The Orioles needed a fresh reliever and a surprise underperformer was sent out to make room.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, the idea of the Orioles sending Yennier Cano to the minors at any point was almost beyond the imagination. Here we are in June and that’s exactly what has happened. Ahead of Sunday’s game against the Yankees, the Orioles optioned Cano in order to get a fresh arm into the bullpen in the form of reliever Yaramil Hiraldo.
It is a bummer when guys who were good before are not doing it now. Cano was a key part of the bullpen for the past two successful Orioles seasons. His nearly-unhittable first half of the 2023 season got him an All-Star bid. Cano and Félix Bautista mostly had the eighth and ninth innings locked down that year. 2024 wasn’t quite as good for Cano, but he still had a role to play.
That hasn’t been happening this year. Here on June 22, Cano has a 4.73 ERA across 32 outings, with batters hitting .282/.339/.447 overall against him this season. That’s certainly not “trust him with a late inning” territory and it is barely in “keep him on the MLB roster” territory.
Even a team that’s spinning its wheels like the Orioles needs to view a reliever like that as replaceable, especially in a time where they are short in the bullpen. Adding to that, the Orioles have not had an off day since June 9 and they don’t get another one until Thursday.
Down to the minors Cano goes. Maybe there is even something that the Orioles want him to work on down there. Maybe he’ll be back once the minimum number of days have passed and the team is not in the same need of arms to plug the gap because of abbreviated outings by starting pitchers. Or maybe he’s pitched his way out of their plans. With a negative bWAR for the season, Cano wasn’t exactly earning his continued spot.
Hiraldo, who is replacing Cano on the roster for now, is a 29-year-old righty reliever who the Orioles signed after he pitched in the Mexican League last year. We’ve already seen Hiraldo for one stint with the 2025 team, when he pitched a 1.1 inning scoreless outing. For Norfolk, Hiraldo has pitched to a 3.71 ERA across 17 innings, with a 1.412 WHIP.
In ideal circumstances, over the next few days, Dean Kremer, Trevor Rogers, and Charlie Morton will pitch deep enough into their games that Hiraldo is not needed. We are by now all familiar that the ideal circumstances rarely play out for the 2025 Orioles.