Baltimore Orioles and the Bullpen Bloat

Sep 5, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Baltimore Orioles relief pitcher T.J. McFarland (66) pitches against Toronto Blue Jays in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre. Jays beat Orioles 5 – 1. Mandatory Credit: Peter Llewellyn-USA TODAY Sports /

The Baltimore Orioles have the wonderful luxury of having more quality bullpen arms than there are spaces on the bench. How will they deal with this in 2016?

It is indeed one of the tenets of Dan Duquette to have a lot of depth, which is of course a good plan since over the course of a season, so many things can go wrong. Showalter often talks about the “next man up” philosophy.

But if indeed the Orioles do sign Yovani Gallardo, and that seems to be almost certain at this point, it puts more pressure on seeing who will be a part of the opening day roster of pitchers — starters and relievers.

So much of the offseason talk a year ago as spring training was about to dawn involved what the Orioles were going to do with six starters for five slots. The poor health and implosion of Bud Norris answered that before the season was very old.

With Gallardo, that would seem to answer the fifth starter conundrum, but it therefore pushes other arms into the middle relief discussion. Of course, one of the other four targeted starters — Tillman, Gonzalez, Gausman, Jimenez — could go down with some unforeseen ailment or injury.

Projecting 12 pitching roster spots, we now have five starters. Add to this the back end of the pen guys: Zach Britton, Darren O’Day, Mychal Givens, Brad Brach. So there are three pitchers in the middle. I include Brian Matusz in this number (more on that in a moment). And Dylan Bundy will be among these, if at all able.

That leaves one spot; and it would seem that it comes down to T.J. McFarland or Vance Worley. Beyond that is Mike Wright and Tyler Wilson, each apparently most likely doomed to Norfolk, for better or worse.

Worley would at this moment appear to be the biggest possible loser in this sweepstakes. It would help his cause a good deal if he could turn around and pitch left-handed.

Since the rotation will apparently have five righties, having a pair of left-handed long or middle relievers could be especially valuable. Teams are going to load up with lefty-heavy lineups, and in those occasions where a starter has to exit earlier than desired, to be prepared with a left-handed option is a valuable resource.

McFarland has already had success in this role. The Orioles talk about stretching out Matusz in spring training. Whereas he has value as a match-up specialist for eighth-inning situations, perhaps the greater need this year will be in this middle role along with T.J. And if he’s not available late against Boston and Big Poppy, use Britton in the eighth with O’Day to close.

But again, what is to become of Worley? The Orioles might miss an opportunity for him to excel in Baltimore. And no, there is no certainty he will do that. Certainty just doesn’t really exist with many pitchers. Not in this era.