Tyler Wells didn’t spend deadline day bracing for a move. He spent it like most players do when the trade chatter is flying around the league: watching, waiting and assuming the phone would ring for somebody else.
Instead, with about an hour left before the Aug. 3 deadline, it was Wells who got the call.
The right-hander was one of five major league players the Orioles moved ahead of the deadline, joining Dean Kremer, Taylor Ward, Jake Rogers and Adley Rutschman in the shuffle. Wells went to the Tampa Bay Rays for pitching prospect Michael Forret just before the 6 p.m. cutoff, and on Aug. 28 he walked Glenn Clark Radio through how fast it all came together.
“Going into the deadline day, we didn’t think that it was going to end up happening,” Wells said. “Honestly, as we went throughout the day, we didn’t think anything was happening.
I hadn’t heard from my agent all day. I knew that he was going to end up being busy.
We were obviously paying attention to the deadline stuff because of Adley.”
With the Orioles off that day, Wells was spending time with Trevor Rogers, another pitcher whose name was circulating in trade rumors. Wells figured Rogers would be the one hearing from his phone first.
“I think … 5:15 comes around, we’ve got an hour left. I’m expecting Rogers’ phone to start ringing, and then all the sudden my phone starts ringing.
I was like, ‘Whoa, OK,'” Wells said. “[My agent] told me, ‘I think you’re getting moved.’
I was like, ‘Oh man, OK.’ It just kind of threw me for a loop.”
The surprise was real, but it wasn’t total shock. Wells said the day before had already felt like business as usual, which is exactly why the news hit so quickly when it came.
“I wouldn’t say it blindsided me,” Wells said. “Kind of going from the day before where we didn’t really think anything was happening to all of a sudden, ‘Hey, you are traded,’ it happened really fast.
It didn’t blindside me, but it happened a lot faster than what I actually thought it was going to. That is the nature of the business.
Things happen fast around here. It’s very much the same thing whenever you’re dealing with all sorts of deadlines.”
For Wells, the move also shifted him into a familiar setting. The Rays already had a few faces he knew well from Baltimore, including Bryan Baker, Jorge Mateo and Cedric Mullins. Brandon Hyde, Wells’ former manager, is now a senior adviser in Tampa Bay, too.
That familiarity has helped smooth the transition.
“I was actually talking to Hyder about this the other day. He goes, ‘Cedric Mullins, back out there saving your butt again,'” Wells said.
“I was like, ‘Hey man, if you’ve got him, use him.’ He just catches everything.
It’s crazy. It’s easier for me to go out there and do my job whenever you’ve got that kind of defense behind you.
It just makes it a lot more loose, a lot more fun whenever you’re surrounded by guys that you’ve been around quite often.”
Wells, who turns 32 on Aug. 26, arrived in Baltimore through the Rule 5 Draft after the 2020 season. The Twins had originally developed him as a starter, but Tommy John surgery and the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out his 2019 and 2020 seasons.
Baltimore first used him out of the bullpen in 2021 before moving him back into the rotation. This year, after another elbow surgery in 2024, he returned to relief again.
He has posted a 2.70 ERA in 63.1 innings split between Baltimore and St. Petersburg this season, with his work built around missing bats and getting hitters to lift easy fly balls.
Wells got a chance to see Baltimore again when the Rays came to town for the Aug. 21-23 series. He pitched two scoreless innings on Aug. 22, a tidy closing note on his first run with the Orioles.
“Baltimore’s always going to hold a special place in my heart, in my family’s heart,” Wells said. “This was our first major league home.
This is the place that gave me an opportunity coming out of the Rule 5 Draft and gave me an opportunity to stick in the big leagues and to go out there and be able to perform for the city. … Being part of a 100-loss team, being part of a 100-win team, going into the playoffs and wild cards and stuff like that, it gives you a special level of appreciation for what this city is and the fans that surround it.”
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