How many relievers will remain in Orioles bullpen in 2025?

Reliever Burch Smith doesn’t rate as one of the bigger decisions awaiting the Orioles. However, he’s on their agenda.

Smith is eligible for arbitration despite his name being missing from some lists. He made $1 million this year, with the Orioles paying the prorated minimum salary after selecting his contract on July 11.

The Rays signed Smith as a free agent on Jan. 2. The Marlins acquired him on March 27 in a cash transaction and released him on June 20. The Orioles signed him a week later.

The Orioles optioned Dillon Tate on the day that they brought Smith to the majors. As if you’d forget.

Smith appeared in 25 games and posted a 5.74 ERA and 1.050 WHIP in 26 2/3 innings. He started out with four scoreless appearances, allowing one hit, walking none and striking out six, but he endured some rough patches, including five home runs over seven outings.  

The last time that we saw Smith was Sept. 17 against the Giants, when he retired all six batters faced and struck out three. He allowed four runs and four hits in two-thirds of an inning a week earlier in Boston.

The gap in appearances might have been a hint about his health.

Smith went on the 15-day injured list Sept. 20 with a right adductor groin strain. Danny Coulombe was reinstated from the 60-day injured list. The Orioles didn’t argue with that swap.

They could let Smith go into free agency and negotiate a different deal or just move on with their bullpen space limited.

And speaking of that bullpen …

Félix Bautista will be full-go in spring training. He was slated to face hitters this month rather than just throw from a bullpen mound. And the trickle-down effect should bring vast improvement to a unit that went from posting a 3.55 ERA in 2023 to a 4.22 ERA this year.

No bullpen stays the same. There must be a law or something, and I fully expect the Orioles to abide by it beyond Bautista’s return. But it’s interesting that there’s a path to bringing back seven relievers on a 13-man pitching staff.

Coulombe, Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez, Jacob Webb, Keegan Akin, Seranthony Domínguez and Gregory Soto could stay intact. Cano is an easy call, and not just because he offers actual flexibility with two options left. The Orioles are expected to pick up Coulombe’s $4 million club option – that’s leaving wiggle room because it seems like a certainty – and they can exercise Pérez’s $3.05 million option that includes incentives reached or negotiate a salary through arbitration. MLBTradeRumors.com projects Webb’s salary at $1.7 million and Akin’s at $1.4 million, and the latter finally became an established major leaguer with a 3.32 ERA, 0.941 WHIP and 97 strikeouts in 78 2/3 innings in 66 games.

Domínguez’s contract contains an $8 million option and $500,000 buyout, which would make him the club’s highest-paid reliever. He was the main closer after Craig Kimbrel fell out of the role. He’d be around to back up Bautista and strengthen the bridge to the ninth inning. And under this new ownership, the cost of a setup man shouldn’t come across as exorbitant.

MLBTradeRumors.com sets Soto’s salary at $5.6 million, also reasonable in 2025 for a left-handed set-up man who allowed two earned runs and struck out 11 batters in nine innings in September and had 18 scoreless appearances out of his last 20. But who still tends to get judged by his two four-run outings within his first three games as an Oriole.

Now come the possible disruptions to this eight-man projection.

Albert Suárez could move to the bullpen again if he isn’t in the rotation. And this is assuming that he’s back. It’s hard to find any reasons to give him the boot.

Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott will come to camp competing for jobs in the rotation, their chances influenced by how many starters are signed or traded for over the winter. Matt Bowman’s arbitration salary is projected at $1.3 million and the Orioles didn’t put him on their Wild Card roster after his back-to-back poor showings at Yankee Stadium, followed by 1 1/3 scoreless innings as the opener in Minnesota.

Brooks Kriske didn’t make it back to the Orioles after returning to the organization in August and he joins Colin Selby and Bryan Baker on the 40-man roster. The Orioles will give left-hander Trevor Rogers, acquired from the Marlins at the deadline for Connor Norby and Kyle Stowers, another shot at starting but also could decide that he has value in long relief.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias also will search for bullpen upgrades like every other executive, and that can include minor league deals with spring training invitations. Nick Anderson becomes a free agent five days after the World Series, but he could be re-signed.