It was all the way back on Dec. 6 that reports broke that Darren O'Day had reached an agreement to re-sign with the Orioles on a four-year deal. O'Day himself took to Twitter to say that nothing was finalized. Well, now it is. The Orioles have officially announced that O'Day has signed a four-year deal.
It should be noted that this is just part of the process and the original reports were all correct. Players and teams reach agreements, but then there's a physical before it's finalized. Given that this was the Orioles -- remember Grant Balfour and Tyler Colvin had deals with Baltimore fall apart due to stricter physicals than most teams -- there was reason to believe maybe things would derail the agreement.
But nothing derailed it and now O'Day has his four-year, $31 million deal. It is the richest deal ever for a non-closing reliever.
O'Day, 33, was the top reliever in free agency this winter. He had a 1.52 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 82 strikeouts against 14 walks in 65 1/3 innings last season. In his four years with the Orioles, he's pitched to a 1.92 ERA and 0.94 WHIP. He's not a closer, but is instead extremely valuable at stranding runners before the ninth. In his time with Baltimore, O'Day has taken over with 127 runners on base and he's only allowed 28 to score, stranding 78 percent. That's outstanding and a big part of his value.
Retaining O'Day to pair with Zach Britton at the back-end of the bullpen gives the Orioles one of the better late-inning combos in the league.
