Gibson agrees to 1-year, $5.25 million contract

37-year-old is a 12-year veteran with a career 4.52 ERA

Kyle Gibson, pictured with the Orioles in 2023, is returning to the team on a one-year deal. Karl Merton Ferron/Staff

SARASOTA, Fla. — Two years ago, Kyle Gibson was preparing to start opening day for an Orioles team that went on to win 101 games.

Friday, after waiting for months on the free agent market, Gibson reunited with Baltimore less than a week before the regular season begins.

The Orioles on Friday night signed the respected veteran to a one-year contract, the club announced shortly after its spring training game ended. The deal is worth $5.25 million, a source with direct knowledge of the agreement confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The Athletic was first to report value of the contract.

Gibson, 37, is a 12-year veteran with a career 4.52 ERA. With the Orioles in 2023, Gibson posted a 4.73 ERA in 192 innings. No pitcher in the American League started more games than Gibson did for Baltimore in 2023.

His ability to eat innings is perhaps the reason Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias had interest in bringing Gibson back. He’s totaled at least 150 innings in every season since 2017, not including the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Gibson was one of the main veteran leaders for the 2023 Orioles team that made the playoffs for the first time since 2016 and won its first AL East title since 2014.

“Kyle was amazing for us a couple years ago — what he did in the clubhouse, but also how he took the ball every five days and kept us in almost every game,” manager Brandon Hyde said after Friday’s game at Ed Smith Stadium. “He’s an unbelievable leader. He had a good year last year in St. Louis. I’m really happy about adding him back.”

The move comes as the Orioles’ rotation is without Grayson Rodriguez after he injured his elbow this spring. Rodriguez entered camp expected to compete for the club’s No. 1 starter job, but inflammation in his elbow shut him down for 10 days, requiring a cortisone shot. The right-hander resumed playing catch this week, but it’ll take at least a month for him to make his way back.

The Orioles didn’t bring back Gibson in 2024 as they instead traded for ace Corbin Burnes. Gibson signed with the St. Louis Cardinals and recorded a 4.24 ERA with 151 strikeouts in 169 2/3 innings. It marked Gibson’s lowest ERA in a season since 2021, when he was an All-Star.

Hyde said Gibson will have to go through a spring training-esque progression to pitch in games for the Orioles, meaning it could take up to or more than a month for him to make his way to Baltimore.

“It’s going to be a while,” Hyde said.

Rodriguez isn’t the only Orioles starter dealing with an injury. Trevor Rogers, whom Baltimore acquired at last year’s trade deadline, has been out all spring after partially dislocating his right kneecap. Tyler Wells and Kyle Bradish, who was placed on the 60-day injured list to make space for Gibson on the 40-man roster, are both recovering from ulnar collateral ligament surgery aren’t expected back until the summer. And prospect Chayce McDermott recently began throwing bullpen sessions after suffering a lat/teres muscle strain earlier this spring.

Hyde said the Gibson move was to bolster the Orioles’ starting pitching depth. Last year, the club lost Bradish, Wells and John Means to injury early in the season and Rodriguez in the second half, putting a strain on the pitching staff.

“As you saw last year, it takes a lot of starters. We used a lot of starters last year,” Hyde said. “Adding another rotation piece, we felt like is important. Anything can happen.”

Since Gibson won’t be ready for opening day, the status of the Orioles’ rotation doesn’t change — for now. Zach Eflin and Charlie Morton will still start the first two games against the Toronto Blue Jays. Dean Kremer and Tomoyuki Sugano will likely follow, though the order is undetermined. Cade Povich and Albert Suárez are competing for the No. 5 starter job.

While Elias is stocking up on starting pitching depth in case of injury, it’s also possible that the Orioles utilize a six-man rotation at some point this season, especially once Rodriguez and/or Bradish are back. With Gibson in the fold, Baltimore has 11 starting pitchers with big league experience in addition to Sugano, who is one of the most decorated pitchers in the history of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball. Sugano is accustomed to pitching in a six-man rotation in Japan, and his workload will need to be managed throughout the season. And once Rodriguez and Bradish return, it could be beneficial for them to receive more rest.

When Gibson started opening day for the Orioles two seasons ago, it was by virtue of being the most experienced pitcher on the staff.

The rest of the rotation was filled with young pitchers still finding their way in the big leagues. Now, whenever Gibson officially joins the rotation, he’ll be alongside a 41-year-old in Morton, a 35-year-old in Sugano and a nine-year veteran in Eflin.

Still, Gibson believes that he has bullets left in his arm and wisdom to provide, and the Orioles believe they could benefit from both.

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at [e-mail], 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.