July 31: The return for Kittredge is Dominican shortstop Wilfri De La Cruz, per Francys Romero of BeisbolFR. De La Cruz was just signed by the Cubs earlier this year, securing a $2.3MM bonus, the highest of their 2025 international class. Baseball America lists him as the #20 prospect in the Cubs’ system. He’s a 17-year-old switch-hitter. Listed at 6’3″, BA speculates that he might end up at third base in the long run.
July 30: The Cubs are addressing a need in their bullpen by acquiring Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Kittredge signed a one-year, $9MM deal with the O’s last winter that also includes a $9MM club option (with a $1MM buyout) for the 2026 season. He has pitched well enough that the Cubs would likely be inclined to exercise that option, and this extra year of control made Kittredge a particularly intriguing asset in the relief market this deadline season.
A minor knee surgery during Spring Training kept Kittredge from making his Baltimore debut until May 21, when the Orioles’ awful start to the season had already made them seem like possible deadline sellers. Kittredge has a 3.56 ERA, 25.2% strikeout rate, and 6.5% walk rate over 30 1/3 relief innings for the O’s, with that strikeout rate a notch above his career average from his first eight big league seasons.
Kittredge is 35, and between his age and his lack of a big fastball or big strikeout numbers, this could explain why he had to settle for a relatively modest contract despite a 2.47 ERA over 182 innings during the 2020-24 seasons with the Rays and Cardinals. Still, Kittredge brings plenty of high-leverage experience to a Chicago relief corps that has been more solid than truly reliable this season. The emergence of closer Daniel Palencia has been a huge story for the Cubs, and the team has now backed up their young stoppage with a veteran set-up man.
Chicago has been looking far and wide for all sorts of starting and relief options, and in addition to Kittredge, brought Michael Soroka into the fold earlier tonight after a trade with the Nationals. As pitchers in particular have been flying off the market, the Kittredge/Soroka moves will add depth to the Cubs’ staff, while still allowing the team flexibility to land one more bigger arm before tomorrow’s deadline.
The Orioles have played a big role in the pitching market, as Kittredge joins Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker, and Seranthony Dominguez as relievers dealt in the last few weeks. Dominguez and Soto were pretty easy calls as trade candidates since they were impending free agents, but Kittredge, Baker, and infielder Ramon Urias (dealt to the Astros tonight) all had years of control remaining, indicating that Baltimore is taking a broad approach to its deadline dealings. With several other trade chips still on the roster, Baltimore will be one of the more fascinating teams to monitor as the Orioles try to reload for 2026 after a very disappointing 2025 campaign.
Man the O’s bullpen is bad now.
Brother you could’ve just generalized and said “the O’s pitching is bad now” but I can appreciate the sunny outlook on things lmao
I could at least identify who will start a game for us. The bullpen is filled with AAA arms now. Will basically be signing a new BP this offseason.
still has Bautista (on IR but not for that long), Cano, and Akin. So the top 3 is still generally average overall (with bautista being well above average closer, and Akin being a little below average for a 2nd set up guy). The depth is mising.
3 relievers in the entire pen with any track record of big league success is just about the worst BP in baseball. I don’t expect we’ll rush Bautista back anytime soon & Cano has been horrible this year.
It’s going to be ugly. Hopefully we find a diamond in the rough or 2 the rest of the way out. I’m fine with it bc it makes no sense to keep rental relievers when your season is over but it doesn’t make things any less ugly.
And the first team Kittredge faces is the Orioles.
Wowzer, and with Cano imploding today, looks like the Martin kid inherits the closer role for now.
Good pickup for the Cubs.
Martin, or Akin?
I trust Akin the most of the remaining BP.
Id say with Martin doing it two days ago, they turn to him again, but more than likely it’ll be by commitee.
29 y.o. kid
Don’t know much about him. Would you say he’s a high leverage reliever?
Kitteridge? Yes.
He’ll be tested in that role. Got a shaky save yesterday but has mostly been in AAA with different orgd the past few years with only short callups.
Meh. With Flexen gone and Pomeranz probably on the way out, Hoyer is replacing them with Soroka and Kittredge. What an odd approach to roster-building he has.
I think Pressly is more on his way out than Pomeranz is. Pressly has been a huge disappointment
But they treat players who used to be good with “respect,” and Pressly and Turner are in that category. You or I would cut them, but the Cubs won’t.
meh I don’t really agree, I mean PRESSLY is utter garbage and should’ve been DFA’d months ago your right on that, the offense is good without or without Turner, and he plays third and he’s been on winning teams, Shaw needs to learn a massive amount from him
On a side note maybe people missed, Almonte started his rehab from TJ surgery with a scoreless inning at South Bend. Assad started at Iowa and wasn’t sharp but looked pain free, Wicks is looking good and it would be a mistake to forget about him. Tallion starting Sat. They have people on the way back just need a little patience. The schedule isn’t really imposing and the next Brewers series is in Wrigley and could/should settle the whole thing.
