When John Means was pitching with diminished velocity on Wednesday and appeared to be exiting the game early regardless of the rain that delayed the game, that didn’t seem good. When Brandon Hyde confirmed after the game that Means is experiencing elbow soreness and that he’d be getting further tests, an injured list stint was almost inevitable. Here we are a day later and the Orioles aren’t wasting any time, putting Means on the injured list with what the team announced as a left forearm strain.
As the corresponding move for Means going on the injured list, the team recalled reliever Jonathan Heasley from Triple-A Norfolk. The 27-year-old righty was acquired from the Royals this past offseason for 18-year-old rookie-level pitcher Cesar Espinal. My joking theory about Heasley is that the Orioles were trying to run the same play as they did with Ryan O’Hearn a year earlier, “Maybe this guy who has been bad will suddenly be better when he escapes the Royals.”
Heasley has gotten some action in with the Orioles earlier this year, as he was here long enough to get blasted for six runs in two innings in a game against the Brewers after a couple of outings where he was not charged with any earned runs. Things have been going better with Heasley down with the Tides, as he’s given up just one run in 20 innings over seven games.
Over this same stretch, batters are hitting a mere .149 off of Heasley. He’s been doing a lot of multi-inning relief, though he’s made a couple of starts as well. This would seem to set him up to serve as a long man in the Orioles bullpen for however long the O’s wish to have him there. If he pitches like he’s done in his big league career to date, maybe it won’t be for long. If the Norfolk success carries over, he could stick around.
The injury to Means is a bummer regardless of how severe it ends up being. Means was one of the lone bright spots during the dark period in the 2019-21 seasons. He worked hard for the team and deserved to be one of the guys to make the leap from the rebuilding era to the good days.
The timing of his Tommy John surgery and recovery have kept Means from being a real part of the revival. The fact that he is a free agent at the end of this season could mean that if he needs time to try to bounce back, it will be another team that gives him that opportunity. It will be for the best if the 2025 Orioles don’t need to count on him.
It’s understandable to fear the worst for a guy who’s already had Tommy John surgery and has not managed to shake the soreness for more than a handful of starts at a time. Means pitched four games late last year and was too sore to pitch in the postseason. That same soreness delayed his start to the 2024 campaign, and after he finally arrived, he started four games and now here he is on the injured list again.
It’s not immediately clear how long Means might be out. My off-the-cuff guess is we won’t see him in action again before August, and that might be an optimistic guess. In the short term, the Orioles will certainly have to figure out how to put together a staff without Means. It’s a minimum 15-day injured list stay and there will be at least a couple of turns without him no matter what happens from here.
Does this mean that the plan for a six-man rotation is knocked off course? The team could still stick with it if they want to return both Cole Irvin and Albert Suárez to the rotation. A few days ago, the Orioles might have been hoping to only need one of those guys to get back to making starts. They could call up a prospect to get into the rotation, if they think either Cade Povich or Chayce McDermott has done enough to demonstrate big league readiness. I’m more excited about Povich, who was just recently added to the FanGraphs top 100 prospect list.
The Orioles could also just go back to a five-man rotation and keep Heasley as part of an eight-man bullpen. This wouldn’t offer any extra rest for the starting rotation but it would help the Orioles do more to rest their bullpen guys.
