Wells brings 'nasty stuff' in Rays debut after chaos of Trade Deadline

DENVER -- The Orioles didn’t have a game on Monday, so Tyler Wells and his wife, Melissa, invited teammate Trevor Rogers and his wife to their house to pass the anxious hours leading up to the Trade Deadline together.

The group thought Rogers, a pending free agent, might be traded. Wells didn’t anticipate that he would be on the move. Then came word from Wells’ agent, informing him a deal was possible. Five minutes later, Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias called to deliver the news he’d been dealt to the Rays for pitching prospect Michael Forret.

“I think that's just the chaos of the game that just builds resilience,” Wells said.

The trade may have been unexpected, but it came with plenty of benefits. The right-hander was pleased to land with a contender, walk into a clubhouse with many familiar faces and join a team with an exceptional reputation for getting the most out of its pitchers.

“The fact that the Rays had the belief in me to be able to come here and kind of bolster the back end of the bullpen or wherever the role may end up being, I think that that's super encouraging to me,” he said. “I want to continue to go out there and fight for these guys.”

Many of them, he already knew.

Wells was a longtime teammate of closer Bryan Baker and center fielder Cedric Mullins in Baltimore. His former manager, Brandon Hyde, is in Tampa Bay’s front office. He was familiar with Casey Legumina, Cam Booser and Griffin Jax from their time in the Twins’ Minor League system.

And, of course, he spent the past six seasons competing with the Rays before joining his former American League East rival. All those matchups came to mind when he saw Yandy Díaz and Junior Caminero, now his teammates, and said, “I’m glad that I don’t have to face you guys anymore.”

“Being on this side of things is really nice,” Wells added. “I know that the Rays have messed me up in the past.”

The Rays were thrilled to add Wells to their bullpen, capping a busy stretch in which they acquired starter Freddy Peralta and catcher Liam Hicks. They saw Wells plenty as a starter for Baltimore from 2022-25, then watched him quickly carve out a new role as a reliever this season.

The 6-foot-8, 270-pound right-hander put together a 2.67 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 53 strikeouts and only 13 walks in 54 innings over 43 appearances for the Orioles before he was dealt to the Rays.

One of his old teammates expects him to be just as valuable for the Rays.

“I loved 'Wellsy' and he’s a good friend of mine,” Rogers told reporters in Baltimore. “But he went to a team that’s in first place and he’s going to help them.”

Making his Tampa Bay debut in a 4-0 win Wednesday afternoon at Coors Field, Wells stranded a pair of runners on the corners with a strikeout to end the sixth inning then struck out three more batters in the seventh.

Not bad for a first impression.

“Kind of in the fire right there, two guys on in a three-run ballgame,” manager Kevin Cash said afterward. “Threw a bunch of strikes. Nasty stuff.”

The Rays already had the makings of a strong bullpen headlined by Baker, setup man Kevin Kelly and left-hander Garrett Cleavinger. The emergence of lefty Booser and righty Legumina has only made that group deeper.

Thanks to the five-pitch mix he honed as a starter and the mentality he’s adopted to attack hitters in the strike zone with all of them, Wells has proven himself as a right-hander equally capable of getting out lefties and right-handed hitters.

Speaking after the Deadline on Monday, president of baseball operations Erik Neander said the Rays also valued Wells’ experience in the AL East, the success he’s had as a reliever and the different look he provides.

“It just helps the whole group play up,” Neander said, “and I think that was just something we circled.”

When asked how he’s made such a successful transition from the rotation to the bullpen, Wells compared the move to everything that went down between that moment at his house on Monday and his arrival at Coors Field on Tuesday afternoon, all while his wife and young daughter were back in Baltimore preparing to move south for the rest of the season.

“Honestly, it's very similar to the last 12 hours: utter chaos,” he said. “It’s being able to put the team on my back in those big situations and kind of coming through for them. So, I'm going to continue to just keep that same mentality here and just hopefully continue to help the team win.”