Baltimore Orioles Potential Free Agent Target Signs Deal With AL Rival

One possible free agent option for the starting rotation is officially off the table for the Baltimore Orioles.

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One potential option for the Baltimore Orioles in free agency to bolster their rotation is officially off the board.

Now former Houston Astros left-handed starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi is signing a three-year deal worth $63 million with the Los Angeles Angels as first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Kikuchi, now 33 years old, picked the right time down the stretch this past season to have the best run of his career.

After Houston acquired him at the deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays, Kikuchi started 10 games for the Astros and put up a 2.70 ERA with the highest strikeout per nine of his career and a WHIP below 1.0, something he has never done over a full season in six years in the league.

Baltimore could have been a possible suitor for Kikuchi especially if they were to lose Corbin Burnes to another team, something that feels increasingly likely. But expecting Kikuchi to come in and replace the production of Burnes would have been both unfair and unrealistic of the veteran who until his stint in Houston the second half of this year has never been anything better than average.

At the number he wound up signing for, it's probably a good thing Kikuchi ends up elsewhere. While he certainly put up some impressive numbers after the trade, those numbers were ultimately a fairly significant outlier from anything else he had put up in his career including his first half of 2024 with Toronto. 

With a 4.75 ERA during the first half of the year along with a career mark of 4.57 and a WHIP of 1.344, Kikuchi has never been better than an average starting pitcher both with the Blue Jays and at the start of his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners. Even in his lone All-Star season in 2021, Kikuchi posted a 4.41 ERA over 29 starts.

Kikuchi would have been an interesting option if he came with the return of Burnes as a new No. 2, but an AAV of $21 million from Baltimore was never going to be in the cards for the lefty whether it was with or without Burnes' return. The Orioles will be better off looking elsewhere and potentially saving the money spent on Kikuchi instead on a true ace if Burnes leaves.

The first domino in the pitching market has fallen however, and it could signal to Baltimore that starting pitchers are not going to come cheap this winter.