No one, aside from perhaps a few folks in the Camden Yards warehouse, expected much from the Orioles’ bullpen last season. After all, it was a collection of recently-failed starters and inexperienced, seemingly raw, minor league journeymen. Even for a position as volatile as “major league reliever,” this seemed like a disaster waiting to happen.
Instead, it turned into one of the better groups in the league, a unit that manager Brandon Hyde could lean on when his starter was about to turn an opposing lineup over for the second time. It even withstood a midseason trade of closer Jorge López, and in his place rose rookie Félix Bautista, now one of the game’s most feared ninth-inning options.