Orioles Must Trade for Bullpen Help Amid MLB Rumors on Mason Miller, Tanner Scott

The Baltimore Orioles are one of the best teams in baseball here in 2024, with a legitimate chance to play in and win the World Series. That is if they can bolster a bullpen that has been problematic for the past two seasons.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported the O's were in touch with the Oakland A's and Miami Marlins about acquiring either Mason Miller or Tanner Scott.

Miller has tallied 15 saves and was the winning pitcher in this year's All-Star Game. Scott also tallied 15 saves for a bad Marlins squad and a 6-5 win-loss record.

The Orioles' best reliever this season, Craig Kimbrel, has accumulated 23 saves but also blown five saves. For comparison's sake, Miller and Scott have blown only four saves this season.

As a team, Baltimore has blown 11 saves, including three from de facto closer, Yennier Cano, who was an All-Star a season ago and one of the most dominant setup men in the league.

Miller would likely be the more expensive of the two, as he is on an expiring contract worth one year and $740,000, per Spotrac.

One would have to assume the Orioles do not make that deal without plans to sign the 25-year-old phenom to a long-term deal, which would cost the prospects, of which it has an abundance, on top of whatever that big-money contract would be.

Scott is a former Oriole who is also on an expiring contract. At 29, the organization would likely feel more comfortable utilizing him as a rental for this season, with the hope that he could deliver them their first World Series title since 1983.

The Orioles are a young team with incredibly talented bats. They lead MLB in home runs with 153, 13 more than the second-place New York Yankees. That the Bronx Bombers are in their division, as are the eighth-place Boston Red Sox, makes it more imperative that the team finds bullpen help that it can consistently rely on to preserve leads.

The young team, led by the one-two punch of catcher Adley Rutschman and shortstop Gunnar Henderson, and accentuated by All-Star Jordan Westburg, Colton Cowser, and veterans Ryan Mountcastle and Anthony Santander, can score with anyone.

As they found out a season ago when their 105-win season was snuffed out by a red-hot Texas Rangers team with bats that Baltimore's pitching staff could not stifle, it takes excellence on both sides of the ball to make a legitimate World Series run.

To avoid giving up 21 runs in three games like they did last postseason, the Orioles must strengthen their bullpen with quality relievers.

Acquiring Scott, no stranger to the Orioles organization, would do that.

Managing to land Miller, though, would be a game-changer that would not only add a young arm but, upon the return of Félix Bautista from Tommy John surgery in 2025 and Cano to the setup spot, create a one-two-three punch that would be seemingly unhittable.

That is the stuff of championship clubs, something the Orioles are committed to being and certainly have most of the recipe for. Adding that one missing ingredient would put them over the top and heighten their chances of winning the Fall Classic.