Baltimore Orioles sign Yovani Gallardo

The Baltimore Orioles have signed RHP Yovani Gallardo to a three-year contract.

Better late than never I suppose – the Baltimore Orioles have reached an agreement with RHP Yovani Gallardo. He will sign with the Orioles and accept their offer of a three-year deal worth $35 million. The deal also includes a $13 million club option for a fourth season. The deal is of course pending a physical, which is expected to take place tomorrow.

The Birds of course had targeted Gallardo for some time, however conventional wisdom always seemed to say that he was out of their price range. But as time went on the price seemed to drop with Gallardo not having signed anywhere. So now with pitchers and catchers already having reported, obviously Gallardo ended up signing for less than what he initially wanted. But ultimately he’s an Oriole.

Gallardo had also been asking for an opt-out clause, which the Orioles did briefly considering giving him. However owner Peter Angelos has never been big on that type of thing, and ultimately Dan Duquette felt that it didn’t benefit the club. Gallardo had also requested a no trade clause, however that’s not a part of the contract either.

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That said, what the Orioles did do is backload the deal, which in theory makes him a bit harder to trade at the end. It’s not heavily backloaded, but in year three he’ll make slightly more than he will the first two years. However the obvious answer there is that if Gallardo performs well and the team is doing well, the idea of trading him won’t even come up.

Gallardo was 13-11 last year with a 3.42 ERA in Texas. He was also a part of a playoff run, which is experience that will help the Orioles. He’s also the fifth right-handed starter that will be in the Orioles’ rotation this year. So in the absence of a southpaw, the Birds can assume that they’ll see lots of left-handed slants in opposing lineups. But at the end of the day pitchers have to get guys out – regardless of which side from which they hit.

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The O’s will also surrender the 14th pick in the draft and Texas will get a compensatory pick. This was something over which the forces in the Warehouse labored in terms of whether they should do it or not. At the end of the day they pulled the trigger on it. Time will tell if that was the right decision.

Next: Baltimore Orioles: The uncertain future of Matt Wieters

As I said, Gallardo is expected in Sarasota tomorrow for his physical. I would presume that if he passes that he’ll start working out with him new teammates right away. Grapefruit League play begins a week from Tuesday.