The Orioles Lost A Closer Who Rarely Pitched And Have No Interesting Arms To Replace Him With

On the pecking order of issues with the 2026 Baltimore Orioles, lack of a closer is not that high.

For a true contending team, it’s a season-breaker. But this ain’t that.

You need to have the lead with frequency in the ninth inning to employ the closer in a traditional sense, and that’s not the norm with this franchise since June 21, 2024. And once baseball czar Mike Elias began running this franchise into the ground, they haven’t had a capable closer since they Felix Buatista’s repeated major surgical procedures. Outside of falling into him (bd Jorge Lopez for a hot minute) they’ve overpaid for guys like Craig Kimbrel when they were cooked or, this year, Ryan Helsley after he was cooked … so you can’t miss what you never had (or haven’t had in years), right?

We’re into July and Helsley had worked 15 innings all season. He started breaking down last year and immediately got hurt here, with what was supposed to be a two-week absence ("wasn't anything concerning," rookie skipper Craig Albernaz said of the initial elbow ailment and IL-stint). The O’s problems begin in the first few innings and extend throughout the entire game, so just getting to the ninth with a chance to shut someone down for a win is heady stuff. Mostly out of reach for them.

But prepare for Albernaz – not very good at managing baseball games yet but a world-class excuse maker – to tell you repeatedly what a blow this is to lose Helsley (a guy who rarely ever pitched and could barely throw 60% strikes when he did), and how hard it will be to overcome his extended absence. Don’t buy it.

That’s just typical Orioles BS. That’s just more gaslighting. That’s The Elias Way.

Fact is, the Orioles enter the penultimate series of the first half, at the Reds, with just 27 save opportunities all season. Only the Angels (26) have fewer in the entire American League, and that horrendous baseball organization in Anaheim only has four fewer wins than Baltimore, so they might catch them in the standings soon, too.

What Will Albernaz Do?

So forgive me if I’m not all caught up in how Albernaz or this overmatched front office goes about its business here. The league is slugging .600 off Helsley’s fastball the last two years and he barely has two pitches. He already was part of the problem, and not a solution.

The sad fact is, Elias doesn’t have a single arm in his entire organization that he could insert in this bullpen right now and make a difference. That’s how pathetic his nine-year, perpetual rebuild is playing out. He doesn’t have the lowest hanging fruit in any org – failed starter who can get three guys out in a row in AAA with nasty stuff and is screaming for a look in the pen.

It’s yet another indictment of just how bush-league Birdland has become.

We’ll probably get an Anthony Nunez return (he has a 7.50 ERA in his first five appearances since being demoted to Norfolk). Cameron Weston is back though he looked ill-prepared for MLB in his previous stint. He is the one arm getting legit strikeout numbers in Norfolk (53 in 37 1/3 IP), but that comes with a 7.23 ERA in the International League, so good luck with that.

Albernaz is going to have to earn his paycheck and mix and match and show what he can do (gulp), because leaning on any individual already here is a fool’s errand. Andrew Kittredge will almost certainly be the first man up. He’s been solid enough lately with a 2.89 ERA in June, though he’s given up more hits than innings pitched in that span.

He shouldn’t automatically be trusted with the entire 9th inning, but probably will be.

Yennier Cano’s breaking stuff is lacking bite lately and he’s regressing – he was always going to – and not getting as many soft groundballs. And Elias, despite the entire industry understanding the import of swing-and-miss, does not employ people with that kind of stuff.

Rico Garcia needs to be relegated to mop-up type outings for a spell given his complete collapse after an impossible first 20 innings of the season. He had a 6.97 ERA in June and everything is getting hit hard … But expect to see him in tight spots in the second half.

Elias seems to be loving this Grant Wolfram redemptive story going on, and they honestly don’t have many other options, so he’s going to show up in the 8th inning quite a bit I figure (this lefty is better vs righties than lefties, and with Keegan Akin likely done for the season, Cade Povich should be slotted into Akin's role when his injury rehab is complete).

What Would I Do?

Put me on record as nominating Tyler Wells for the closing job. It’s another non-ideal profile but he’s closed in the past, had a bulldog mentality and I would lean into him here, even with an up-and-down first half. There just isn’t much competition.

All of this is suboptimal, of course. And the biggest problem of all is that, even if Elias is finally out of The Warehouse in 2027, Helsley will be back. No way he’s opting out of that guaranteed $14M for next season at age 32 (like the ridiculous contract Elias gave Tyler O’Neill), so the Orioles will pay him to rehab and comeback off consecutive brutal/lost seasons.

It’s just The Elias Way. Digging out from Elias’s epic mess will take years, whenever they finally get around to firing him. The sooner the better.

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