Baltimore Orioles Nearly Added Closer Until They Uncovered an Issue

The Baltimore Orioles had a pitcher with closer stuff on the hook before the team discovered an issue during a pass at his medicals.

Oct 6, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman (23) pitches in the ninth inning against the New York Mets during game two of the NLDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Citizens Bank Park. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have placed an emphasis on finding more bullpen help this offseason.

This comes as closer Félix Bautista is preparing to return from Tommy John surgery in 2023. Baltimore expects him to settle back into a role that led to him being award the 2023 Mariano Rivera closer of the year award.

But that doesn’t mean the Orioles weren’t planning for other eventualities.

On Friday, the Toronto Blue Jays announced they had signed former Philadelphia Phillies reliever Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million deal. With incentives, he could make $39 million.

That puts him in the AL East, which means the Orioles will be seeing him more often. But it almost didn’t end up that way.

Robert Murray at Fansided reported that Baltimore had an offer on the table with Hoffman before he took the Toronto deal. The Orioles offered the right-hander three years at $40 million.

So, what happened? The Orioles flagged Hoffman’s physical. Per Murray’s sources, Baltimore was concerned with his shoulder.

Based on that, the Orioles pivoted to the reliever they signed late Thursday night — Andrew Kittredge, who received a one-year, $10 million deal.

Hoffman and his agents pivoted to Toronto, the team that drafted him.

He’s coming off his first All-Star season in 2024, as he went 3-3 with a 2.17 ERA in 68 games, with 89 strikeouts and 16 walks. He was one of the best set-up men in the Phillies’ bullpen and he emerged as an option to close games, as he saved a career-high 10.

Before that, he went 5-2 with a 2.41 ERA in his first season with Philadelphia, which included 89 strikeouts and 19 walks in 52.1 innings and 54 appearances.

In the past two seasons his 2.28 ERA is sixth-best among all relievers in baseball. He’s also one of three relievers in the past two seasons with a sub-2.50 ERA and 50 appearances in each of those seasons.

He’s emerged as a workhorse the past few seasons, as he’s made at least 30 or more appearances in each of the last four seasons, which included 2021 and 2022 for Cincinnati.

Kittredge is bouncing back from health issues, as he missed parts of the 2022 and 2023 seasons after he underwent Tommy John surgery.