The Orioles’ bullpen was the unit that underwent the most change throughout the 2025 season. Injuries and poor performance reshuffled the pen at the beginning of the season. It then became a patchwork relief corps when the Orioles traded away four key relievers as part of their July fire sale. The one pitcher there for it all was Yennier Cano. In years past, Cano was la Roca who formed a major part of Baltimore’s bullpen foundation. This past season, we began to see major cracks in that foundation.
After an All-Star season in 2023, Cano’s 2024 left a little to be desired. The strikeouts were up, but so were hits allowed, walks and ERA. The towering Cuban came into the 2025 season looking to be more reliable for an Orioles bullpen that had plenty of uncertainty. With closer Félix Bautista returning from Tommy John surgery, and old friends Danny Coulombe and Jacob Webb gone to free agency, the O’s needed Cano to be a source of consistency.
Early on, 2025 Yennier Cano looked a lot like 2023 Yennier Cano. The 31-year-old opened the season with 12 straight appearances without allowing an earned run. During that 10.2 inning stretch, Cano held opponents to a .237 while picking up nine Ks and only allowing one walk. Cano was also somewhat of a good luck charm early on; even though the Orioles went 13-18 in their first 31 games, they were 10-2 when Cano pitched.
However, that strong start quickly disappeared and the former All-Star never really regained his footing. He allowed his first earned runs of the season on a pair of solo home runs by Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinny Pasquantino, as Cano took the L in a 11-6 defeat to Kansas City at the beginning of May. He’d take another loss the next time out against the Twin and in two outings his ERA balooned from 0.00 to 3.00. Thinks would not get better the rest of May, as Cano posted a 10.80 ERA between May 4th and May 31st, while going 0-4 with a blown save.
As the calendar turned to June, interm manager Tony Mansolino seemingly tried to rebuild Cano’s confidence by using him more sparingly. After racking up 23 appearances through the first two months of the season, the right-hander only got into nine games in June. The new approach seemed to be helping Cano get back on track, as he opened the month with six straight scoreless appearances. However, all that positive momentum went out the window one night in Tampa. Cano allowed four runs on four hits while only getting two outs against the Rays, gave up the game-tying home run to Brandon Lowe, and helped the Orioles turn an 8-0 lead into a 12-8 loss.
From the point until the end of the season, Cano was a Russian roulette reliever. He’d give the Orioles a handful of scoreless outings, only blow up in Baltimore’s face every so often. Cano had eight scoreless appearances in July, but also gave up three runs in one inning in an 11-1 loss to the Marlins.
His biggest blow up of the year came in his last outing of July against the future AL Champion Jays. With the Orioles leading 5-4, Cano gave up singles to three of the first four batters he faced, with the third single driving home two for Toronto and giving them a 6-5 lead. After hitting Addison Barger to put runners on first and second, Cano gave up a two-out, three-run home run to Nathan Lukes as the Jays busted the game open.
The constant nature of Cano’s struggles you question whether his time as an Oriole is coming to an end. Outside of his impressive month of April, the veteran reliever had an ERA of 4.35 or higher in every month of the season. This only seemed to get worse as the season went on, with Cano posting a 4.68 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP in the first half to a 5.68 ERA and 1.54 WHIP in the second half.
Perhaps the greatest sign that the Orioles should consider moving on from him was his struggles at Camden Yards. In 35 home appearances, Cano posted a 6.03 ERA, a .331 BAA and .913 opponent OPS. Of the seven home runs he gave up all year, six came at home. His performance in front of the Birdland faithful was a far cry from his previous seasons, as he posted a sub-3.00 ERA at home in 2024 and a sub-1.00 ERA in Camden Yards in 2023.
A big part of Cano’s struggles were seemingly tied to him the feel for his changeup. Between 2023 and 2024, opponents hit .215 on Cano’s cambio as the O’s reliever used his low-90s change as his primary pitch against left-handed hitters. Opponents teed off on the big Cuban’s off-speed offering in 2025, with hitters hitting .417 and slugging .667 on the changeup. Cano’s inability to throw the changeup successfully greatly impacted his success (or lackthereof) against lefties. Left-handed batters hit .330 with a .948 OPS against, making Cano one of the worst relievers against LHBs in all of baseball.
Given that the remaining members of the Orioles’ bullpen are largely unproven, Cano will likely get one last change to prove himself in 2026. He’s arbitration eligible for the first time in 2026, meaning the Orioles still have three years of team control (if they want them).
With two minor league options left, Cano could find himself in a similar situation to what we saw from Cionel Pérez in 2025. After two years of less-than-stellar performance, Pérez started last season horrendously and was subsequently demoted to Triple-A. Such could be Cano’s fate if we don’t see him pitch markedly better in the coming season.
