It’s been a week now since the Orioles sent as clear a message about their expectations as they have in recent memory by sending down struggling lefty Cole Irvin, and for all the practical baseball reasons for doing so, it seems their proactive approach to repairing an uneven pitching staff paid off.
They did so from under the overhang of an offseason where much more was expected in terms of pitching additions than Kyle Gibson, who has been a worthy addition, and Irvin, who hasn’t yet settled. Every bad experience on the mound was a reminder of what they didn’t do in the winter. They managed a winning record, rather fortunately, thanks to their surprisingly consistent offense.
But they also moved Irvin when they did because they believed things should be better. These are no longer the days of only mediocre options on the mound for the Orioles. There are plenty of good ones, even among those waiting for a chance in Norfolk, and the longer this period of stabilization continues, the better set they’ll be going forward to sustain it.
A few things changed, outside of Irvin’s removal from the rotation, in the last week. For starters, every starter completed five innings, and only Grayson Rodriguez, who allowed four runs in the first inning of his start Sunday before settling in the rest of the way, allowed more than three runs. That shaved a handful of innings off the bullpen’s workload, and perhaps more importantly, allowed manager Brandon Hyde to start deploying options more tactically rather than just pitching whoever is available.
He wouldn’t have known that right-hander Yennier Canó would turn into a leverage reliever — that is, somebody who can get the team out through difficult late-inning situations — but he’s been deployed as such, particularly with runners on base and has stranded all four runners he’s inherited. While he’s a relative unknown in the Orioles’ bullpen, his sinker and its ability to coax ground balls isn’t — that’s how Hyde used Dillon Tate so often last season, and to great effect.
Tate’s absence loomed large over the first few weeks of the season. As he’s working back from an elbow injury, the Orioles felt one trustworthy reliever short. Bryan Baker has stepped up in that sense so far, but without Tate, Cionel Pérez— who is far better against lefties than righties — was used in basically any big spot he was available for, as opposed to simply ones that suited him well. Félix Bautista is still as dominant as ever, but getting to him has been a challenge.
Part of the reason that’s been easier of late has been the longer starts, but the experience for a pitcher like Mike Baumann coming into games in big spots in relief can only help. So, too, does the knowledge that Hyde can count on veteran Danny Coloumbe, who has been great. When Tate and Mychal Givens return from injury, potentially within the next few weeks, they could be coming into a bullpen where there are multiple routes for Hyde to go each night depending on game situations and how best to deploy pitchers.
Maintaining the progress from this week won’t be easy, though. The off days on either side of the Washington series set the Orioles’ pitching staff up well — as did getting to pitch against a truly terrible Nationals lineup — but will be the last added rest days for a while. With games on the next 19 straight days, they’re one short start away from being stretched again and knocking the bullpen out of whack.
Without Irvin around, it’s hard to identify who exactly might be a candidate for that kind of short start based on present form. Kremer and Bradish might not always carry shutouts deep into games the way they did this week, but are at least on track for better going forward. Gibson has picked up Jordan Lyles’ stopper role admirably, Tyler Wells hasn’t been plagued by short starts much in his career, and Grayson Rodriguez seems to be settling in nicely.
With a relatively settled bullpen that is going to get two of its best weapons back, there’s reason to believe that simply giving Irvin time to figure things out in the minors and swapping Canó for Logan Gillaspie in the bullpen set this team up for the week it’s had and beyond. The 13 pitchers on the roster at this moment have a collective 1.21 WHIP and a 4.06 ERA with a 4.01 xFIP (expected fielding independent pitching), meaning they’re not really over- or underperforming.
There isn’t really much of a difference in the underlying numbers when going strictly off the season stats with players no longer on the roster, but the club’s overall ERA is 4.68. You can argue that for Irvin and Gillaspie, there might have been some bad luck. But the changes made over the last week have served to stabilize this team, along with the off days and deep starts that have come with them.
By the time the next day off rolls around, Givens and Tate might be back on the roster options for Hyde to use in those high-leverage situations. If the pitching staff is still in the shape and form it showed over the last week when that happens, then sustaining it beyond that will look more realistic by the day.
