One Orioles position group is ready for a trade deadline fire sale

The Baltimore Orioles thought they could get away with not investing in their bullpen this offseason. For the first month of the year, it looked like they may, in fact, get away with it, but ever since the calendar flipped over to May, the Orioles' bullpen has been one of the worst in the league and has played a major role in the team's gradual descent in the standings.

When a reliever gets called into a game and immediately blows a lead, it's easy to point the finger at the manager and talk about "bad bullpen usage". Orioles manager Craig Albernaz has not always helped himself with some of the decisions he's made with the bullpen. However, over the past few weeks specifically, it's become more clear that there is nobody in this Orioles bullpen that can be trusted to protect a lead.

The 2027 Orioles don't need anyone from the 2026 Orioles' bullpen

It's not that everyone in the Orioles bullpen doesn't deserve to be in the big leagues; they mostly do. There's just nobody special in this bullpen. There is nobody who, when they take the mound, both the fans in the stands and the players on the field feel like he's got this.

That shouldn't be very surprising; just look at how these arms came to be in the Orioles bullpen. There is nobody that the Orioles paid big money to be in the bullpen long term. There is nobody that came up through their minor league system as an exciting prospect. It's mostly waiver claims and guys that the Orioles got in trades in exchange for cash. If that plus buying low on Ryan Helsley is your bullpen building strategy, it's hard to be shocked that that group is underperforming.

Turning waiver claims into serviceable relievers is something that good organizations pride themselves on being able to do, and the Orioles have successfully done it in the past. But they allowed that success to convince themselves that they didn't need real talent in their bullpen and would be able to get by taking castoffs and "fixing them" and it just hasn't worked out. What they have is a very replaceable group of arms.

That being the case, the Orioles would be totally fine if they traded every single reliever in their bullpen and then replaced them in the offseason. So, as the trade deadline approaches and the Orioles steadily fall out of the playoff race, every single pitcher in the Orioles' bullpen should be available.

That's not to say that the Orioles need to trade every reliever in their bullpen. It's more to say that as the deadline progresses and teams come calling about various pitchers, the Orioles should be willing to trade as many of their relievers as teams are willing to pay fair value for.

Fair value will look different for different pitchers. Guys like Yennier Cano and Tyler Wells, who are having decent seasons and have multiple years of control, would require a larger prospect return. If Helsley has a strong push towards the deadline, the Orioles could try to get some sort of bidding war going for his services, as he'd be one of the better rentals available.

As for everyone else, it should be easy come, easy go. If someone wants to give the Orioles another 17-year-old prospect from the DSL for Andrew Kittredge, they can have him. If someone wants to trade a fax machine for Keegan Akin, they can have him.

This offseason, the Orioles need to build a real bullpen. Whether it's through trades or free agency, they need a total refresh of that important position group. In an effort to do that, they can afford to sell low on their current arms; what they can't afford to do is go into another season with this same "fingers crossed that a bunch of waiver claims are going to carry you to the playoffs" approach to the bullpen.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow