Baltimore Orioles: O's tried to lock Britton on a two-year deal

With closer Zach Britton entering his final two seasons of arbitration, the Baltimore Orioles were interested in locking him up on a two-year deal.

Before the Baltimore Orioles avoided arbitration with Zach Britton this offseason, the Orioles considered locking up the closer in a two-year deal which would bring him to the final two years he’s eligible for arbitration.

The idea of trying to lock Britton up for the last two years of his arbitration initially made sense. However, the Orioles wanted to add a club option for a third year attached to the deal.

It’s not surprising Britton and his agent said no to the potential two-year deal. Britton is arguably one of the best closers in baseball, and he saw what teams were willing to pay for closers in the market.

The New York Yankees paid $86 Million for Aroldis Chapman while the Los Angeles Dodgers paid $80 Million for Kenley Jansen.

Britton is bound to get a raise in the free agent market, but it doesn’t appear to be at the price the Orioles are comfortable it. With Spring Training coming up in two weeks, the Orioles and Britton aren’t going to resume contract talks.

Britton went 47-for-47 in saves with a 0.54 ERA after only allowing four earned runs. Not only did Britton earn his second consecutive All-Star nod, but he finished fourth in Cy Young voting and 11th in MVP voting.

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Recently Britton was the talk of the town when the Orioles didn’t use him during the one-game Wild Card play-off against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Orioles ended up losing the game 5-2 after Ubaldo Jimenez gave up a three-run home run to ex-Blue Jay Edwin Encarnacion.