Three Bullpen Options The Orioles Must Explore In 2027

The Orioles bullpen was their surprise strength from start to finish despite getting about 17 innings total from Ryan Helsley and Felix Bautista at the back end of games.

And given the injury situations with those two former All-Star closers and where they are at this stage of their career and how much variance is baked into pens from year to year and how it would be silly to expect everyone who over-performed for Baltimore in 2026 to do so again in 2027, this is yet another area where baseball failure Mike Elias must get busy.

We already gave these mooks in The Warehouse a cogent plan to fix their outfield without having the break the bank to do it, and if they don’t land one of these three lefty starters then shame on them. And while it would be easy to go out and say just trade for Mason Miller, this is not an elite enough roster or organization to withstand the prospect cost.

And they aren’t going to outspend the Yankees and anybody else for David Bednar at the top of the closer heap (just like they’re not signing Tarik Skubal at the top of the starting pitching market). Many of the closers with the biggest names who are available also are probably cooked; Elias is notorious for grabbing them too late which is why he’s going to be stuck with Helsley on his roster at $14M (he's not opting out).

But there are a few guys who pique our interest:

Evan Phillips

Remember him? One of the rare fliers Elias took on arms early in the rebuild who went on to have a really nice career including closing for a few years for loaded Dodgers teams. Plenty of playoff experience and that slider profile they love and he is still in his early 30s and shouldn’t break the bank.

Will we ever see anything like 2023 again (61 IP, a WHIP of 0.83, 2.05 ERA)?

No. You also won’t have to pay him like he’s that guy. Philips dealt with the inevitable injuries in 2024/2025 and managed to throw 26 innings this season after a largely lost 2025 (Tommy John).

There is always the chance that Bautista is better than we could hope for, but stressing him as the sole closer would be nuts. Having a guy like this seems imperative (I expect nothing out of Helsley; that’s a sunk cost as a two-pitch guy whose fastball has been mashed or off the plate for two years).

Jason Adam

Remember him? One of the endless relief finds the Rays latch on to and then spin off for nice return? Yeah he has kept putting up 2.60 ERAs since going to the Padres, and pitching on teams expected to compete. He is not a huge strikeout guy, but gets so much soft contact and is super smart at how he attacks hitters and knows what he is.

He hasn’t been a closer but has been an All-Star set up guy and the O’s just had Andrew Kittredge (now a free agent) and Yennier Cano and Rico Garcia sharing 9th inning duties; at age 35 he’s not broken and he doesn’t need hyper velo to win (unlike, say, Helsley). And having not closed, he comes cheaper.

He looked great in the AL East early in his career and he’s a reverse splits guys, and has been especially devastating against lefties. If we aren’t getting a proven closer, I at least want a profile like this in the mix.

AJ Puk

High injury risk, for sure. But man an electric arm from the left side who cut down on the home run issues from early in his career. We are talking 283 Ks in 227 IP at a cheap price ($3M last year). Now, the fact he could not make it back from a surgical procedure for Arizona last year, and exactly where that stands, I don’t know.

But at age 31, even if I get him cheap for a few years and know I am paying him to rehab some this year, this is a real weapon. In 2024 the league hut .190 off him. The walks are a tick higher than ideal, but they struggle to put the ball in play. Was once an elite starting pitching prospect with the A’s. When he is right he is nasty in a way we haven’t seen from an O’s reliever since peak Bautista before the Tommy John surgery.

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