BALTIMORE—Richard Bleier was sitting in the Orioles’ bullpen, hoping to get in a game that required five relievers to work five innings. He didn’t, and after the Orioles’ 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night, found out that he was traded to the Miami Marlins for a player to be named later.
Bleier, a native of Miami Beach, lives in South Florida and gets to go home to play for a team decimated by Covid-19.
The Marlins, who haven’t played since Sunday, are scrambling to add players and are happy to grab the 33-year-old left-hander.
“Definitely surprised,” Bleier said in a video conference call when he found out about the trade early Saturday morning. “During the game, I was mapping out a situation where I might get into that one, and then I didn’t get in, and I was wondering what happened.”
Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias pulled Bleier aside after the game and told him.
“You want to know why you didn’t pitch?” Elias said. “We traded you.”
Bleier pitched three scoreless innings this season, allowing one hit, striking out four and walking none. He was 8-1 with a 2.99 ERA with four saves in four seasons with the Orioles.
“Extremely thankful for Baltimore, the organization and everything they’ve done for the last few years,” Bleier said. “They gave me an extended opportunity in the big leagues.”
Before he came to the Orioles in February 2017, Bleier had been with four organizations, finally making the majors in May 2016 with the New York Yankees. Despite a 1.96 ERA in 23 games, New York had no room for him and traded him to the Orioles.
In June 2018, Bleier, who was having an excellent year with a 3-0 record and 1.93 ERA, suffered a lat injury that required season-ending surgery.
Although 2019 wasn’t a great year for him, and he struggled with a 5.37 ERA, he looked much stronger this season.
“Then, [the Orioles] gave me another opportunity coming off a down year, get back to the status I had before,” Bleier said. “It’s been a really enjoyable ride in Baltimore, and I’m really thankful for that.”
Just a week into the Orioles’ 2020 season, it’s a surprising move. Bleier does get to play at home, but it’s not a move he campaigned for.
“LeBron James asked for trades, not me,” Bleier said.
By the time Bleier talked to the media, he’d probably known about the trade for perhaps 30 minutes and was still taken aback.
“I haven’t really processed it that much,” Bleier said. “I’m glad that I have value to another team, but it’s such a comfort being in Baltimore that I’m going to miss it.
“Before I came to Baltimore, I was bouncing around from organization to organization. Being the new guy isn’t nearly as much fun as the guy who’s been around for a long time. It’s definitely something I’ll miss, and I’m excited to continue my career in the big leagues, and I’m looking forward to pitching with the Marlins. But on the other hand, I will miss Baltimore.”
Bleier doesn’t have any trepidation about pitching for Miami , even though 21 members of the organization have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past week.
“No, not right now,” he said. “Hopefully, everything’s under control. I’m going into a situation that’s unsafe. It’s definitely something I’m aware of, but I’m not overly concerned. They’re not going to bring me somewhere there’s going to be a problem.”
The Orioles could play Miami next week. Four games between the teams weren’t played this week because of the outbreak.
Bullpen strong in win: The Orioles think they have a stronger bullpen this season, and it played a key part in in their win Friday night.
The game began after a 58-minute rain delay, the second straight game with a lengthy delay.
With starter Alex Cobb going just four innings, five Oriole relievers combined to limit Tampa Bay to a run and two hits in four innings.
“I’m happy with how they’re throwing,” manager Brandon Hyde said about the bullpen. “I think we’re still learning our guys … We just don’t have a ton of experience. These guys haven’t pitched in the major leagues very much.”
After spotting the Rays a 2-0 lead, Renato Nuñez doubled against Blake Snell to start the fourth. Anthony Santander homered to center , his second of the season, to tie the score at 2. Pedro Severino, whose home run against the Yankees gave the Orioles a temporary lead in the eighth on Thursday, homered after Santander to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead.
Paul Fry entered to start the fifth and gave up a home run to Brandon Lowe to tie the game. He then recorded five outs. He got the win because Santander’s RBI single in the fifth gave the Orioles a 4-3 lead, and it held up.
Shawn Armstrong gave up a one-out double to Ji-Man Choi in the seventh. After Tanner Scott hit Lowe with a pitch, he struck out Willy Adames and Yoshi Tsutsugo to end the inning.
