![\"Andrew](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/GettyImages-2295505972.jpg\")
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 15: Yohel Pozo #79 and Andrew Kittredge #39 of the Baltimore Orioles shake hands following their 7-5 win against the New York Mets at Citi Field on September 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Evan Bernstein\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Baltimore Orioles<\/a> were hoping this was the year.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t sign Pete Alonso to a big free agent contract just to miss the playoffs again, but that\u2019s the fate staring them in the face, and while the math technically gives the slimmest of chances, it\u2019s all but over.<\/p>\n The Orioles will soon be looking ahead to the offseason, where they\u2019ll have to assess what went wrong.<\/p>\n They\u2019ll also have to figure out how the heck to be competitive in the AL East Division, which continues to be the hardest division in the sport.<\/p>\n The Orioles have been their own worst enemy at times, but it doesn\u2019t help having to play double-digit games every season against the Rays, Red Sox<\/a>, Yankees and Blue Jays.<\/p>\n With all that in mind, it\u2019s worth considering who the Orioles might lose in free agency.<\/p>\n One pitcher has been solid but is also getting up there in years, and it\u2019s not clear that he\u2019d make sense for Baltimore to bring back.<\/p>\n Orioles Could Lose Pitcher<\/p>\n The one-time All-Star relief pitcher Andrew Kittredge is slated to be a free agent at the end of the season.<\/p>\n Kittredge will turn 37 years old next March, but the way he operates, it seems like he could keep pitching for at least a few more years if he so chooses.<\/p>\n This hasn\u2019t been his first season in Baltimore, although his path here was interesting. He began 2025 with the Orioles but finished it with the Chicago Cubs<\/a> when they traded him to the Windy City at the deadline. Kittredge then returned to the Orioles in a trade for cash this offseason.<\/p>\n This season, Kittredge has been sharp. In 54 appearances, he has a 3.61 ERA and has struck out 7.4 batters per nine innings.<\/p>\n In an era of overwhelming velocity, that\u2019s not the type of pitcher Kittredge is. He gets out anyway, though, which almost helps to make him aging-proof.<\/p>\n Kittredge is in his 10th major league season and has a career ERA of 3.45.<\/p>\n He has also pitched for the Rays and the Cardinals<\/a> in addition to the aforementioned Cubs and Orioles.<\/p>\n Kittredge is a cool story in part because he was drafted in 2008 in the 45th round but chose not to sign and instead go to the University of Washington \u2014 which is part of why he was drafted so late in the first place.<\/p>\n But then out of college, Kittredge went undrafted. He had to hang on to his professional dream for dear life and prove he could do it.<\/p>\n He proved it. Kittredge has thrown in 363 MLB<\/a> games and counting.<\/p>\n Contract Outlook<\/p>\n Kittredge could be a fascinating case in free agency, because he played this season on a one-year deal worth $10 million \u2014 it was a club option.<\/p>\n He likely wouldn\u2019t command that much on the open market, and so depending on his asking price, the Orioles could consider bringing him back again. If Baltimore doesn\u2019t want him, another team will likely give Kittredge a go, because it seems like he could pitch forever.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tBilly Heyen<\/a> Billy Heyen is a Heavy contributor with focus on the NFL and MLB. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who spent his senior year following Jim Boeheim’s basketball team around the country. His reporting work has also included extensive work for The Sporting News, the Sandusky Register and Rochester’s Democrat & Chronicle. Adventures in sports writing have also led to in-person coverage of the Buffalo Sabres, Cleveland Guardians, U.S. men’s national soccer team and a variety of minor league baseball stories. More about Billy Heyen<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 15: Yohel Pozo #79 and Andrew Kittredge #39 of the Baltimore…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":810750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,4,125],"class_list":["post-810749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-orioles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/117310245051730485","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=810749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/810749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/810750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=810749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=810749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=810749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}