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Chris Tillman

Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Britton, Machado, Tillman

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1:48pm: The Orioles and Tillman have also avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $10.05MM deal, tweets Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com.

12:20pm: Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun reports that Manny Machado also avoided arb with an $11.5MM deal (Twitter link). That checks in $300K north of his projection from Swartz.

11:11am: The Orioles and superstar closer Zach Britton have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a hefty $11.4MM salary for the 2017 season, reports Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith (on Twitter). The Scott Boras client’s salary is an exact match with the $11.4MM projection of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz. Britton will be arb-eligible once more next winter before becoming a free agent after the 2018 season.

Britton, 29, is coming off one of the most dominant seasons of any reliever in history. One of the best relievers in baseball (and arguably the best), Britton led the American League in saves with 47 and posted a comically low 0.54 ERA with 9.9 K/9 against 2.4 BB/9 in 67 innings of work. He also posted an outrageous 80 percent ground-ball rate that is the highest mark in Major League history of any qualified starter or reliever dating back to 2002 when the stat was first tracked.

As can be seen in MLBTR’s 2017 Arbitration Tracker, Britton was one of nine Orioles players that’s eligible for arbitration. The team has six players remaining, in the form of Kevin Gausman, Chris Tillman, Brad Brach, Jonathan Schoop, Caleb Joseph and T.J. McFarland.

Orioles Begin Extension Talks With Chris Tillman

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The Orioles have had preliminary talks with righty starter Chris Tillman about an extension, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun writes. Encina characterizes those talks as “introductory,” suggesting that no deal is imminent.

This isn’t the first time the Orioles have expressed interest in extending Tillman, who is eligible for free agency after next season. (He is set to make a projected $10.6MM next season through the arbitration process.) As Encina notes, Orioles stars Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Zach Britton are eligible for free agency following the 2018 campaign. Extending Tillman, then, would help the O’s build a bridge between their current core and whatever that core might look like two to three years from now.

Tillman posted a 3.77 ERA, 7.3 K/9 and 3.5 BB/9 in 172 solid innings in 2016. Those numbers roughly align with his career 4.13 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 3.2 BB/9. Tillman has rarely been among the AL’s top starters, but he’s been reliable and healthy, having pitched at least 172 frames in each of the past four seasons. (He did, however, miss a few weeks with a shoulder inflammation this season.) Those qualities could make him good money next winter, especially since he’ll be just 29. If extension talks with the Orioles do progress, Tillman’s camp could point to recently extended starters with five-plus years of service time such as Homer Bailey (who received six years and $105MM and an option) and Rick Porcello (four years, $82MM) as potential templates.

Dan Duquette On Machado, Tillman, Schoop, Britton Extension Talks

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In the Orioles’ season-ending press conference with media (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) earlier this week, baseball operations executive VP Dan Duquette commented on the possibility of the club exploring extensions with several players, saying “I’m sure we’ll have time to take a look at that” during the offseason.

“All of those players have done a great job for us,” Duquette said, referring to Manny Machado, Chris Tillman and Jonathan Schoop.  “We have explored extensions in the past, in fact a couple times each, with Tillman and Machado. We haven’t approached Jonathan Schoop on a long-term basis yet, but I’m sure we’ll have time to do that when it’s appropriate.”

As Duquette noted, this isn’t the first time the O’s have looked into extending its superstar third baseman or its staff ace.  FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman reported in June that Machado and the Orioles had come close to a seven-year extension at some point in recent years, while the club negotiated with Tillman about a long-term deal prior to the 2015 season.

A Machado extension, of course, would almost certainly be one of the largest deals in baseball history.  Machado has generated more fWAR than all but three other players in baseball over the last two seasons, thanks to his combination of both elite third base defense and outstanding hitting.  At just 24 years of age, Machado will only be 26 when he hits free agency after the 2018 season, so the Orioles would need to pay well in excess of $200MM in order to lock up the young star into his free agent seasons.  Extending Machado would break new financial ground for the O’s, though Baltimore has shown it is willing to spend big to extend or retain key position players like Adam Jones or Chris Davis.