Mychal Givens pitched a scoreless eighth.
The Orioles took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh when, with the bases loaded, Choi’s throw on Rio Ruiz’s tapper was high, allowing Nunez to score.
Hanser Alberto’s second home run of the season with two outs in the eighth put the Orioles ahead 6-3. Alberto had a single and double in addition to the homer.
Cole Sulser, who entered Thursday night’s game against the Yankees with a one-run lead in the ninth, but allowed a three-run homer to Aaron Judge, bounced back by pitching a spotless ninth for his second save.
“Gutsy performance,” Hyde said. “[Thursday] night was a tough loss. We talked about it a little today her in my office, but I told him if he had the opportunity again, I would throw him out there and try to bounce back from that.”
The Orioles are 3-3.
Cobb’s night: In his third season with the Orioles, Cobb still hasn’t won a game at home. Had he been a bit more economical with his pitches, he could have.
Cobb threw 87 pitches in four innings, including a 10-pitch walk to Adames in the third, allowing two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out two.
“It’s definitely not the outing I’m looking for,” Cobb said. “I’m happy with the way I battled, but four innings, 87 pitches, doesn’t really help our team that night.”
He left after the Orioles scored three runs in the fourth to take a 3-2 lead.
All four hits Cobb gave up were doubles, back-to-back doubles in the first to Adames and Tsutsugo, which put the Rays up 1-0, one to Manuel Margot in the third, and another to Hunter Renfroe in the third that scored Adames.
Davis is back: After missing two games because of a sinus infection, Chris Davis didn’t start against left-hander Blake Snell. Davis pinch-hit for Pat Valaika in the fourth when Pete Fairbanks replaced Snell.
He struck out twice and walked while wearing a mask at bat. Davis didn’t wear a mask while playing first base in the fifth, but wore both black and orange masks in the final four innings.
Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit…
BALTIMORE—What happened? Craig Kimbrel left Sunday’s game with an upper back injury after surrendering a…
BALTIMORE—For the second time in three games, closer Craig Kimbrel blew a save chance for…
Orioles left-hander John Means allowed just one hit in seven scoreless innings in his sixth…
Matt Wieters was one of the best catchers in Orioles' history. The fifth overall pick…
BALTIMORE—What happened? Cole Irvin pitched seven scoreless innings, Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Ryan Mountcastle…
View Comments
Gonna miss Bleier, very class act, for the dreaded “Player to be named later”, Crash Davis would be fun...stay safe...go O’s...
Disappointing, all we get is a player to be named later? So far, I have not been impressed with any of the trades from this current front office.
I’m guessing Chris Davis is available if Miami is really in need of players...go O’s...
Welp. Every little bit helps I guess in getting more young talent into the Organization.
Have to think that they have a certain young player in the Marlins System that they’ve agreed upon.
The Orioles have become one of the better organizations in evaluating talent.
Onward.
Going to miss Bleier, he was the bullpen leader after Duquette's purge. He was a class act but at 33 he wouldn't be here for the next run. One other thing, the player TBNL is probably on the Marlin's 60 since they can't be traded as reported by a team source on how they got around this move. I thing I found was before this trade, the Orioles were the 2nd YOUNGEST TEAM by age in baseball already. This move will probably make them number 1! So for all the pessimistic downers who constantly gripe about bringing up the kids, they have done so with more on the way!!!
No, as I've explained in the article that I recently posted, the player the Orioles got is probably NOT on the Marlins' 60 because minor leaguers not on the 60 can't be traded. Hector Velazquez was able to be traded by the Orioles because he was on the 40-man during summer camp and then removed.
Sorry Rich that's what I meant. Typing too fast and fat fingering. That's why this trade WILL be a prospect is what I really meant as well. Which WILL make this team younger as well.
Touché...go O’s...
It's always a typo
Hanser is a stud. He’s on every pitch. I watched him closely in spring training he’s no fluke. DJ is showing exactly what I thought hes got nothing along with Mullins who will never hit major league pitching. I like Ruiz mullet beats the one I had in the seventies.
The mask man on first base looks no different from last year. I hope he proves me wrong
"Player to be named later"? For the best lefthander in the bullpen? What, did they pass on Hess, Eshelman, Fry, etc. etc. etc ? Genius 1 is not in the REBUILD mode, he's still working on the COMPLETELY DESTROY mode.
