On the eve of his arbitration hearing in Arizona, Kevin Gausman and the Orioles finally agreed to settle at a salary of $5.6MM for 2018. Gausman had filed at $6.225MM, and the team countered at $5.3MM. This one seems like a “win” for the Birds.
However, with another prominent Oriole seemingly set to go year-by-year in the arbitration system, should the team be thinking about long-term deals with their young players while said deals may still be relatively affordable?
Owner Peter Angelos is notoriously wary of handing-out large/ long free agent contracts, especially to pitchers (except when he’s not.