@Uncle: I would like to see Almonte get another shot; he gives batters a different look. But does anyone know what’s up with Little?
As far as I know there isn’t anything wrong with Little other than they won’t bring him up. He has a 2.14 ERA and a 2-1 K/BB ratio so you tell me? I guess it’s easier to look sideways than down. That k ratio might not sound great but it is for him. He’s improved his control a lot, Hopefully it keeps getting better. Almonte is probably more like next year. He’s still a ways away from back to backs I’m sure.
Awww
Uncle, this is completely unlike you – preaching patience!!
Bone-Unlike Callis and friends I think the Cubs have a better than most Farm System and some nice talent that’s basically MLB ready that I really wouldn’t like to see trashed for a rental. Unless they had an extension in place at the time of the deal. Probably the only good thing about re signing Hoyer is that now he has to think long term about his actions. Comp picks are nice but so is having MLB ready talent.
I’m waiting for one of Hoyers babbling , Talking like a marble Press conferences. using 26,000 words to say absolutely nothing pertinent.
What? Turner has played like 100 innings of 3rd the last 3 years. Shaw is already a solid above average 3B and he only recently converted.
I’m really just hoping all the moves my O’s make frees up consistent playing time for trying out the young guys. As far as pitching goes, I wish I could hope for Wells, Bradish and Grayson to come back healthy and productive. But right now they’re not here. Outside of Rogers who is absolutely dealing right now, you have Eflin (typically a good 2 starter that has been injured this year), Morton who is essentially a decent 4th starter when he’s right. Kremer who is probably a solid 3 starter. Sugano who has been inconsistent with both good and bad streaks. And Brandon Young who has not really shown anything. It’s not a desirable place to be for the O’s pitching wise right now.
Povich will be back and taking Young’s slot. Morton is probably dumped off tomorrow though. Young might stick as the long man if no SP is dealt though.
Scruff-I think Morton, Sugano, and Eflin are gone 7/31 too. They will give Young, Povich (when healthy) and maybe even other call ups any rope they can get.
I don’t think Wells is a starter but I think they will try again (he’s never gone beyond 110 IP, that was before injuries). I bank nothing on Grayson. Maybe being a reliever.
2026-That gives them Rogers who I think is pitching over his head now but can be a mid rotation guy, Kremer who is forever hot and cold but can certainly be a 4/5. They need to obtain 2 guys who are 1/2 level, at least. 3 would be better. Give Povich and Young an opportunity, plus Bradish back. That would be competitive. I just don’t see them going for it like that…one higher level and a couple that they will try and spin as smart finds.
Bradish also just threw 3.2 innings in the minors on a rehab start. Fair to say he will be throwing in the bigs in a few weeks at this point. Could be as little as 1 more rehab start to get to 5 innings and then give him run in the bigs.
this year no longer matters. So you have to look t next year with Bradish being back, Rogers being in the middle rotation, and then needing to sign 2 new mid rotation guys. Eflin may have another season if they think there is a rebound to be had there- but morton and sugano are only signed for this year.
I don’t think anyone will take Sugano. He was smoke and mirrors. The league has seen him now. Hard to succeed when you don’t get any whiffs
Ben Brown headed to Baltimore
Interesting. From the David Robertson deal a few seasons ago.
No shot
That’d be highway robbery by the O’s. I’m not expecting much.
Where did you hear that ? I only seeing The Cubs acquired Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles in exchange for cash considerations.
Lies
I was hoping they would hang on to him and pickup the option and bring him back next season but I’m not surprised. Just one of plenty of Orioles dominoes to fall
I guess paying Kittredge’s salary and picking up the option next season amounts to about $12MM. Elias probably feels he can sign a younger arm in the offseason for less.
Don’t really have any issues with that but the bullpen is a joke currently.
Cubs should exercise the buyout. You can sign him back next year. The guy the Cubs need to extend is Keller and he needs a raise. He’s a steal this year for 1.5 mil
Kittredge would have to be pretty bad or hurt to not be worth a net $8MM decision.
The problem with the Cubs bullpen the last 3 years is Hoyer signs a bunch of old guys who have no options left and when the games pile up he either has to DFA them or trade them to open up a spot. I would like to think that since he’s staying here now he would wise up at some point. We have enough young arms at this point that putting a bullpen together of home products shouldn’t be all that hard.
Hopefully this means the end of Pressly. Kittredge will immediately slot into sharing the 8th, and his first appearance will be against his former club.
Like SerAnthony did a couple games ago
So who did the Cubs send to Baltimore?
Apparently Heyman only cares about being first to report and then went to sleep for the night..
Tbf he’s 64. He ate his dinner at 4pm today.
I believe Heyman would report that decision as “crash considerations.”
Matlock is on. Give him an hour.
Jammer- The roulette wheel is still spinning.
Maybe the O’s were glad to just dump the salary.
yes- there really is no excess value in his deal. i expected a lottery ticket low minors guy like they got for Urias.
