Kyle

Gibson

The 37-year-old right-hander exercised the opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Rays after allowing just one run over 17 1/3 innings in four starts at Triple-A Durham and failing to get an opportunity at the big league level. There’s plenty of teams looking for quality rotation depth on the open market, so don’t expect Gibson to be out of work for long.

It was seniors’ night in Durham, as Gibson was facing off against Mike Clevinger, who pitched six scoreless innings for Charlotte. Those two total 22 years of big-league experience and are a combined 72 years old. Gibson has allowed just one run over 12 1/3 innings in three appearances since joining Durham. The Rays wouldn’t seem to need him, but some team is going to want him as a fifth starter if this keeps up.

The deal is official. Gibson heads to Tampa Bay’s system where their pitching development engine will take a look under the hood to see if he’s got anything left to offer. The 37-year-old righty was torched to an astronomical 16.78 ERA across 12 1/3 innings (four starts) earlier this season in his return to the Orioles. He’s merely emergency depth at this stage of his career.

It’s always mildly interesting when Tampa Bay rolls the dice on a pitcher, but we’re not sure there’s anything left in the tank after Gibson was lit up earlier this season to the tune of a surreal 16.78 ERA across four starts for the Orioles. The 37-year-old veteran figures to head to Triple-A Durham and could be an option for the Rays at some point in the near future.

Gibson was DFA’d after going 0-3 with a 16.78 ERA in four starts for the Orioles. His velocity in those outings was the same as last year, when he was a solid enough starter for the Cardinals, so there should be some significant interest now that he’s only due the minimum from whoever signs him.

The Gibson experiment is officially over in Baltimore after the 37-year-old veteran recorded just two outs and allowing six runs on Saturday in an ugly loss to the Nationals. It’s unclear how the Orioles are going to re-configure their starting rotation mix, but Gibson won’t be part of the solution after recording a stratospheric 16.78 ERA across 12 1/3 innings over four starts.

Gibson’s day was over early in this one. He allowed four runs before recording his first out in the first inning. The Nationals would bring two more runs in and that would do it for Gibson. Charlie Morton entered to relieve Gibson. The 37-year-old right-hander now has a 16.78 ERA, 2.92 WHIP, and a 10/7 K/BB ratio across 12 1/3 innings. His next scheduled start is set to come Thursday against the Red Sox in Boston.

This was Gibson’s third start, and it was another ineffective one. The veteran right-hander allowed seven hits, three walks and struck out four, and his ERA ‘dropped’ to a still ugly 13.11. That’s over a sample of just 11 2/3 innings, but to say that Gibson hasn’t been impressive since being brought up at the end of April is quite the understatement. It’s not like he was facing one of baseball’s top lineups, either. He’s scheduled to face the Nationals on Friday.

Gibson struck out three and walked one while registering a 27 percent whiff rate and 23 percent CSW. Gibson missed a few bats with each of his little-used sweeper and curve, but he also allowed an average exit velocity of over 94 mph. He should be avoided in all fantasy leagues next week, even against the Angels.

It remains to be seen how long the decision lasts, but the Orioles can probably get by with a four-man rotation for the next week or two due to off days. Morton has been shifted to the bullpen after tossing 2 1/3 frames on Tuesday against the Yankees. It’ll be Dean Kremer, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson taking the ball for a three-game series against the Royals that gets underway on Friday.