The team that the Orioles have assembled ahead of the 2026 season is strong. It’s not perfect, but there is plenty of upside, and it seems like the front office has done a decent job of building in depth to help absorb the injuries that have already come. However, one area that has left some onlookers concerned is the bullpen.
The Orioles’ relief corps was not great last year. Their 4.57 ERA ranked 25th in MLB, and their 1.9 fWAR was 23rd. They struggled with walks (4.12 BB/9), the long ball (1.21 HR/9), and some bad luck (.308 BABIP, 27th in MLB).
But there were a lot of moving parts throughout the season. Félix Bautista got hurt again. Bryan Baker, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez, and Andrew Kittredge were all traded away. That pushed the Orioles to basically hold tryouts throughout their bullpen in the second half of the season. Some worked out, some didn’t.
Over the winter, the Orioles made three significant moves involving their bullpen. They signed Ryan Helsley to be their closer, re-acquired Kittredge, and then dealt away Kade Strowd. The result is a relief group that is a bit more proven than the one that ended the 2025 campaign, but with plenty of questions.
Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias was asked for his perspective on the ’pen just before the start of spring training.
“I think it’s a good group as well,” he said. “Ryan Helsley’s going to be a big addition at the back end of the ‘pen. We’ve got veteran guys in set-up roles. We’ve got young guys, some of whom have options, that showed us some intriguing things last year…But I think we’ve got a very strong bullpen and I think we have a demonstrated ability with our pitching program and our pitching coaches to bring in guys from the outside, hopefully coach them up a little bit, and continue to improve players. So I think the bullpen’s going to be very good.”
Trying to predict which bullpens will be good and those that won’t be year to year can be a fool’s errand. It’s a naturally volatile position group. But the Orioles haven’t done too much to stabilize their expectations.
Helsely had a 7.20 ERA over 30 games with the Mets, his first time pitching for a team other than the Cardinals. Keegan Akin was pushed into more high leverage spots late in 2025. He gave up a .279/.352/.508 slash line in those opportunities. Yennier Cano walked 3.72 batters per nine innings and had a 5.12 ERA last year, a total disaster.
Those are some of the “veteran guys” that Elias will be leaning on. If they struggle again, it will be up to an unproven stable of intriguing arms.
Dietrich Enns, Rico Garcia, Chayce McDermott, Anthony Nuńez, Cameron Foster, Grant Wolfram, José Espada, and Yaramil Hiraldo are all names that we will probably hear at some point in 2026. None of them have even two years of big league experience, and many of them had just a cup (or sip) of coffee in the majors.
As Elias has pointed out, the Orioles believe in their pitching development program. And barring some unforeseen move of significance, they will have to rely on that coaching to get the most out of the talent they have in-house. At least, that needs to be the plan until July, when the trade market becomes an option to upgrade.
With spring training now underway, we are getting some data (albeit imperfect for many reasons) to show which of these bullpen arms could be ready for a bigger role.
For example, Wolfram struck out a whole side of Yankees in his lone inning of work this spring. New manager Craig Albernaz described the appearance, which featured the southpaw’s 96 mph sinker, as “outstanding.”
Weston has worked two innings and compiled four strikeouts. Espada, Foster, Hiraldo, McDermott, and Tyler Wells worked almost identical two-strikeout, scoreless innings at some point in the opening weekend. As they often say, the pitchers are ahead of the hitters this early in spring.
The only bullpen contender to really struggle so far has been Enns. He recorded only one out against the Pirates on Saturday while coughing up six runs on four hits, two walks, two home runs, and zero strikeouts. Maybe he was working on something? Even so, he probably didn’t want it to go so poorly.
We have not seen Helsely or Kittredge on a game mound yet this spring. But it has only been a few days. According to Roch Kubatko, Helsley took part in live batting practice on Friday, and Kittredge did the same on Sunday. Those two don’t need to “earn” their spot on the team. As long as they are healthy, they will be there. So things are moving slowly with that in mind.
Going back to Elias’ quote on the group, it’s about what you would expect from an executive just weeks before a season gets underway. He’s not going to trash anyone, and you can be sure he does believe in the talent he has accumulated to some degree. But it’s impossible to look at the current ‘pen and feel like it is ready for a postseason run. FanGraphs pegs them as the 15th-best group in MLB. Perhaps that is intentional from Elias’ perspective.
As mentioned before, July will present an opportunity to upgrade the unit. Elias has shown a willingness to be aggressive on that front in prior seasons. If the team is in contention, he’s likely to do it again.
Bautista is another variable. Right now, it feels safest to assume he is going to miss the entire season and then hope for the best. After all, it is in the realm of possibility that he will get back on the field near the tail end of this season. If that happens, it changes the bullpen dramatically. They wouldn’t be able to assume he regains his elite level right away, but even an 80% version of Bautista is still one of the best relievers on the team. You can imagine Elias will be asking for regular updates on the former all-star throughout the summer.
But all of that is a problem for later. Similar to the starting staff, Elias has assembled a bullpen that is relatively safe. There is decent depth there, a cavalcade of arms in Norfolk that are likely to rotate in and out of the Camden Yards bullpen. But they probably won’t be able to win many games for you. You can’t hand them a one-run lead in the fifth inning and expect to keep it. The starters need to provide length, and the offense needs to be overwhelming. It’s all part of a cohesive strategy that the club has to hope clicks in 2026.