating people while they go through it?
WAG’s prolly.
Who is WAG and what is his prolly?
I’m curious to see if this is a “we’re looking to make a trade involving one of our relievers” signing or if it’s a “we think we caught lightning in a bottle with [insert name]’s success last year and want a more secure option in 2023” signing.
Thoughts?
Tis the season of Givens in Baltimore
A solid enough signing, O’s may be trying to not overspend as their younger talented guys are going to be due for raises. Maybe they try to lock up a young guy to a team friendly deal before they become expensive? Regardless, they should definitely be spending smart, the don’t typically throw around big money like some of their rivals and when they do it doesn’t typically work out in their favor, at least recently.
Mighty fine photo shop job on him in Os uni
Givens going home. Really good signing by the O’s.
Different type of pitchers but IMO they are trying to replace the loss of Jorge Lopez which I am OK with it
Decent signing for the bullpen to keep its strength.