Kyle Gibson opted out of his minor league contract with the Rays, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The veteran righty had signed with Tampa Bay last month but didn’t have a clear path to a rotation spot.
Gibson couldn’t have pitched much better over his four starts at Triple-A Durham. He allowed only one run over 17 1/3 innings. Gibson struck out 22 of 65 opponents (nearly 34%) against six walks. He hasn’t allowed a run in any of his last three starts, all of which were in the 4-5 inning range.
It’s a marked turnaround from Gibson’s four MLB starts with the Orioles earlier in the year. Those could hardly have gone worse. He was bombed for a staggering 23 runs on 29 hits (seven of which cleared the fences) while managing just 12 1/3 innings. The O’s released him four starts into a $5.25MM free agent contract. Gibson didn’t sign until the back half of Spring Training. His velocity wasn’t any different than where it’d been last year with St. Louis, but his execution clearly wasn’t there. The atypical offseason presumably had something to do with that.
Gibson needed to settle for a minor league contract after Baltimore released him. He should have a stronger chance of getting an MLB deal this time around. The Triple-A production gives some hope that he can still be a solid fifth starter, as he was when he turned in a 4.24 ERA in nearly 170 innings a year ago. He’d also not cost a signing team anything other than a roster spot. They would pay him only the prorated $760K league minimum for whatever time he spends in the big leagues. Baltimore remains responsible for the rest of the salary, minus the minimum for however long he’s on another team’s MLB roster.
Wouldn’t be surprised to see Baltimore pick him back up to be honest…
forealforeal: He might just be a AAAA pitcher.
For the love of God, please no. Stick a fork in him.
Did the Rays not have a way to trade him? If Gibson gets a ML contract he owes the Durham bulls pitching staff a thank you card.
Likely rolling opt-out where they had chance to add him before he triggered it.
Blue Jays need Gibson and Dick Mountain!
So if the O’s pick him back up, do they have to pay him the league minimum
He’s a free agent, so he can sign with any team, for any amount. If he signs with the Orioles, it’s a new contract. I’d be like getting a bounes on top of the 5 million the Orioles already owe him. As far as I know anyway.
The orioles would be liable for the original contract minus the prorated league minimum so it would be flush with their original agreement.
I think he can only sign for the pro-rated min. No double-dipping.
Twins reunion makes sense
Here come the Incel comments with Bauer and Dick Mountain.
Apparently there wasn’t a Ray of hope.
The White Sox should consider giving him a shot. With Cannon currently out, Martin with the often ominous forearm strain, Perez likely gone for the season, on top of Burke and Smith in their first year of an attempted full starters season work load… they need inning coverage. Their minor league affiliates don’t have much of anyone who they could call up. Sure, they’ve got a couple of excellent pitching prospects. However, none of the healthy arms are ready. I’m certainly not enamored with Gibson. Yet, the White Sox are thin on options to cover an MLB season of innings.
Yeah, if Gibson has no desire to compete or play on a winning team
Why not?
Arizona needs starting pitching now…
Cubs
Nice career, but he is beyond DONE!!
Mediocre* career
sign me up for a $73 million dollar mediocre career
Get it done AA
Mets could use a starter, so could the Braves