SARASOTA—Needing starting rotation depth, the Orioles signed 37-year-old right-hander Kyle Gibson to a one-year contract. Gibson’s contract is for $5.25 million and $1.525 million in performance bonuses, according to The Athletic.
In 2023, Gibson was 15-9 with a 4.73 ERA in 33 starts as the Orioles won their first American League East title since 1997. After the season, Gibson signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.
“Kyle was amazing for us a couple of years ago,” manager Brandon Hyde said after the Orioles’ 9-1 loss to Detroit on Friday night. “What he did in the clubhouse and also how he took the ball every five days and kept us in almost every game. He’s an unbelievable leader.”
Last season, Gibson was 8-8 with a 4.24 ERA in 30 starts. St. Louis declined his 2025 option. He was arguably the best starting pitcher left on the free-agent market.
“He had a good year last year in St. Louis, and I’m really happy about adding him back,” Hyde said.
The Orioles will begin the season without Grayson Rodriguez in the rotation because of right elbow discomfort and with two starting candidates — right-hander Chayce McDermott (right lat/teres strain) and left-hander Trevor Rogers (dislocated left knee) — unable to pitch.
Gibson will need some time before he’s ready to pitch.
“He’s going to have to go through pretty much a whole spring training-type of ramp-up. It’s going to be a while,” Hyde said. “He’s not going to be ready for a long time, so as you saw last year, we used a lot of starters so just adding another rotation piece, we felt like was important. Anything can happen. Kyle’s going to have to go through a whole progression to get up into a starter’s workload.”
To make room for Gibson on the 40-man roster, the Orioles moved right-hander Kyle Bradish, who had Tommy John surgery last June, to the 60-day injured list.
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.