Orioles embarrassing sweep by Blue Jays should force front office to fix roster flaw

Remember in 2023 when Felix Bautista put together one of the best seasons in Baltimore Orioles relief history when he tallied a 1.48 ERA with 33 saves? It’s hard to believe that was only two years ago, especially considering how things went this past weekend for the Orioles' bullpen.

While the current Orioles bullpen is the worst it has been in years due to trades and injuries, things hit a depressing low point this weekend when Orioles relievers allowed 18 runs in 10 2/3 innings in their three-game sweep at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays. An Orioles reliever took the loss in all three games. 

The worst outing of the weekend came on Sunday when Carson Ragsdale allowed eight earned runs in three innings in an 11-2 loss. 

After the game, interim manager Tony Mansolino said that the Orioles left Ragsdale out there because they “didn’t want to use another bullpen arm” in the start. But that’s not an excuse for leaving him out there in that way. The eight runs he allowed are tied for the third-most a reliever has allowed in an outing this year. 

Orioles need to overhaul their bullpen in the offseason if they want to compete next year

Things weren’t much better the two games prior. On Friday, Trevor Rogers left his start after just five innings due to a toe injury and he was promptly let down by Dietrich Enns, who surrendered two runs in 1 1/3 innings. The Blue Jays then tagged Shawn Dubin for three runs in 1 2/3 innings to close the game. 

A day later, Tomoyuki Sugano wowed with six strong innings on the mound before Rico Garcia followed with a scoreless inning out of the bullpen, which was the only scoreless inning a relief pitcher had all weekend (position player Luis Vázquez also tossed a scoreless inning on Sunday). 

All of this sets up shows that the front office should do everything in its power to add some established arms to their bullpen. Not only do they have multiple holes to fill in the middle of the ‘pen, they also need to figure out what to do at closer since Felix Bautista is going to be out all of next year due to injury. 

Former top prospect Chayce McDermott is joining the bullpen this week and could eventually turn into a high-leverage arm, but he’s still transitioning to being a full-time reliever. Outside of him, the top two options who are currently in the bullpen are Cano and Keegan Akin, though they’re both having rough seasons. 

The upcoming free agent class features plenty of impact relievers (especially if Edwin Díaz and Robert Suarez opt out of their deals), so the front office will have their work cut out for them. 

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