Orioles News: Kyle Nicolas Trade, Chris Bassitt injury, Trevor Rogers bounces back

The Baltimore Orioles had an influx of pitching updates today as they continue to try to navigate through the 2026 season, amidst a host of injuries and disappointing performances. After one month of having one of the worst rotations in baseball and one of the best bullpens, those two units have flipped, and for the last couple of weeks, the rotation has been steady, and the bullpen has been the weak link.

This is likely only the first of several swoons and surges, and if the Orioles want to claw their way back above .500, they'll need to reinforce both groups. To do that, they'll have to be both creative and aggressive.

The Orioles are taking a chance on Kyle Nicolas

If there's one thing this Orioles front office can be counted on for, it's to always be on the lookout for recently DFA'd arms that they can grab for cheap and then either try to find a role for them in the Orioles pen or hold onto them for a couple weeks and try to sneak them through waivers. Just a couple of weeks ago, they snagged Eduarniel Nunez from the Athletics, and now he's been DFA'd to make room for Nicolas.

Nicolas has been bouncing around the league in various bullpens for a few years now, since he was drafted in the second round by the Marlins, spending time with the Pirates and Reds over the last couple of seasons before being DFA'd.

As far as what the Orioles can expect from Nicolas, he has some good pitches that a coaching staff can dream on. In 2025, across 38 innings, he had two pitches rated out as well above average by stuff+. As a reliever, you really only need two good pitches, so that bodes quite well for Nicolas.

Unfortunately, neither of those good pitches is a fastball, which is where Nicolas's problems really begin. His fastball is poor, and his fastball command is dreadful. In his last two outings for the Reds, he walked eight batters in just two innings of work. That's more walks than outs.

So the Orioles will try to find a fix for Nicolas's command issues. If they find one, then they've got themselves a pretty solid reliever. If they don't, he'll be DFA'd to make room for their next project.

Chris Bassitt had a weird end to his last outing

Chris Bassitt labored through three innings in a loss to the Red Sox on Wednesday. The final inning was brutal as Bassitt faced all nine hitters in the Red Sox lineup and was fortunate to only surrender two runs. It was an odd inning to watch because right around when he gave up the two-run home run to Wilyer Abreu, Craig Albernaz, and Drew French could be seen speaking with the Orioles head trainer, clearly discussing Bassitt. Albernaz went to the mound to visit Bassitt, and then they had him face a bunch more hitters before getting out of the inning.

This was weird because the game was still close, and if Bassitt was injured enough to be pulled from the game, by rule, the Orioles would have been allowed to let Albert Suarez warm up as long as he needed. Why would the Orioles let an injured Chris Bassitt waste away for the sake of getting one more out? It didn't end up mattering because the Orioles could only muster one run, so they were destined for the loss column regardless, but it did raise a few eyebrows.

The update post-game was that Bassitt is dealing with back tightness, and since then, Bassitt has left the team to go to Baltimore to get his back checked out. This is definitely worth keeping an eye on as the Orioles rotation is already stretched thin, and a Bassitt injury would put a lot of pressure on top prospect Trey Gibson to come up and perform before the Orioles feel he is fully baked.

Trevor Rogers is showing signs of life again

After over a month of perplexingly bad starts from Trevor Rogers, he finally bounced back against the Red Sox, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowing only one run on a couple of ground ball singles before exiting in the sixth in line for the win.

Rogers was very close to having his breakthrough moment against the Blue Jays last week, but a disastrous seventh inning saw his momentum come to a halt. Still, if you can bring yourself to ignore that inning, Rogers has looked much more like the pitcher the Orioles were depending on him to be, and if that continues, then the Orioles would feel destined to complete their season turnaround.

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