The Baltimore Orioles and the desire for bullpen flexibility

The Baltimore Orioles made a flurry of moves to their roster on Thursday evening, all which will help to rework their bullpen.

The 2016 season was difficult for Baltimore Orioles manager Buck Showalter in one regard, something he commented on frequently. He couldn’t maneuver his bullpen the way he would like to.

However, 2017 is an entirely different story.

The Baltimore Orioles have shown a willingness to value players that have options remaining, and if you don’t, you might not be an Oriole much longer.

They also have shown a desire to remove players from the 40-man roster, potentially exposing them to a waiver claim, if they don’t have a shot of making the majors.

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This all isn’t to say they don’t value their players, they do. But, as discussed previously, the Orioles love being able to maneuver their roster.

This includes going out and acquiring players, and particularly pitchers, who often have a little major league experience and options remaining and seeing if they can become a “nugget.”

Names like Chris Lee, Jesus Liranzo, Vidal Nuno, Logan Verrett, Gabriel Ynoa, Alec Asher, Edwin Jackson, Miguel Castro, Andrew Faulkner and now Damien Magnifico, who was acquired from the Brewers for an international signing bonus slot.

Some of these guys were minor leaguers acquired by the Orioles in trades (Lee, Liranzo.) Some were guys who had been squeezed out of the major leagues after brief stints, and the Orioles believe they can be major league pitchers, either as a starter or reliever (Verrett, Ynoa and Asher.) Asher will have the opportunity to start on Saturday as the Orioles’ fifth starter.

Nuno is an established major league who wasn’t needed in the rotation with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have a pretty good rotation.

Jackson was signed to a minor league deal to see if he can show any of the forms that made him a quality major league pitcher.

Castro, Faulkner and Magnifico were all traded for in the last week. All have brief major league experience and options remaining.

Meanwhile, the Orioles have done their best to keep guys with no options remaining, but have shown a willingness to part with them if it provides better value and added flexibility.

No one can say for sure that Stefan Crichton will do better than Oliver Drake. But, the Orioles gave Drake every opportunity to stick with the team.

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Drake struggled mightily in Spring Training, and many thought he wouldn’t make the roster. He did, and through 3.1 innings with the Orioles in 2017, had an 8.10 ERA with 6 H, 3 ER, 3 BB and 3 Ks. Not the numbers you want if you’re Drake.

The Orioles’ bullpen now is made up of a mix of veterans who wouldn’t be optioned and younger players who can be optioned. Zach Britton, Darren O’Day, Brad Brach, Mychal Givens and Donnie Hart are all established members of the bullpen at this point.

However, Hart has options if the Orioles would decide to use them.

The rest of the bullpen is Vidal Nuno, Tyler Wilson and Crichton. Wilson and Crichton both have options remaining.

That means that in essence, the Orioles have two bullpen slots that can be used to audition players and also keep fresh arms in the major leagues.

It also gives the Orioles flexibility as they look to change their roster on Saturday as the fifth starter is added in Alec Asher.

They could choose to DFA a certain outfielder who is without options, or they could decide to hold on to that player until a player with similar attributes comes back and send Crichton back to AAA.

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Buck Showalter and Dan Duquette have increased flexibility in 2017, and that makes predicting the next move difficult.

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