The Orioles and closer Ryan Helsley have agreed to a two-year, $28 million contract with an opt-out after the first season, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club hasn’t confirmed the deal, which is pending a physical.
Just a season ago, Helsley won the Trevor Hoffman Award as the best reliever in the National League and earned first-team All-MLB honors. That was 2024, when he also made the NL All-Star team and received some Cy Young Award votes, both for the second time in three years. In 65 games for the Cardinals that season, Helsley led the Majors with 49 saves (in 53 chances) and posted a 2.04 ERA with 79 strikeouts in 66 1/3 innings.
That performance capped a dominant three-season stretch for Helsley. While he missed some time with a right forearm strain in 2023, he was highly effective when healthy from 2022-24, with a 1.83 ERA, 82 saves and 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings. Opponents batted just .172 against him, with a .505 OPS.
Helsley’s 2025 season hit a few early bumps in the road, but by the time the Cardinals dealt him to the Mets at the Trade Deadline — which came shortly after his 31st birthday — he seemingly had hit his stride. After putting up zeroes in 10 of his final 11 appearances with St. Louis, Helsley had his ERA down to 3.00, to go along with 21 saves.
Unfortunately for Helsley, who was heading toward free agency, things never clicked for him in Queens. He wound up going 0-3 and blowing all four of his save chances for a Mets team that narrowly missed a postseason berth. In 22 appearances for New York, Helsley allowed 16 earned runs (7.20 ERA), 25 hits and 11 walks over 20 innings, inflating his season ERA to 4.50.
Amid Helsley’s struggles with the Mets, there was talk of correcting what he described as “glaring and obvious” pitch tipping issues. He did eventually close out the season on a positive note, with six straight scoreless appearances, spanning seven innings.
Originally a fifth-round pick by St. Louis in the 2015 Draft out of Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, Helsley debuted with the Cardinals in 2019. Over seven big league seasons, he owns a 2.96 ERA, 105 saves and 377 strikeouts across 319 2/3 innings.