Tillman is the most immediate concern since he can hit the open market after the 2017 season, though his price tag is less clear.  He rebounded from a disappointing 2015 season to post a 3.77 ERA, 2.12 K/BB rate and 7.3 K/9 over 172 innings this year, though as per advanced metrics, there actually wasn’t much of a gap between the righty’s performance over the last two years.  Tillman has produced between 1.8 and 2.4 fWAR in each of the last four seasons and averaged 190 innings per year in that span, though the Orioles are notoriously cautious (some could say over-cautious) when it comes to committing to pitchers in long-term deals.  It could be that the Orioles would be more comfortable spending money on a pitcher they’re already quite familiar with, especially given that the club is already in such need of rotation help.

Schoop will be eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter, so the Orioles aren’t necessarily in any rush to extend the second baseman.  Schoop, who turns 25 next week, hit a career-high 25 homers but was a below-average (97 wRC+) offensive performer overall thanks to a .267/.298/.454 slash line over 647 plate appearances.  Between Schoop’s high strikeout totals and lack of OBP, there could still be some question if he is indeed a long-term piece for the Orioles, though obviously there’s still room for growth for such a young player.

Duquette was also asked about the possibility of extending star closer Zach Britton, and Duquette merely responded that Britton is still two years away from free agency.  Extending Britton now would be the definition of a buy-high move given that he is coming off one of the best seasons from any closer in baseball history, though an extension would also give Baltimore some cost certainty over Britton’s rising price tag.  He is due a major raise from his 2016 salary of $6.75MM,  and he still has two arb years left thanks to his Super Two designation.  Committing huge dollars to any reliever can be a roll of the dice, so the Orioles could be willing to simply go year-to-year with Britton.

Orioles Activate Chris Tillman

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In welcome news for the playoff-contending Orioles, the club has reinstated right-hander Chris Tillman from the 15-day disabled list. Tillman, who landed on the shelf Aug. 24 with bursitis in his throwing shoulder, will start Sunday against Detroit.

[RELATED: Updated Orioles Depth Chart]

Aside from Kevin Gausman, no Orioles starter has been superior to Tillman this season. The 28-year-old leads the team in innings (153) and is second to Gausman in ERA (3.76), though metrics like FIP (4.29), xFIP (4.49) and SIERA (4.57) indicate that Tillman has been fortunate to prevent runs at his currently above-average mark. Nevertheless, Tillman is a quality option, one the Orioles will likely need if they’re going to earn a postseason berth this year.

Baltimore is a solid 77-64, two games behind American League East-leading Boston and a game up on the Tigers in the wild-card race, but the club has gone just 26-28 since the All-Star break. Orioles starters have been in the middle of the AL pack in ERA (4.35) and toward the bottom in K/BB ratio (2.22) since the second half of the season started, and Tillman has been subpar in both categories (4.76 and 1.87) during that span. Ideally for the Orioles, he’ll revisit his first-half form (3.41 ERA, 2.28 K/BB) in the coming weeks.

AL East Notes: Tillman, O’Day, Rays, Green

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As the Orioles look to work their way back into first place in the American League East, they’ll soon be joined by a pair of key players that have been on the disabled list, per MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko. Baltimore’s top starter, Chris Tillman, is slated to throw one final bullpen session on Friday before making a return to the rotation against the Tigers on Sunday. Notably, manager Buck Showalter said that no one will come out of the rotation when Tillman returns, as Baltimore will instead go with a six-man starting staff. Meanwhile, setup man Darren O’Day, who has been out since early August with a rotator cuff strain, threw 26 pitches today and felt good. Like Tillman, he’s lined up for a Friday bullpen session, but he’ll require a few days of rest and then a simulated game before he’s cleared to return. The Orioles are hoping that will happen at some point next week, per Kubatko.

