2:54pm: Industry expectation is that O’Day will secure a four-year deal that comes in a bit shy of Andrew Miller’s $36MM pact, Crasnick now tweets, suggesting something in the range of $32-34MM.
DEC. 3, 1:59pm: Baltimore has been making contact with alternative free agent relievers, reports Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com (Twitter links), who suggests that could be an indication that the team “might not be optimistic” about its chances of re-signing O’Day. Meanwhile, the Nats, Dodgers, and Braves remain in the hunt, per the report, which notes that the veteran would like to continue pitching on the east coast.
DEC. 1: The Orioles have made a “competitive” bid for free agent reliever Darren O’Day, Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun reports. Baltimore appears to be one of the final teams under consideration for the veteran, though numerous others — the Nationals, Braves, Dodgers, and perhaps more — could still be involved, per the report.
While a signing timeline remains uncertain, O’Day has seen plenty of action over the early weeks of the offseason. He could reach an agreement before the Winter Meetings open on Monday, Connolly suggests.
The O’s have been in touch with O’Day’s representatives for some time, so the interest itself isn’t new. But Connolly writes that this is the team’s first formal offer to the late-inning ace. And its apparent competitiveness also seemingly suggests that the team is more serious about retaining O’Day than had perhaps been expected.
O’Day is the top-ranked reliever on the free agent market, per MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes. While he’s entering his age-33 campaign, O’Day’s sub-2.00 ERA over the last four seasons makes him an obvious target for many teams looking at pen upgrades.
