Yovani Gallardo lands with Orioles after protracted qualifying offer limbo

By now you’re versed in – and possibly weary of – the qualifying-offer system/fallout, which on Saturday delivered 29-year-old right-hander Yovani Gallardo to Baltimore for reportedly $35 million over three years, previously surrendered Howie Kendrick to Los Angeles, and as of this writing had Dexter Fowler and Ian Desmond ensconced in limbo (which, also of this writing, is just behind Montreal in line for an expansion team.)

This, for the right to pass up $15.8 million and haul draft-pick impost into what was supposed to be free agency, the equivalent of reaching one’s professional peak while in the throes of acrophobia.

Kendrick settled for $20 million over two seasons. It will serve him just fine in the real world, but there’s no doubt the Dodgers benefitted from the system, mostly by standing around and allowing the system to fall in on itself. Fowler and Desmond should be so fortunate.

Along come the Orioles, a starting rotation that in 2015 finished next-to-last in ERA and third-to-last in innings and behind most in every significant American League pitching category and then lost Wei-Yin Chen to Miami, and Gallardo. The Orioles’ sole attempt to upgrade the rotation until now had been the acquisition of Odrisamer Despaigne, whose ERA last season approached five at Petco Park and seven everywhere else.

The Orioles have dug themselves a foothold in the passive-aggressive QO world. Two years ago, they signed Ubaldo Jimenez on Feb. 19 and Nelson Cruz five days later. Cruz brought them 40 home runs and the 36th pick in the 2015 draft (Yay, qualifying offer!). Jimenez, after a terrific first half in 2015, is among the reasons they needed Gallardo or someone like him.

In another bit of QO import on Camden Street, the Orioles’ catcher, Matt Wieters, in November became one of three players ever to accept the offer (Colby Rasmus and Brett Anderson are the others, all this offseason, all after three years of QO shutouts.)

The end result is a pretty fair offseason for the Orioles, who re-signed Chris Davis and Darren O’Day, traded for Mark Trumbo, signed Korean outfielder Hyun-soo Kim and in the days before camp opened got a more than fair deal on Gallardo.

Gallardo has seven consecutive seasons of at least 30 starts. After eight seasons in Milwaukee, he won 13 games and posted a 3.42 ERA for the Texas Rangers in 2015. He also saw his WHIP rise and his strikeouts-per-nine shrink while averaging fewer than six innings per start. He’ll slot somewhere in the Orioles’ rotation with Jimenez, Chris Tillman, Miguel Gonzalez and, presumably, Kevin Gausman, out in front of a lineup that should be very good, for a team that – like every team in the AL East – should contend for the division title and probably not run away with it.

The Orioles fell from 96 wins in 2014 to 81 last season, in part because the ERA of their starters rose nearly a run. Chen is gone, which won’t help. But Jimenez could be that first-half guy again, and Tillman could shake off that dismal 2015, and Gausman’s best days would appear to be ahead of him. So, yes, Gallardo landing in their laps is a good thing and confirms the Orioles are ready to contend again in the East.

With, you know, some qualifiers.

It wouldn’t hurt, too, to add an outfielder. Like, why not, Dexter Fowler. Their kind of guy.