Albert Suarez re-signs with Orioles on minor league deal for fifth time this season

What happened

Albert Suarez is back. Again. Per Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner, as relayed by Charlie Wright at MLB Trade Rumors, Baltimore's Triple-A affiliate in Norfolk announced that the veteran right-hander has re-signed with the organization on a minor league deal. Suarez was most recently removed from the roster last weekend and is expected to head back to Norfolk to await his next opportunity at the big-league level.

A minor league deal does not place a player on the 40-man roster, which is precisely the point.

Why it matters

Per the report, the Orioles have now run Suarez through the designated-for-assignment process five times this season. In each instance, he has passed through waivers and found his way back to the organization — either through free agency or outright assignment. It is a tidy arrangement, if an unusual one: Baltimore uses Suarez to absorb innings at the major-league level, then reclaims his roster spot when a more pressing need arises, confident that no other club will claim him off waivers.

That confidence has been validated five times over.

The operational logic is straightforward. Under September roster rules, clubs can carry 28 active players, which creates more room to maneuver than the 26-man limit that governs most of the season. Even so, roster spots remain a managed resource, and a pitcher who can be cycled in and out of the organization without occupying a 40-man slot has genuine utility — particularly for a club navigating the kind of injury turbulence Baltimore has faced in recent weeks.

That turbulence has been considerable. Gunnar Henderson has been dealing with left knee tightness, exiting a game early with the issue and subsequently sitting out of the lineup, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting. Adley Rutschman received a cortisone shot and was given a planned day off, signaling an underlying concern. Luis Robert Jr., who joined the club and then landed on the injured list with left hamstring discomfort, has an uncertain timeline for a return this season. The Orioles have been shuffling their active roster with some urgency, and a reliever who can be summoned from Norfolk on short notice — and returned there just as quickly — fits the moment.

The numbers

Suarez's results in the majors this season have been, as Charlie Wright at MLB Trade Rumors described them, mediocre. He carries a 4.12 ERA across 59 innings and 27 appearances. The underlying metrics are less charitable: a 4.75 xFIP and a 4.58 SIERA suggest he has been somewhat fortunate to post even that ERA figure.

What Suarez has done is eat innings. Fifty-nine of them, across 27 appearances — which is the job description for a pitcher in his roster role. His most recent stretch illustrated both his durability and the demands placed on him: he tossed an inning last Thursday, then returned on one day of rest to throw 62 pitches across three innings. That is not a usage pattern typically associated with high-leverage situations, but it is exactly what a depth arm is asked to do when a staff needs length.

Suarez is 36 years old and made his MLB return in 2024 after five seasons pitching in Asia, where he was primarily a starter in NPB and KBO. He was used mostly as a starter in his first season with Baltimore as well, but has transitioned to a relief role in recent years. Per the report, he has made just five starts combined between the minors and majors since the start of 2025.

Where the club stands

The Orioles sit at 72-77 (.483), fifth in the AL East and 17.5 games back in the division — a race from which they have already been eliminated. In the Wild Card picture, they rank sixth, 3.0 games relative to the cut line, on a one-game losing streak entering the weekend.

The schedule ahead does not offer much comfort. Baltimore is at Toronto on Sunday, with Trevor Rogers lined up against Dylan Cease. The club then travels to Citi Field for back-to-back games against the Mets on Monday and Tuesday, with probable starters on the New York side listed as Jonah Tong and Sean Manaea respectively. Baltimore's own probable starters for those two games are listed as TBD.

A week removed from a season-high six-game losing streak — which included a sweep, per earlier Posterior Wire reporting — the Orioles are playing out a September that looks quite different from what the organization had in mind when the season began. The rotation slots marked TBD for the Mets series are a small but telling detail: the club is still sorting out who pitches when, and that uncertainty is precisely the environment in which a depth arm on a minor league deal earns his keep.

What we don't know yet

The minor league deal was announced by Norfolk's affiliate, per the report, but the precise terms — including any opt-out provisions or call-up conditions — have not been detailed in the available reporting. It also remains unclear exactly when, or whether, Suarez will receive another call to the active roster. His five previous trips through this cycle suggest the door remains open; whether Baltimore walks through it again depends on roster needs that are, at the moment, genuinely difficult to predict given the club's injury situation.

The return timelines for Henderson, Rutschman, and Robert Jr. remain uncertain, per prior reporting, and those situations will shape how the Orioles manage their active roster over the final weeks of the season.

What to watch

The question worth tracking is not whether Suarez can pitch — he has answered that across 59 innings this season — but whether Baltimore finds another moment where his particular brand of roster flexibility becomes useful again. Five trips through the designation process in a single season is a notable figure, and the conditions that made each of those cycles possible have not changed: Suarez clears waivers, accepts the assignment, and waits in Norfolk.

The Orioles, meanwhile, are managing a September with a thinned-out lineup and a bullpen that will be asked to cover innings in games that matter less in the standings than they did a month ago. For a 36-year-old who spent five years pitching in Asia before finding his way back to a big-league roster, that is still a job worth having — and apparently one worth returning to, again and again, until the season runs out of calendar.