Zach Britton has been the Orioles’ closer since 2014 and a target in trade talks for what seems like nearly as long, but all of that will be put on hold for now. That’s because Britton, according to Ken Rosenthal, ruptured his achilles while working out, and is now expected to miss “at least” six months.
Orioles’ closer Zach Britton ruptured his Achilles
Baltimore’s closer was potentially on the trade block, but now he’ll miss significant time recovering from injury.
Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
This is terrible news for Britton, who is set to be a free agent after the 2018 season, and also for the Orioles, who were either going to lean on Britton as a key piece of their pitching staff or were going to deal him as part of a rebuild effort that could also feature a trade of Manny Machado. As Rosenthal also reports, interest in Britton had spiked due to the cost of free agent relievers this offseason.
Now, instead, both sides will lose out on the benefit of a strong 2018 season, as Britton gets less time to prove he’s still a lights-out closer while having to work back from another injury, while the Orioles are forced to, once again, not be able to go all in on whichever path they choose.
Britton already missed time in 2017 with a forearm strain that limited him to 38 appearances and 37 innings. His strikeouts were also down, and his ERA climbed to 2.98 — that sounds great, but he posted a 1.38 ERA from 2014 through 2016 as Baltimore’s closer. So, 2018 was going to be huge for him to prove that his arm was healthy and there was still more magic to be had. That puts a lot more pressure on the end of 2018 to prove the same.
[Editor’s note: This article at one point stated Britton was a free agent after 2019, but he’ll hit free agency following the 2018 season.]
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