Orioles bound to beef up bullpen in September

Kyle Bradish came up with a nice solution Friday night to the bullpen’s recent struggles that raised concerns about its ability to hold up through the rest of the wild card chase.

Stay on the mound for eight innings and don’t allow any runs.

So simple. Why didn’t anyone else think of it?

Dean Kremer ran with the idea last night, holding the Astros to one run in 7 2/3. All it takes is one person to start a movement.

A fresh right arm arrived to the team Thursday afternoon when the Orioles recalled Rico Garcia from Triple-A Norfolk. Rosters expand to 28 players on Sept. 1, which allows them to bring up another pitcher.

There could be multiple moves over the last month-plus to strengthen the unit, at least on paper. Execution still matters.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias, meeting with the media Friday in Houston, repeated his plan to have DL Hall return to the Orioles as a reliever. It didn’t move an inch. This is how the strategy was explained after Hall’s major league debut at Tropicana Field.

Shorten his rest periods, reduce his innings, get him back to the team for the stretch run. And yes, watch him compete for a job in the rotation next spring.

Elias indicated to the media that Hall likely will be the pitching addition on Sept. 1, which also seemed apparent earlier because the Orioles won’t rush his transition to the bullpen.

“I just think it’ll be a really good way for him to get big league experience, but also, this is a ’pen that’s had a huge workload this year,” Elias said. “They’ve been unbelievable. We traded our closer (Jorge López) at the deadline and these guys are getting tired. Having a reinforcement of that type of talent, I think, will be nice.”

Cracks were expected to form. Manager Brandon Hyde has done a nice job with the individuals, refraining from using anyone on three consecutive days, but the group has been forced to cover a lot of innings. And plenty of guys warm up without pitching, due to circumstances in the game.

Get a guy up in case a reliever can’t get out of an inning. Get the closer ready, double-barrel action, in case a rally produces the go-ahead run. Otherwise, signal for the lower-leverage reliever.

Hall could provide a boost, but he won’t be the only newcomer.

The roster isn’t set on Sept. 1.  Players can be optioned to make room for someone else.

Tyler Wells, for instance.

The Orioles haven’t settled on Wells’ role after he’s activated from the injured list, but as I wrote previously, there are discussions about getting him back sooner by limiting his rehab appearances to relief duty. A quicker buildup than stretching him out to start.

Also, it’s another big-time arm to tackle lineups later in games. An arm that can lighten the load and allow other relievers to move back into the roles they had before the López trade.

Félix Bautista is a dominant replacement for López, but he’s missed as a setup man. And Wells closed in 2021, making him a logical substitute on days that Bautista isn’t available.

Wells can start again in 2023. This also would be a temporary switch.

The Orioles made it work Friday night, with Cionel Pérez registering two outs in the ninth and Dillon Tate stranding two runners by striking out Trey Mancini. But that isn’t how you’d prefer to have it done, playing matchups to avoid a blown save.

Elias expressed more confidence that Grayson Rodriguez would appear in games next month, working his way up from a lower affiliate to Norfolk. Left unsaid was whether Rodriguez would pitch for the Orioles, and if so, whether he’d remain a starter.

The Orioles are just happy to talk about his progress from a Grade 2 lat strain. The top pitching prospect appears to be ahead of schedule.

“At this point, I’m almost positive that we’re going to see him in real game action before the season’s over,” Elias said. “We’ll get him back, hopefully to the level at which he got injured, and we’ll just take it from there.”

I’m real curious about where it leads.