The Orioles have reunited with Andrew Kittredge, as the team announced that the right-hander has been acquired from the Cubs in exchange for cash considerations. While not mentioned in the Orioles’ press release, it can be assumed that the O’s will be exercising Kittredge’s $9MM club option for the 2026 season rather than swinging a trade for the reliever just to buy him out for $1MM.
Last January, Kittredge came to Baltimore for the first time when he signed a one-year deal worth $10MM in guaranteed money — a $9MM salary for 2025, and the $1MM in buyout money. A debridement procedure in his left knee delayed Kittredge’s 2025 debut until late May, but he was in fine form afterwards, and he became an obvious trade candidate when the O’s fell out of contention. The result was a deal to the Cubs at the trade deadline, with Baltimore netting infield prospect Wilfri De La Cruz in return.
Kittredge’s overall numbers were even better in Chicago after the trade, and he made five appearances for the Cubs in the postseason. For 2025 as a whole, Kittredge posted a 3.40 ERA and a superb set of advanced metrics. His 30.8% strikeout rate and 5.3% walk rate each sat in the 92nd percentile of all pitchers, his 49.2% grounder rate was far above average, and his 41.6% chase rate was the best of any pitcher in baseball.
Today’s trade means that the Orioles have now gotten Kittredge and De La Cruz in their organization, plus they saved roughly $2.8MM in salary when the Cubs took on the remainder of Kittredge’s 2025 salary. Had everything gone to plan for Baltimore this season, the team surely had an eye towards exercising Kittredge’s club option anyway, so they’ll now get to make that decision after all and address a bullpen need.
Felix Bautista will miss most or all of the 2026 season recovering from shoulder surgery, plus Kittredge was one of several relievers dealt away by the Orioles at the deadline. Even with Kittredge’s contributions, Baltimore’s bullpen was one of the weakest in the league in 2025, and rebuilding the relief core seems to be one of the club’s top priorities this offseason.
From the Cubs’ perspective, passing the buck (literally and figuratively) on Kittredge’s club option seems like an unusual move. While Kittredge is entering his age-36 season and Chicago has traditionally been wary about overspending on relief pitching, $9MM seems like a fairly safe investment given how well Kittredge performed in 2025. The Wrigleyville bullpen was quite solid this year, yet since many names from that group are free agents, exercising Kittredge’s club option would’ve been a way for the Cubs to partially solidify things early in the winter.
Since Shota Imanaga’s three-year club option was also declined by the Cubs earlier today, quite a bit of projected money has now been cleared off the team’s books between Imanaga and Kittredge. As per RosterResource, Chicago has an estimated 2026 payroll of roughly $148.3MM and a luxury tax number of $164MM — well below their $206.4MM payroll and $227.3MM tax figure from 2025. While Wrigleyville fans have a right to be concerned over how much ownership is willing to spend, this situation could mean that the Cubs are making room for a bigger-ticket acquisition or two this offseason.
Makes sense with Cubs’ goal of trimming payroll.
He’s not worth 9M
But the Cubs spent over $2M on De La Cruz to get the bearded old pitcher. I would love to know what the cash considerations are coming back from Oriole’s so I can understand what the really cost.
Or creating payroll space to sign Kyle Tucker? (Ok, I don’t believe that either.)
I’m kinda surprised. I thought Kittredge would be a nice complementary piece to the bullpen, and $9 million seems reasonable enough. Although, maybe this was a prearranged deal where the Orioles were only loaning him to the Cubs.
9M is way too rich for Kitterage
That’s Jed’s limit for a reliever he wants.
You can’t do deals like that. The omly thi g pre-arranged is the Cubs pre-arranged cheapness. .
Yeah, because MLB front office types have never done handshake deals or other unscrupulous under-the-table agreements. That’s so completely out of character.
he will be 36 and 9 million is to much lol it’s not being cheap it’s being smart. jed does know how to build a bullpen
Thank you for your time Kitty
Watch him be back in Cubbie blue at the trade deadline..
Completely unexpected and pretty damn weird, but uh, I guess welcome back, Andrew!
