After acquiring starting pitcher Jack Flaherty from the St. Louis Cardinals with minutes to go before Tuesday’s trade deadline, the Orioles used the final moments of that ticking clock to pursue another reliever.
They had snagged dynamic right-hander Shintaro Fujinami from the Oakland Athletics about two weeks ahead of the deadline, but Baltimore’s front office still sought to fortify the middle of manager Brandon Hyde’s bullpen. Their inability to do so means anyone else who arrives to boost a heavily used bullpen over the next two months will likely already be in the organization. The Orioles will notably get an extra bullpen spot in September when rosters expand.
Almost half of the Orioles’ American League-best 67 victories have come in games they’ve won by one or two runs, prompting Hyde to frequently rely on All-Star relievers Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista. Cano has had some struggles of late, having pitched in about 50% of Baltimore’s games with him on the roster, and although Bautista has been baseball’s top reliever this season — receiving three of the four American League Reliever of the Month awards — he’s on track for career-high usage.
“Our whole team is in situations that they haven’t been in before, other than [Kyle] Gibson and Flaherty and James McCann and some of these guys,” executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said. “These guys are playing with their hair on fire. This is new for them. There’s only so much I can do about it. This is Major League Baseball, and they’re in it, and a lot of these guys are star players, and they want to play. We want to win the games. We’re doing our best to keep everybody healthy.
“I think Brandon does an excellent job. You notice the guys never pitch three days in a row, we give them extra days when they have long pitch counts, we’re trying to take care of our pitching. It’s obviously challenging in any situation, but in ours in particular with the types of dogfights that we’re in every night with the American League East and then the types of games that we’re in, where it’s, like, always close, it’s tough.”
Elias said he came “pretty close” to adding another reliever beyond Fujinami, who has electric stuff but has at times struggled to harness it. But the Orioles have a collection of other pitchers who could, in time, provide the middle relief help Elias sought.
Baltimore picked up Flaherty to bolster a rotation that has several starters who have surpassed or are approaching their career highs for innings; his first effort toward that goal went well Thursday, with the right-hander striking out eight over six one-run innings in a win over Toronto.
His addition also allows the Orioles to deploy some of their other starters in different roles. Left-hander John Means is working his way back from last season’s Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and a May back strain that further delayed his return. Whether Means, who was the Orioles’ top starter from 2019-21, has time to build into a starter’s workload remains to be seen. Instead, he could return as a reliever, a role he did well in to open 2019 before pitching his way into Baltimore’s rotation and eventually onto the All-Star team.
Left-hander DL Hall is a similar candidate, in that the Orioles must decide whether to stretch out Hall, their top pitching prospect with Grayson Rodriguez’s graduation, or use him as a reliever, as they did down the stretch last season to manage his innings but have him assist in a playoff push. A back injury suffered before spring training has impacted Hall’s season, with an inability to lift weights affecting his velocity. He spent the past month-plus at the Orioles’ Sarasota, Florida, complex undergoing a strengthening program before rejoining Triple-A Norfolk this week, with the club saying he’ll initially pitch as a reliever.
“It’s a huge talent with an enormous arm, and you saw what he could do last year toward the end of the season out of the bullpen,” Hyde said. “I hope that he can get back to that point and help us.”
Tyler Wells was Baltimore’s best starter in the first half of the season, but he struggled in three starts out of the All-Star break to prompt the Orioles to option him to Double-A Bowie for what Hyde called a “reset.” Although the Orioles hope Wells recaptures his first-half form and can rejoin their rotation, he pitched as a reliever for Baltimore in his 2021 rookie season, having not pitched at all the preceding two seasons. He eventually worked his way into the closer’s role and could provide a late-inning option again this season.
The Orioles have half a bullpen on the injured list.
Right-hander Mychal Givens (right shoulder inflammation) and left-hander Keegan Akin (lower back discomfort) pitched on rehabilitation assignments for Triple-A Norfolk on Thursday. Givens was expected to be a veteran in Baltimore’s bullpen mix after returning to the Orioles as a free agent this offseason, but he’s made only six appearances with Baltimore between stints on the IL. He was ineffective in them, with an 11.25 ERA, but if Givens can return as the pitcher who posted 3.38 ERA last year with the Chicago Cubs and New York Mets — likely a lot to ask — he could be a welcome addition.
Akin put up a 6.85 ERA in 24 outings with the Orioles, though a third of the earned runs he allowed came in one outing and his FIP — an ERA-like metric based on aspects a pitcher can control such as home runs, strikeouts and walks — is 2.98, suggesting some bad luck.
Right-hander Austin Voth had a 3.04 ERA with Baltimore last season working mostly as a starter, but he struggled opening the year, allowing a home run in each of his first five appearances. He pitched solidly over the next month before the right elbow discomfort he had been managing all season began to hamper his performance.
Perhaps the most significant addition in this category would be right-hander Dillon Tate, who led the Orioles in games pitched each of the past two seasons with a 3.69 ERA but has missed all of this year with a right elbow flexor strain. Elias said the club hopes he can pitch before the end of the regular season, though as of last week, he had yet to begin a throwing program.
Baltimore’s Triple-A pitching staff will surely offer some help as the season goes on, with the possibility one of those pitchers latches onto an opportunity.
Right-hander Bryan Baker had spent all of the past two seasons with Baltimore before being optioned to Triple-A to create a roster spot for Flaherty. He struggled since mid-May and allowed more than 50% of inherited runners to score, though Hyde was hopeful he would have a role in their bullpen again soon.
“I’m hoping that he can just go down there, kind of get a little bit of a reset and hopefully join us back up here soon and throw some big innings for us as we go down the stretch,” Hyde said.
Two other players who have been with Baltimore this year who could come back are left-hander Nick Vespi and right-hander Logan Gillaspie. Vespi has a 1.06 ERA with Norfolk over the past two seasons, and after pitching decently in 25 outings for the Orioles last year, he’s made only five appearances for them in 2023. Gillaspie made Baltimore’s opening day bullpen but posted a 6.00 ERA in 11 major league games this year. The Orioles signed left-hander T.J. McFarland, who pitched for them from 2013-16, to a minor league deal last month after the New York Mets designated him for assignment.
The Orioles could choose, at some point, to call upon one of a handful of their prospects to reinforce their major league staff, with Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich — pitchers acquired at last year’s deadline for Trey Mancini and Jorge López, respectively — being the particularly intriguing options, though they would need to be added to the 40-man roster and neither has much Triple-A experience.
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