The problems with the Orioles’ bullpen didn’t just crop up this past weekend with closer Craig Kimbrel’s meltdown and possible back injury.
For those of us who follow the team every day, it’s been pretty obvious that if the Orioles are in a close game, we’ll see Keegan Akin, Yennier Cano, Danny Coulombe and/or Kimbrel.
Cionel Pérez (oblique) has been hurt for most of the season. Dillon Tate is being used carefully after pitching very little in 2023. And then there are Jacob Webb, Mike Baumann and Yohan Ramírez.
The “other three” are important, because as good as the Orioles’ rotation may appear at times, the starters still almost always leave three or more innings to cover.
This was never a problem when the Orioles were rebuilding and for a time aiming for respectability. Those days, however, are long gone. Greatness appears within reach. That last step can be oh so elusive.
This all started with the unnerving news late last season that Félix Bautista would undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2024 campaign. Hopefully, Bautista will still be the Mountain when he returns next spring.
In the 2022-23 offseason, GM Mike Elias quietly and quickly signed Kyle Gibson to a one-year contract to help steady a young rotation. Elias moved quietly and just as quickly this offseason to sign Kimbrel, a legendary but 35 year-old closer. Of course, Elias knew the risk inherent with signing a future Hall of Famer who has fired an awful lot of bullets.
While the Orioles wouldn’t have Bautista returning, they would have Cano. This time last year, they were totally enamored with the performance of Cano, and why wouldn’t they have been? He didn’t allow an earned run in his first 17 appearances of 2023, spanning 21.2 innings.
Don’t get me wrong, manager Brandon Hyde had a hot hand. The Orioles played a lot of close games, and when they had a chance to win, who wouldn’t have used Cano a lot? At the end of June, his ERA was 1.12. From that point on, he appeared in 39 games and posted a much more pedestrian 3.24 ERA, allowing four homers in those 39 appearances.
So, why didn’t the club didn’t act more decisively to get some more help at the back end this offseason after Cano wore down in the second half of 2023?
Well, they did sign a legend. Coulombe was really good all of 2023. It was fair to assume he’d be a help in ’24 and he has been. Tate was due back, and I am sure they were optimistic he’d be a help. He still might be, but to date, his appearances have been usually two or three days apart. He did throw on back-to-back days this past weekend, perhaps a good sign.
When the club knew Kyle Bradish and John Means would not be ready for Opening Day is up for a matter of debate. But I think it’s fairly obvious the club was intending to shift Tyler Wells back to a bullpen role before he was needed in the rotation. Nobody questions Wells’ starter stuff, but as his latest injured list stint again shows, less would be more for the big right-hander.
With no young arms waiting in the wings, why didn’t the club sign any of a number of upgrades to “the other three?” That’s really where this gets complicated. And more importantly, what can and should the club do now?
Clearly, when Wells and Pérez get back, they’ll take spots of two of “the other three,” but we don’t know when Wells and Pérez will be back. Until then, what we do seem to know is that within the next several days, the Orioles will probably have two starters coming back — first Bradish and then Means.
Bradish is a starter, period. Means might be a different story, possibly offering Hyde a true long man when the Orioles have a lead. Imagine what that would do for Akin, Cano, Coulombe, Tate and hopefully Kimbrel.
In the short term, it figures if Bradish does indeed start on May 2 and prove able to stay in the rotation, Albert Suárez could excel as the short-term closer or chief setup guy.
All you have to do is go back in time to the 2014 season and think about Zack Britton. A failed starter, Britton made the club as a reliever out of spring training in 2014. Tommy Hunter was expected to take over as the closer for Jim Johnson, who was traded to the A’s in the offseason.
Britton grabbed the reins from Hunter when the latter proved unable to handle the job. Britton’s three great seasons (2014-2016) allowed the Orioles to always lock down the games they were ahead.
A lot of Orioles fans are wringing their hands and worried sick. I think I even sensed Hyde is a bit flustered by the sudden crumbling of Kimbrel.
But now isn’t the time for panic. It’s time better spent in being creative.
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