The Orioles have designated right-hander Albert Suarez for assignment, the team announced. Closer Ryan Helsley has been reinstated from the bereavement list to take Suarez’s roster spot.
Suarez tossed a season-high 59 pitches in mop-up duty behind an ineffective Trevor Rogers on Saturday. He permitted four runs, but all of them were unearned thanks to errors by Adley Rutschman and Jeremiah Jackson. Suarez has provided reliable swingman work for the club over the past three seasons. Baltimore is likely hoping to sneak him through waivers and retain him as Triple-A depth. The club’s 40-man roster is down to 38 players following the move.
Baltimore brought Suarez back on a minor league deal in the winter. With Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt added to the rotation, plus a healthy Tyler Wells penciled in for long relief work, Suarez didn’t have a clear path to the big-league roster. A 7.59 ERA in MLB Spring Training didn’t help matters. An injury to Zach Eflin shortly into the regular season gave Suarez an opportunity before he could even make a minor league appearance.
The 36-year-old righty picked up a three-inning save in his return to the big leagues. Suarez has delivered a 3.46 ERA across 13 innings this year. He has nearly as many walks (5) as strikeouts (6), but has been able to skirt damage thanks to a .179 batting average on balls in play. Suarez doesn’t possess elite stuff, and his underlying metrics have typically lagged behind his actual production, but he’s posted a 3.58 ERA over 158 1/3 innings in Baltimore since debuting with the team in 2024.
The Orioles now have five days to trade Suarez or place him on outright waivers. If he makes it through waivers, he could head back to Triple-A Norfolk. Suarez has been outrighted in the past, so he could choose to forego the minor league assignment and test free agency.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Down to 28 players?!?!?
I was wondering when someone would mention that
As a Braves fan, when I first saw Suarez, I thought it was Jose Suarez. I was almost ready to start celebrating.
Seven years between MLB teams Giants and Orioles.
Never give up.
He really likes wearing orange
He probably won’t win a Cy Young award but the guy shows a lot of heart for the O’s and fans.
Great story. Robert’s big brother went to Asia and pitched for several years after a decent showing in San Francisco 10 years ago. Then came back to Baltimore in 2024 and over the past 3 years combined he’s 12-7 with a 3.58 ERA. It would be interesting to see him go to Atlanta and pitch with his brother. He’d be a good fit there I think.
Orioles are going to make a run at the playoffs and have a good opportunity to win it all this season. They need Albert Suarez to pull it together and pitch at the top of his game down the stretch and in the playoffs.
A month of light duty when he has been pitching poorly is a nice call by the O’s.
“ Orioles are going to make a run at the playoffs and have a good opportunity to win it all this season”
I don’t know how this team makes a World Series run unless Elias gets a front line playoff caliber starter. We have to start at least 3 and there’s none of them in the rotation that make me feel good about delivering multiple good starts.
I thought a lot about it. They are simply better, deeper and more complete than the Blue Jays, Astros and Rangers.
They are stacked with power hitters. The bullpen has been excellent and the rotation as it sits isnt that bad with Rogers and Bradish at the top. Baz, Bassitt and Young have pitched well at times this season.
They definitely have the depth to make a few trades at the deadline and will definitely address any weaknesses with the pitching.
They need Holiday and Westburg healthy so they can settle their rotations and playing time amongst their core group. Once they get rolling with the bats, they are going to be a tough team to beat.
It will be difficult to win a seven game series against a team with five aces (Yankees) but once they get to the playoffs, a deep run and a WS is possible if the bats find a way and the bullpen gets hot.
Jays were excellent at putting the ball in play and playing defense. This team doesn’t do either.
The Yankees have at least 4 starters that you could put over any Orioles starter and it’d be reasonable.
Cole, Rodon, Schlittler, and Fried.
Will Warren and Ryan Weathers are out pitching any Orioles starter. They’ll likely be relievers in the postseason. Adding to that base of arms.
We need a lot of luck like 2023 Texas. That team could field though. I don’t see it without a horse in this rotation. Kremer, Young, and Bassitt aren’t postseason starters.
The way Bradish has looked this year is hard to justify too. I’m a fan of him and Baz but that’s a shaky base. Rogers is hittable too.