A couple more items from the division…

  • The Rays have dismissed longtime hitting coach Derek Shelton and promoted minor league hitting coordinator Chad Mottola to take his place, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Shelton had served as Tampa Bay’s hitting coach for the past seven seasons and spent five years as the Indians’ hitting coach prior to that. The timing of the move is somewhat strange, Topkin points out, but the thought process behind the switch is to allow Mottola to begin building his rapport with the Rays’ hitters as soon as possible. Mottola will serve as the team’s hitting coach at least through the end of the 2017 season, he adds. President of baseball ops Matt Silverman and manager Kevin Cash indicated to Topkin that perhaps Shelton’s message had grown stale. Said Silverman: “…the connections with the players, we think that there is a possibility and a hope that some of that can improve with a different person in that chair, with a different voice, different relationships, a fresh start.”
  • Chad Green won’t pitch again for the Yankees this season, but the rookie right-hander looks to have emerged relatively unscathed from a potential brush with Tommy John surgery, writes Chad Jennings of the Journal News. Green has a strained flexor tendon, but exams by team physician Dr. Chris Ahmad revealed that there was no damage to his ulnar collateral ligament. Green will spend the next several weeks rehabbing his flexor injury but is anticipating a normal offseason and plans to be ready for Spring Training. Acquired in the offseason trade that sent Justin Wilson to the Tigers, Green made his big league debut this season with the Yankees. While he posted very strong strikeout and walk rates  (10.3 K/9, 3.0 BB/9), the 25-year-old also had an issue with homers, surrendering 12 long balls in just 45 2/3 innings. The result was a 4.73 ERA, though metrics like xFIP and SIERA, which normalize a pitcher’s homer-to-flyball rate, feel that Green should’ve been in the 3.60 to 3.70 range in his brief sample.

Orioles Place Chris Tillman On Disabled List

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TODAY: Baltimore announced the move, sending Tillman to the shelf and adding righty Mike Wright to take his place on the active roster. Tillman is said to be dealing with bursitis in his shoulder.

[RELATED: Updated Orioles Depth Chart]

YESTERDAY: The Orioles will likely place top starter Chris Tillman on the disabled list due to discomfort in his right shoulder, manager Buck Showalter revealed to reporters following tonight’s win over the Nationals (Twitter link via Rich Dubroff of CSN Mid Atlantic). Earlier this afternoon, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko wrote that Showalter gave an ominous message regarding Tillman, stating that the right-hander “did not have a good work day today” following a bullpen session that “did not go well.” The O’s are hopeful that because they’re able to backdate the DL trip to three days ago, Tillman will be able to be activated as soon as he is eligible, tweets Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun.

The loss of Tillman is a huge blow to an Orioles staff that already had a thin rotation. In 26 starts this year, Tillman has 3.76 ERA and tallied 153 innings of work. Tillman and fellow righty Kevin Gausman are the only qualified starters with an ERA south of 4.00 on the team (Gausman’s strong outing tonight just pushed him underneath that mark). Remaining starters Ubaldo Jimenez, Yovani Gallardo, Wade Miley, Mike Wright, Tyler Wilson, Vance Worley and Dylan Bundy have combined to log a 5.70 ERA on the season. Bundy has actually pitched quite well since moving into the rotation, but innings concerns make it difficult to pencil him in for regular starts down the stretch after he was scarcely able to pitch due to injury in 2014-15.

AL East Notes: Kimbrel, Porcello, Jays, Orioles, Yankees

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Craig Kimbrel’s Red Sox career hasn’t gotten off to a particularly auspicious start, but manager John Farrell tells ESPN Boston’s Scott Lauber that the club still has “full trust” in its closer. While many fans might be panicking to some extent with Kimbrel having compiled a 5.00 ERA with a pair of homers allowed through his first nine innings of work, Lauber notes that Kimbrel encountered a similarly unproductive stretch to open last season before righting the ship and dominating over the season’s final five months. Kimbrel blames location of a few poorly placed fastballs to Chris Davis and Colby Rasmus for the pair of homers, noting that it’s early and that by season’s end, “…we’re going to be looking back at this and talking a little differently.”

