Hells Bells In Baltimore! The Orioles Have Agreed To A Two-Year Deal With Closer Ryan Helsley!
We now have an answer as to who will be closing games for the Orioles in 2026, Ryan Helsley come on down! A two-year deal worth $28 million with a player option after 2026 has Helsley back in the closer role for a team hoping to get back on the winning track and compete in 2026. With Felix Bautista being out for most of, if not all of the 2026 the birds need a big 9th inning arm and they got their guy. Helsley was maybe the best closer on the planet in 2024 for the Cardinals before slipping up a little bit in the 2nd half of 2025 after getting traded to the Mets. 7.20 ERA in 20 innings as the entire Mets team pissed down their leg down the stretch so it was no shock that Helsley followed in their footsteps, but there are many reasons to believe he'll be better in 2026. #1 is he's not going to be seeing a game before the 9th inning like he did in New York, he's their closer. Look at Hensley's numbers when he wasn't the closer and coming in before the 9th.
Pitchers are psychos, like legit crazy people. They have their routines and have to follow them down to the second, if something is thrown off then they lose it all. You look at those numbers and that is exactly what I see, a guy who suddenly wasn't used to coming in before the 9th and he kinda lost it, he mentioned that he was tipping pitches in New York as well so that's a lot to do with his inflated ERA and numbers. He was uncomfortable in a role he was new at, we've all been there. He's not a setup guy, he's a closer and he has proven that for years. The Mets tried to force him into that role and it never materialized, that may have helped drive down the price on him as well so shoutout the Mets there.
But with him clearly cemented in the closers spot you have to believe his number will resemble what they looked like when he was named the Reliever of the Year in 2024. Well over a K per inning which is exactly what you're looking for in your closer. His slider is untouchable, it's flat out gross. He touches 100 regularly with the 4 seamer but that didn't stop it from getting hit pretty hard. He got touched up a lot as a Met so I think it's a bit foolish to judge this signing just from a late season 20 inning sample size from at team that was completing a historic collapse. He's probably not as good as he was in 2024 and not as bad as you saw him recently, if I had to guess it's closer towards 2024 Cardinals Helsley but for that money it's not a bad move at all. We've seen him be VERY good as recently as a year ago, why can't he get back to that or close to it with some tweaking? I believe in Drew French and this staff working with him to get him right and having him look like 2024 Helsley, it's not like he was completely broken and they have to build him back up. He was a good closer last year before the trade and still has all the metrics to show he's nasty. Get some stuff in order, get back into a comfortable spot closing games and see what he can do.
Since it's basically a one-year deal because of the opt out, you'd hope he would be motivated and will pitch his ass off. Show folks he can still sling it like 2024 and get another nice payday following 2026, that could be a great thing for the Orioles. Anytime you can add a guy who throws 100 with nasty off-seed and breaking stuff, you're in a good spot. $28 million for a guy of his caliber is a steal, he's arguably one of the best closers on the market and the O's got him for relatively cheap. Everything went wrong for him in New York, let's hope that bad luck turns around for him in Baltimore. It's still very early but the Orioles have checked a few boxes off their off-season to do list, now go attack the starting pitcher market and add some arms.
Dim the lights and play the music!