Kyle Bradish Beats Orioles in Arbitration, Awarded $3.55M for 2026

Kyle Bradish defeated the Baltimore Orioles in salary arbitration and will be paid $3.55 million for the 2026 season, instead of the Orioles’ offer of $2,875,000. The decision narrows a key roster question for Baltimore and nudges the club’s payroll picture for a rotation that has struggled with injuries.

An arbitration panel of Melinda Gordon, Chris Cameron and Steve Raymond issued the decision Feb. 3 after hearing arguments. Bradish and his representatives at All Bases Covered had submitted the $3.55 million figure, while the Orioles had filed $2,875,000; Bradish earned $2.35 million in 2025 as a Super Two player. The panel award translates into a 51% raise for Bradish over 2025, compared with the team’s proposed 22% increase.

Bradish, a 29-year-old right-hander, returns to Baltimore coming off Tommy John surgery in June 2024. He made a late-season comeback in 2025, returning Aug. 26 and registering six starts in which he went 1-1 with a 2.53 ERA, 47 strikeouts and 10 walks across 32 innings. ESPN’s reporting cites an Aug. 26 line of 10 strikeouts over six innings while allowing two runs in a loss to Boston. When healthy, Bradish has shown top-of-rotation talent: in 2023 he made 30 starts with a 2.83 ERA over 169 innings and 168 strikeouts, and since 2023 he carries a 2.78 ERA in 240 innings. Over his four big-league seasons Bradish is 19-15 with a 3.47 ERA.

Beyond raw results, analytics have underscored Bradish’s value. Recent measures include a strikeout rate near 26%, a walk rate of about 7.8%, a swinging-strike rate of 14.6% and a 30.5% chase rate on pitches off the plate, numbers that explain why arbitration panels and clubs weigh both surface stats and underlying stuff. Still, availability remains the main caveat: Bradish has made only 14 big-league starts over the past two seasons.

For Baltimore, the ruling has practical implications. MLB Trade Rumors and other coverage note the Orioles acquired Shane Baz earlier in the offseason and continue to pursue free-agent starters such as Framber Valdez, Zac Gallen and Lucas Giolito. Bradish’s arbitration win keeps him in the mix to start one of Baltimore’s first two games of 2026, but the club still faces decisions on rotation depth, workload management and payroll allocation.

For Baltimore fans, the award clarifies one piece of Opening Day planning while signaling the arbitration market’s valuation of mid-career pitchers returning from major surgery. Expect the club to balance Bradish’s earned pay and upside against ongoing efforts to add innings-eating starters and against upcoming arbitration cases, including left-hander Keegan Akin. The immediate takeaway for Birdland: Bradish is paid for the season and available to help the rotation, but his health and the front office’s next moves will determine how much he shapes Baltimore’s 2026 campaign.