More from the AL East…

  • Though Rick Porcello’s $82.5MM contract extension with the Red Sox is often lumped in with other ill-fated signings in Boston, the Herald’s Evan Drellich writes that Porcello has quietly begun to make the deal look more palatable. Across Porcello’s past 11 starts (dating back to his activation from the DL last August), he’s posted a 3.51 ERA with the eighth-best K/9 rate among AL starters (9.51) and the sixth-lowest BB/9 rate (1.64). GM Mike Hazen spoke highly of Porcello’s perseverance through a difficult first half last season, and Porcello himself spoke to Drellich about mechanical adjustments he’s made and a lack of well-executed pitches during his struggles. A rival executive from an AL team said of Porcello’s deal that it’s “not the most club-friendly, but not terrible,” which isn’t exactly a glowing review but speaks to the possibility that Porcello could still make good on the contract. I’d also add that while Porcello’s 4.66 ERA this season is unsightly, he rates third among MLB starters in K%-BB% and is regarded much more favorably by metrics like xFIP (2.89) and SIERA (2.54).
  • It remains unclear whether David Murphy will seek to join another organization after opting out of his deal with the Twins, but if he does, the Red Sox don’t have interest in bringing him back, WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford reports (Twitter link). Murphy spent the spring with Boston, but exercised his opt-out clause and was released just before the start of the season when he didn’t make the Opening Day roster.
  • Following Chris Colabello’s 80-game suspension for a failed PED test, Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com doesn’t expect the Blue Jays to “replace” the first baseman/outfielder in a traditional sense by acquiring another right-handed bat (links to Twitter). Rather, he notes that a contact-oriented, left-handed bat that can handle first base, outfield and DH is a more pressing need for the Blue Jays, who already have a very right-leaning lineup that is prone to strikeouts. Also impacting the Jays’ current roster construction, he tweets, is the fact that backstop Russell Martin is dealing with some lingering neck issues. Morosi further lists (link) the Cardinals as an eventual trade deadline partner given the presence of left-handed first basemen Matt Adams and Brandon Moss on their roster.
  • For now, at least, the Blue Jays appear likely to bring third baseman Matt Dominguez onto the major league roster, as Sportsnet.ca’s Nicholson-Smith and Shi Davidi report (Twitter links). Toronto plans to option righty Drew Hutchison back down to clear an active roster spot, but needs to wait for him to clear optional assignment waivers since he has over three years of service. (That’s a revocable waiver placement that is typically a formality.) Manager John Gibbons suggested that the Jays prefer to have a right-handed hitter who can play third and first, which points to Dominguez. The 26-year-old hasn’t seen the majors since 2014, but has shown twenty-homer pop before and is off to a solid .311/.333/.475 start in his 66 Triple-A plate appearances on the year.
  • Yahoo’s Jeff Passan chatted with Orioles closer Zach Britton about the struggles of Baltimore’s four once-vaunted pitching prospects under now-former pitching coach Rick Adair. Britton — along with Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman and Brian Matusz — was at one point looked as a building block for the rotation in Baltimore. Instead, only Tillman has experienced success in the Orioles’ rotation (and probably not to the extent which many had hoped), though Matusz and especially Britton have been productive in relief roles. In Britton’s view, the Orioles’ pitching philosophies between the minors and Majors were contradictory. “They took away the individual approach to everything,” he explained to Passan. “Things we did extremely well in the minor leagues to get to the big leagues – we were told that just doesn’t work here.” Britton feels that Arrieta could have flourished in Baltimore under new pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti but says his former teammate may have lost confidence in his abilities toward the end of his Baltimore tenure.
  • Short-term injuries to Aaron Hicks and Alex Rodriguez have left the Yankees with some roster difficulties, writes River Ave. Blues’ Mike Axisa. With both players sidelined around five to six days, the Yankees are looking at playing with a two-man bench, which of course is hardly ideal. Axisa notes that the club does have some 40-man flexibility due to other more serious injuries, though, and opines that placing both Hicks and Rodriguez on the 15-day DL (even if it’s longer than needed) is preferable to simply playing short for a few days. Axisa runs down some bench options in the duo’s absence, including Nick Swisher, who is hitting well in Triple-A and will see his first outfield action tonight.
  • Yankees’ minor-league righty James Kaprielian, the club’s first-round choice from 2015, has been shut down with elbow inflammation, the club announced (via Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal, on Twitter). He’ll hit the minor league DL and will be “treated conservatively” before he begins throwing again, per the club, which says there’s still no timetable for his return. Kaprielian, 22, was seen as a quick-to-the-majors arm, and he has impressed thus far in his professional career. Over 18 innings in three starts this year at the High-A level, he owns a 1.50 ERA with 22 strikeouts against just three walks and eight hits.