ELIAS, YOU STINK!
The Orioles top four hitters in terms of BA and OBP so far this season - Alberto, Ruiz, Iglesias, and Severino - all acquisitions made by Elias. He doesn't stink.
Getting anything in returen for a 33 yo bullpen arm that had an ERA over 5 last year is noteworthy in and of itsself. I see you consitently bash Elias, yet he's made moves that others have pointed out to you that are proving worthwhile. Maybe it's time to move on from Orioles baseball, since nothing this team does seems to satisfy you. BTW, with all your expertise, I'm wondering what team are you the GM of??
Without knowing the player to be named later it's impossible to evaluate this trade.
Losing a pitcher with > 5.00 era isn't going to hurt this team anymore than it's already hurting.
I'll reserve judgement until I know who we're getting from the Marlins.
Good for Os. Bleier was a nice trade chip. We’ll see who we get. Not expecting much, but maybe they’ll score a promising low level guy.
Struck while the iron was hot, more value later, to a better team, but they may not even finish the season, maybe Miami has some diamonds in the rough...crapshoot...go O’s...
So Bleier gets traded for the “player to be named later.” My question is this. How much later? Doesn’t Jeter have a son?
LMAO, that’s funny...go O’s...
Richie we hardly knew ye.
And for those of you pounding the table over the player to be named later, acting as though they gave up Jim Palmer for a bucket of baseballs, what exactly did you think they were going to get for Richard Bleier?
Exactly, they should have kept him...go O’s...
Miami sympathy trade?
OK...won’t cry over this one. But I have to ask, why even bother?
Agree, doesn’t seem like much of anything, but losing a proven arm, have no idea what his contract was for, maybe another salary purge? ...go O’s...
Bleier “only” was making 915 thousand this year ( prorated less). No salary dump
Thx, like I said, had no idea...go O’s...
No problem, only in sports is 915,000 a year considered “only”. In the real world that’s a lot of money
Lol, totally agree w/that...go O’s...
Bleier was the second pitcher traded by the O's (Hector Velázquez) in less than a week. For a long while, our talent challenged team has used the waiver wire to acquire talent. Now other teams are coming to us, of all teams, to bolster their pitching. Surprising. I wonder if this means something other than coincidence.
Well in this case, Miami needs to fill in a totally depleted roster. And what the heck, we don't care if we win or not ... well actually we do ... if you get my drift.
We do, they don’t...go O’s...
Professor Cohen, it's hard to make trades this year. The Orioles wanted to move Bleier, and this was an opportunity, and they have lots of relief arms in the system.
Great! This means at the very best, we will get the 61st best player in the woeful Marlins organization. I sense a repeat of the Cashner trade. Yesterday, BRR tried to be outrageous by predicting the player to be named will be a 12 year old Dominican. Turns out he probably was right, just off by a mere 3 or 4 years. It is hard to parody a parody.
You guys kill me. Do you consider say Adam Hall or let’s say Gunnar Henderson to be the 61st best player in the O’s organization? Because Neither of those 2 are on our 60 man roster and therefore could not be traded this year as anything other than as a “PTBNL.”
You guys like to complain w/o even taking the time to understand something. We have no freaking clue what the return is for Bleier. Why are you whining already?
JB, I can't speak for the others, but I am whining because I have nothing better to do; take pity. BTW, I have no idea who is the 61st best player in the O's organization, nor do I care. And, you know, we just might get the 91st best Marlins' player as the PTBNL.
This just in ... the player to be named later is a 12 year old bell hop from the Marriott Santo Domingo.
I won't comment on this acquisition without knowing his or her position plus career stats.
Could be a little of both WorldlyView! Michael Givens and/or Shawn Armstrong could be next! Hopefully they are traded at a sell high level so more young pieces can be part of the next big run!!! As I stated earlier the Orioles had the 2nd youngest team by age before this trade was done! Now probably is the youngest team! With youth though comes youth mistakes and growing pains. Just hope all the old timers on this sight can handle it. Also, Chance Sisco is in the lineup tonight. Let's see if he shows something so he can get more playing time!