The Orioles announced they have agreed to a deal with the right-hander Rico Garcia on a one-year contract for the 2026 season. The club did not announce salary figures, but… Josh Tolentino and Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun report that the judge will receive a salary of $900,000.
It’s an unusual deal. Garcia, 32 in January, was already on Baltimore’s roster after being cleared off waivers from the Mets in August. He has less than two years of service. That means he has not yet qualified for arbitration. The O’s could have set his salary around the league minimum, which will be $780,000 next year. Moving up to $900,000 for Garcia is obviously attractive, but the O’s also expect some kind of benefit from it.
It’s likely the first step in a plan to have Garcia serve as non-roster depth. The O’s could waive him and hope the slightly higher salary will deter the other 29 clubs from making a claim. If Garcia were to clear waivers, he would have the right to choose free agency since he already has a prior career. However, since he has been employed for less than five years, exercising that right would require him to waive his remaining salary obligations. With Garcia out of options, this potentially gives the O’s a way to move him to Norfolk and back while bypassing his out-of-options status.
The O’s have tried similar things before, usually with arbitration-eligible players. They agreed to a $1 million salary with infielder Emmanuel Rivera for the 2025 season. He was outright removed from the roster before the season started. During the season he was added back to the squad and subsequently moved outright three more times, giving the O’s an additional depth option. However, it doesn’t always work this way. The O’s and Jake Cave In November 2022, they avoided arbitration and agreed to a $950,000 salary for 2023. About a month later, they tried to pass him on waivers, but the Phillies claimed him.
Garcia hasn’t seen much action in five major league seasons, but 2025 was his biggest workload and best performance. He pitched 34 1/3 innings for three different clubs, allowing 3.15 earned runs per nine. His 26.8% strikeout rate, 7% walk rate and 48.4% ground ball rate were all above average. Out of options, he bounced around the waiver wire and pitched for the Mets, Yankees and O’s last year. Perhaps the higher salary will help the O’s keep him as a bounce-back arm, but it’s also possible another club could claim him and he’ll be paid his slightly higher salary elsewhere.
Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images
#Orioles #Rico #Garcia #agree #terms #salary