Orioles Avoid Arbitration With Chris Tillman, Manny Machado

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The Orioles have avoided arbitration with right-hander Chris Tillman by agreeing to a one-year deal worth $6.225MM, tweets Jon Heyman. Tillman is represented by the Beverly Hills Sports Council. Additionally, Eduardo A. Encina of the Baltimore Sun hears that Manny Machado has avoided arbitration with a one-year deal worth $5MM, plus incentives (Twitter link). And, MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko tweets that Ryan Flaherty has agreed to a $1.5MM salary with the O’s. The Tillman and Flaherty figures are in line with the projections of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, who pegged them at respective salaries of $6.2MM and $1.5MM. Machado comes up shy of his $5.9MM projection but still earns a huge raise over last year’s $548K salary.

Tillman, 27, took a step back in 2015, posting a 4.99 ERA with 6.2 K/9 against 3.3 BB/9 in 173 innings after having worked to a 3.52 ERA in the two seasons prior. He’ll hope for a rebound year as he sits two years away from free agency.

Machado, 23, broke out with an MVP-caliber season in 2015, hitting .286/.359/.502 with 35 home runs in 713 plate appearances to go along with elite defense at third base. Machado is controllable through the 2018 season and should prove to be among the elite ranks of third basemen throughout the league in the years to come.

Flaherty, 29, batted just .201/.281/.356 last season but will reprise his role as a utility bat with some pop. Though he’s a career .215 hitter, Flaherty does have 32 homers and a .150 ISO throughout his MLB career.

Orioles Notes: Davis, Pitching, Morneau, Hardy

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The Orioles were right to extend Matt Wieters a qualifying offer even though the plan backfired, writes Rich Dubroff of CSNmidatlantic.com. Dubroff’s wish list for the club includes first baseman Chris Davis, a starting pitcher, and a quality outfielder. He doesn’t expect the club’s payroll to exceed $130MM to $140MM. With about $100MM committed to their current roster, the club has just enough money to pay Davis and one other substantial piece.

  • The three-year, $36MM contract signed by J.A. Happ serves to set the market floor for mid-tier starting pitchers, per Dubroff. Possible Orioles targets like Yovani Gallardo, Scott Kazmir, John Lackey, and Jeff Samardzija can expect to earn more than Happ. If the club retains the space to re-sign Davis, then they’re out on any of the top market starting pitchers.
  • Dubroff also looks at first basemen past Davis. Several like Chris Parmelee, Kelly Johnson, Travis Ishikawa, Mark Reynolds, and Steve Pearce have already appeared with the Orioles. None would represent a fan-inspiring signing. Should the club fall short on Davis, Dubroff suggests a one-year flyer on Justin Morneau as one alternative.
  • While Baltimore may look to free agency for additions, current players need to step up their game too, writes Steve Melewski of MASNsports.com. In particular, J.J. Hardy, Chris Tillman, and Miguel Gonzalez are listed as three players in need of a rebound. Injuries have ruined Hardy’s last two seasons, especially at the plate. Tillman, once a promising pitching prospect, is coming off his worst season since 2011. Gonzalez is entering his age 32 season after posting career worst numbers across the board.

Rosenthal’s Latest: Tillman, Gomez, Beltre

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Here’s the latest from FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, via a video on FOX Sports:

  • When the Orioles discussed an extension with Chris Tillman this spring, Tillman favored a contract similar to Lance Lynn’s three-year, $22MM deal with the Cardinals. That contract did not buy out any of Lynn’s free-agent years. The Orioles were interested in a longer deal for Tillman that would have delayed his free agency eligibility.
  • The Brewers’ poor start suggests that they could be sellers at the trade deadline, and Rosenthal notes that they could deal Kyle Lohse, Matt Garza, Gerardo Parra or even Aramis Ramirez (despite Ramirez’s plans to retire at the end of the season). A player who could bring a much greater return, though, is Carlos Gomez, who is signed to a bargain contract the next two years.
  • The Rangers could trade anyone if they fall out of contention, but it might be somewhat tricky for them to deal Adrian Beltre, who has limited no-trade protection and who has about $34MM left on his contract. Beltre also recently turned 36 and is off to a slow .149/.167/.298 start offensively. One might think that would only impede a trade if it were to continue deep into the summer, however — Beltre has a long history of providing excellent value both offensively and defensively.
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