Tag Archives: Chris Tillman

In talking about future Baltimore Orioles free agents, Chris Tillman is a guy who’s often forgotten. Tillman will be a free agent in 2018 – a year which is looking to be a red-letter one in terms of contracts being up. So where does that leave the O’s?

Tillman’s the one pitcher in the rotation that’s seemed to work out for the Orioles. So from my standpoint, they can’t afford to lose him. Does that mean he’s priceless? No, of course not. However he is a guy that the Orioles are going to have to pay in order to keep.

It’s not worth getting into dollar amounts now, because we don’t know what the market is going to yield for a guy like Tillman at that point. Heck, we don’t know what kind of season he’s going to have in 2017. However he’ll be due a raise in wherever his next contract is.

Again, Tillman’s not priceless. If he went to other teams he probably wouldn’t be a staff ace, although he wouldn’t be a back-of-the-rotation guy either. So the Orioles do need to keep that in mind, and in fact it can be a shaky slope to walk. Tillman and his agent will probably want ace-type money since Tillman has been the staff ace here in Baltimore. However the Orioles will argue that on other teams he wouldn’t be an ace and so forth.

In essence, we’re talking about the type of ridiculous conversations that occure in arbitration hearings. The team’s actually talking it’s own guy down in a way. But that’s part of the game, and part of the sport.

So if I were the Orioles, I’d try to get this done as soon as possible. Keep in mind that until his contract expires the O’s are the only team with whom Tillman can negotiate. Both sides are a known commodity to the other, given that nobody knows what Tillman’s worth would be on the open market. So there’s that.

Pitching has been a sore spot for the Orioles for years. So Tillman is a guy that they need to find a way to keep. I can’t imagine his price to go way past what’s considered reasonable, so for the team’s sake hopefully they can come to some sort of arrangement at some point. Sooner rather than later, again for the sake of the team. And the fans…and writers who cover it all!

The Baltimore Orioles will enter the 2018 season with a lot of questions surrounding them, but perhaps the one regarding Chris Tillman is the most unsung of all. We hear a lot of the likes of Machado, Schoop, and a few others needing to be signed down the road. But we nary hear a lot about Tillman’s situation.

Chris Tillman is in what’s known as a walk year, which in essence means he’s in the final year of his contract. He’s the closest thing that the Orioles have to an ace pitcher. In fact, he’s probably the closest they’ve had to an ace since the days of Mike Mussina (with all due respect to Erik Bedard). So is re-signing and thus retaining Tillman as important as it is to do the same with Machado and Schoop? I say yes.

The Orioles’ issue in 2016 was pitching – this much we know. So it thus becomes imperative for the Birds to keep what decent pitching that they have, all which trying to better themselves. Tillman had a solid 2016 after struggling in ’15. And given the fact that he’ll be in a contract year shortly, odds are he’ll have an even better 2017.

If they don’t re-sign him, the Orioles won’t necessarily lose Tillman. They could make him a qualifying offer next year, which would tax their payroll but if he accepted it he’d remain an Oriole. However I would submit that in the immediacy of today (that being next season), keeping Tillman around should be of supreme importance in the Warehouse.

The contracts of Gallardo and Jimenez will also come off the books after next season. So there’s some money right there that the Birds could put towards Tillman. This is one of the reasons why front office jobs in baseball are so difficult. You aren’t working so much for today as you are a year or sometimes two down the road.

My personal opinion is that the O’s should get Tillman squared away this off season. Right now they’re the only team with whom he can legally deal – they should take advantage of that! But that would also say a lot to Tillman about how dedicated the organization is to him personally, and how much he’s valued. It would say we didn’t want to wait so we wanted to ensure now that you’ll be with us down the road.

That would also give them a chance to open up their time next off season to deal with guys like Machado. You’re only as good as your roster, and if your roster ceases to be what it has been you’ll cease to be as good.