The Cubs have addressed a necessity of their bullpen by buying Andrew Kittredge from the Orioles, in accordance with Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Kittredge signed a one-year, $9M cope with the O’s final winter that additionally features a $9M membership possibility (with a $1M buyout) for the 2026 season. He has pitched properly sufficient that the Cubs would doubtless be inclined to train that possibility, and this further yr of management made Kittredge a very intriguing asset within the aid market this deadline season.
A minor knee surgical procedure throughout spring coaching saved Kittredge from making his Baltimore debut till Could 21, when the Orioles’ terrible begin to the season had already made them look like doable deadline sellers. Kittredge has a 3.45 ERA, 25.2% strikeout charge and 6.5% stroll charge over 30 1/3 aid innings for the O’s, with that strikeout charge a notch above his profession common from his first eight large league seasons.
Kittredge is 35, and between his age and his lack of an enormous fastball or large strikeout numbers, this might clarify why he needed to accept a comparatively modest contract regardless of a 2.47 ERA over 182 innings in the course of the 2020-24 seasons with the Rays and Cardinals. Nonetheless, Kittredge brings loads of high-leverage expertise to a Chicago aid corps that has been extra stable than actually dependable this season. The emergence of nearer Daniel Palencia has been an enormous story for the Cubs, and the crew has now backed him up with a veteran set-up man.
Chicago has been trying far and broad for beginning and aid choices, and along with Kittredge, introduced Michael Soroka into the fold after a commerce with the Nationals. As pitchers have been flying off the market, the Kittredge/Soroka strikes add depth to the Cubs’ workers whereas nonetheless permitting the crew flexibility to land yet one more greater arm earlier than the deadline.
The Orioles have performed an enormous function within the pitching market, as Kittredge joins Gregory Soto, Bryan Baker and Seranthony Dominguez as relievers dealt in the previous couple of weeks. Dominguez and Soto have been fairly simple calls as commerce candidates since they have been impending free brokers, however Kittredge, Baker and infielder Ramon Urias (dealt to the Astros) all had years of management remaining, indicating that Baltimore is taking a broad strategy to its deadline dealings. With a number of different commerce chips nonetheless on the roster, Baltimore will likely be one of many extra fascinating groups to observe because the Orioles attempt to reload for 2026 after a really disappointing 2025 marketing campaign.