Cubs ownership is a joke
because not spending 9 million on the 36 year old reliever? we just watched Jed build a bullpen that was very good lol
@cmjustice
A 1 year $9 million deal isn’t a lot for a reliever. Especially considering they gave up a nice lotto ticket to get him. It’s a buy high, sell low move and I’ll bet money Chicago trades another prospect for a similar rental RP next deadline.
Jed Hoyer has perfected the art of the pointless trade. Give up a prospect for Kittredge. He doesnt move the needle at all. and then give him back 12 weeks later.
You can kind of see it as a rental. They got him for the decreased salary he would’ve been owed for the final three months and then didn’t have to offload anything of value to get rid of this years money. It actually seems like a really worthwhile trade for both teams in hindsight. I wouldn’t be surprised if more deals didn’t happen like this in the future.
Poor Ricketts, the biblical losses still haunting him
So was this concocted back in July? You can have him for 2 months and playoffs and we will take him back? I’ll call it a Bowie Kuhn trade except those only took a day to send the player back to the seller.
Too early to be sure, but this distressing move would be consistent with the Cubs lowering the payroll as much as possible for 2026 in anticipation of the 2027 lockout. Kittredge is good, and picking up his option at 9 million for the coming season would have been a no-brainer for a team that really plans to contend.
if there were any Cubs fans left deluding themselves into Kyle Tucker aspirations, this is your last chance to egg-proof your face.
This could be purging cash for the big expenditure.
Colin Rea!
The Cubs can get guys who don’t hit in the clutch for a lot less than Tucker will command.
not for sure who you think those fans were or are lol we fully expect for him to not be back which is ok
haven’t actually paid much attention to what the cubs do huh. spend to with in 10 million or so of the first tax line and also the lockout is not relevant to the cubs. players do not get paid during, we have no deferrals left to be paid or anything so not for sure why your bringing up the lockout. now a team like the dodgers on the other hand could have some problems.
This is interesting.
Essentially the Orioles loaned Kittredge to the Cubs for 2 months when he wasn’t going to make a difference for them. Then they’re giving cash for obtaining de la Cruz which could either be a big bargain if he contributes at the MLB level eventually or a little waste of $ in the end.
If you take out one outing when Kittredge was lit up for 4 runs he pitched well overall for the Orioles. He also missed the first ~30% of the season injured. He is expensive, but can be worth $9M if he is available for the full season to go 65-70 IP AND pitches like he did minus the 4 run shelling.
This is a huge W by Elias. That teenage prospect signed for late first round money and held his own in pro ball last year. He’s now a trade chip and we got the same reliever back.
I also think this can be counted as the first official move of the Hot Stove season!
I’m sure the Cubs farm system is loaded with pitchers. Oops, I meant Dodgers.
DISCLAIMER: JHanley is not a graduate of the School of Comedy.
Probably missing out on some form of hilarity, but he’s been a mute since the day MLBTR came up with it.
But, to add to your disclaimer—Cubs news in November, no matter how insignificant (like this) always allow Sox fans and make believe employment to intersect.
Clearing as much committed payroll as possible to make a realistic run at keeping Tucker.
This is clearing salary so the Cubs can keep Keller.
Interesting. Didn’t see this coming. And with Shota leaving, that’s more money on the table to sign someone else.
If that’s the plan, we can only hope Jed spends wisely.
Great trade by the Os overall. Saved money, got a new young player, and lost nothing.
I wonder if this was part of the original trade; take a lesser return today and we’ll trade him back to you over winter?
Wow! De La Cruz had 170 plate appearances in rookie ball and walked over 25% of the time for a slash line of .258/.465/.400! If he can keep a semblance of that going he’ll have a great career.
I am going to miss seeing Kittredge and his wondrously casual delivery to the plate, like he was just tossing the ball in the backyard with his kid.
I think the Cubs should’ve kept him. He was great out of the bullpen, and that 9M wasn’t too steep a price to pay. But if this is part of a larger strategy, then fine, go for it.