Baltimore Orioles: Brad Brach prepared to go to arbitration

Before Brad Brach can throw a pitch for the Baltimore Orioles, there’s still one thing he needs to do; go to an arbitration hearing to find out his 2017 salary.

Spring Training may be here, but Brad Brach still has some business to attend to before he can throw a pitch for the Baltimore Orioles this year.

Brach is the only player on the roster who has an arbitration hearing coming up. Caleb Joseph lost against the Orioles and Kevin Gausman settled prior to reporting to camp.

Brach had the best season of his career in 2016, going 10-4 with a 2.05 ERA out of the Orioles bullpen and earning his first nod to the All-Star game. In his second year of arbitration, Brach filed at $3.05 Million, and the Orioles filed at $2.52 Million. In Brach’s first season of arbitration, he made $1.25 Million.

After running drills in Spring Training yesterday, Brach told reporters the Orioles haven’t tried to reach an agreement since salaries were exchanged.

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Here’s more of what Brach had to say to the media on Monday afternoon:

“I think at this point, I just kind of want to get it done with,” Brach said. “Obviously, it’s either going to be this or that, and at this point it really doesn’t matter. I’m lucky enough to play baseball and that’s honestly the way I look at it. It’s a good salary, regardless of what it is, and I just want it to be done with.”

The Orioles decided to go for a ‘file-and-trial’ approach this season, meaning they’d rather go to an arbitration than continuing the negotiation process. Brach has been observing the Orioles this winter and is actually quite surprised the Orioles haven’t negotiated a deal with him, especially after quickly handling Joseph and Gausman.

“We heard that they talked to Caleb, and they obviously settled with Gausman,” Brach said. “So we thought something might happen but we haven’t heard from them since then, so I’m pretty sure we’ll just probably just go [to trial].”

Next: Orioles sign INF Chris Johnson to minor-league deal

At this point, all anyone wants is for the Orioles to put this final arbitration case behind them and get back to work. Especially since they have their work cut out for them against the rest of the American League East.