With the Orioles losing the last two games before the All-Star break and the first two games after the break — an ill-timed four-game losing streak — it’s hard to imagine Orioles GM Mike Elias is going to be distracted by the faint chances of a late-season miracle.
Rather, Elias will be focused on adding as much young talent as possible so the organization can reposition itself for the near future.
Elias will have his hands full with truly building a starting rotation capable of competing for a championship and adding one or two meaningful consistent bats to the roster. However, another area he may need to address with urgency is the bullpen.
While it’s easy to see Cedric Mullins, Charlie Morton and Ryan O’Hearn heading elsewhere, it’s also very easy to see bullpen arms galore joining Bryan Baker out the door. Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez, Andrew Kittredge and Gregory Soto all seem primed to be thrust into pennant races. I know there is talk about Félix Bautista being made available, but if the team is truly serious about bouncing right back into contention, Bautista isn’t going anywhere.
The Orioles’ ability to develop their own bullpen arms is in severe doubt considering that Bautista and Keegan Akin are the club’s only homegrown relievers. That means the team may have to turn over four or five spots in the bullpen, an important part of any contending club.
I’ll give Elias credit. He got the most out of Akin and Bautista, two arms he inherited, and brought in Baker, Cano, Jorge López and Cionel Pérez, all of whom contributed at various times. (He did, however, trade away Tanner Scott for virtually nothing.)
But as we have observed throughout the years, the lifespan of bullpen arms can be pretty short. We have seen that play out in the cases of Cano and Pérez, whose roles and effectiveness have gone backward the past couple of years.
Elias made a calculated bid to strengthen his ‘pen at last year’s deadline by adding two power arms in Domínguez and Soto, whose inconsistencies had worn on the Phillies and their fans. While they’ve both had their moments in Baltimore, both have been erratic and all too often their usage has proven problematic.
So much focus has been put on the 2026 starting rotation, but the bullpen must be a priority as well. It’s easy to speculate that Elias will attempt at this year’s deadline to add at least a couple arms that may be part of next year’s ‘pen, with the rest most likely coming in the offseason.
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