It’s not hard to de-code what is going on now. The Cubs are going all-in on trying to get Gore. They will offer a package starting with Alcantara. The Nats will either take it or leave it. The trade deadline will pass.
According to Nightengale, the return will be announced in the morning:
x.com/BNightengale/status/1950774179076460830
Hard to believe that it will be a big prospect. The Cubs do need to trade some prospects to be able to move up some others. Thankfully Hoyer hasn’t given up much but really hasn’t got much either. Hard for me to believe that they will take Keller out of the 8th inning for Kittridge, That would be a mistake. Wishful thinking that Pressly is gone and they will eat that money but see Mancini,Barnhart and Gomes. Counsell did bring in Keller in the 6th inning Wed though but they had a day off the next day. They could have accomplished the same things as these 2 moves and brought up Little and Noland or Sanders. So far he hasn’t ruined the future. But I’m not really sure he’s helped the present either. He’s just replacing non optionable relievers with different ones. Not sure it helps a lot. Grade-meh X 2
Braiser’s been CC’s 8th inning guy recently. And according to something I read earlier today, Kitteridge hasn’t been a late inning guy this year for the O’s… On another note, I think Jed’s gonna try for a serious starter and Soroka will be a spot starter/ BP guy. Just IMO… And I hope he finds a bench bat.
If Hoyer can get a decent starter and a bench bat, I think he will have done his job this deadline.
@Acoss: Agree. And if he can’t, he will not have.
Hopefully a Pressly DFA.
Why DFA when you can sell to teams scooping up depth relief.
Random thought: I can accept the convention of writing 5.1 innings to mean 5 and 1/3, because writing the latter again and again would get clunky (though new fans might be puzzled at first by the idea that a pitcher can pitch a tenth of an inning), but if the pitcher goes five innings even, why write “5.0”? Just “5” would do it, no?
Apparently this move was so “under the radar” that the return to the Orioles is still Top Secret.
Fellas, find you a woman who loves you like Mike Elias loves SS and CF prospects.
That seems like a very nice return for Kittredge.
Well done, Mike.
This move I actually liked from Hoyer. I’m okay with what the Orioles got.
I would have been cool with keeping Kittredge and exercising his option for next year, but it’s hard to argue with getting a recent $2+ million dollar bonus baby SS who has looked good so far in the minors for a 35 year old reliever who is good but not elite.
Hopefully Kittredge kicks butt as a Cubbie!
Yes, he will help the bullpen get some length.
Hopefully the young kid becomes a solid big league bat for the Orioles!
Sure hope Rubenstein makes a GM change this offseason
He didn’t do enough this offseason, but Westburg, O’Neill, Rutschman, Mountcastle, Cowser, Sanchez, Kittredge, Eflin, Urias, and Akin having extended stints on the IL didn’t help. If you’ve been an Orioles fan for over 25 years, you know the grass is not greener. I’m not happy with the offseason we had, but to fire him after what he has done to turn around this organization and its farm system would be a bad decision in my view
Kittredge is 35, and between his age and his lack of a big fastball or big strikeout numbers, this could explain why he had to settle for a relatively modest contract despite a 2.47 ERA over 182 innings during the 2020-24 seasons with the Rays and Cardinals.
This explains why so many pitchers are blowing their arms trying to throw 100 MPH. Teams are now rewarding velocity.
How about performance?
Huh?
Elias likes those young DR guys. Hey Now
Cubs got fleeced!! Elias managed to get the 13th ranked international prospect for a 35 year old reliever who is shaky at best… wow! Totally redeemed yourself Mike!!
Fleeced? For a 17 year old who is probably 3-5 years from getting to the “ Show”, if he even gets there. C’mon.
The kid is 17…….talk to me in 2031 and we’ll compare value. Chances are this kid will be working in a resort in the DR after his entourage stole his signing bonus.
Buckle up Cubs nation gonna be a fun summer and October.
Of course they did. And they’re not gonna do much more than this now that Hoyer has his extension signed.
Forget the pen for now but does anyone realize the cubs down to 4 outfielders. Heaven forbid if anything should happen to any of them in the heat of the pennant race. Just like Leo in 1969 play all of them till they drop. Ian banged up with shin injury but needs to suck it up on a single leg.
Not exciting, but somewhat better than Soroka, which to me is a lateral move for the bullpen at best. Jed seems to have whiffed on all the more impactful relievers.
“Having achieved a World Series title in my fourth year in Chicago I saw no need for a second World Series title.”
-excerpt from Jed Hoyer’s future memoir
So he’s doing nothing… again!
Padres, Mets, Phillies , brewers not even taking acct dodgers jump ahead of Jed’s cubs as contenders for being proactive get what they’ve done to increase their chances.
A+ Baltimore. Dream big. Raw talent to develop.
C Chicago. Expensive but what it takes. I’d rather spend more and get some years.