Pitching target for the Orioles agrees to deal with the Tigers
Following Kenta Maeda’s agreement to a deal with Detroit, the Baltimore Orioles will keep looking for seasoned starting pitching.
It looks like the pitcher the Baltimore Orioles were linked to earlier this week is no longer available as a free agent.
According to the New York Post, former Minnesota Twins pitcher Kenta Maeda and the Detroit Tigers have reached a two-year agreement.
Following a physical, Maeda’s deal will officially go into effect on Monday. He stays in the AL Central thanks to the agreement.
Some thought Maeda could be an asset for the Orioles, who finished 2023 with an AL East championship and 101 games won, as a back-of-the-rotation starter.
He will soon turn 36, yet in 2016 (16-11 with the Los Angeles Dodgers), he finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year vote, and in 2020 (6-1 with the Twins), he placed second in the Cy Young voting.
The right-hander, who missed 2022 due to Tommy John surgery, is coming off of a 2023 campaign in which he finished 6-8 with a 4.23 ERA.
Therefore, given that Maeda has recovered from the surgery and two years have passed, it is possible that she will observe an increasing trend in 2024.
He used to be an innings eater before the surgery. He pitched at least 125 innings in a season from 2016 to 2019. In 2019, he alternated between the rotation and the bullpen.
Thus, Baltimore will keep searching for depth in the rotation to help their young, gifted group, which consists of Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish, and Grayson Rodriguez.
The Orioles have also been linked to former colleagues of Maeda, Sonny Grey, and starting pitcher Marcus Stroman of the Chicago Cubs, both free agents. They might also be the destination of a trade including Dylan Cease, the starter for the Chicago White Sox.
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