Zach

Eflin

Eflin will receive a $2 million buyout on the $25 million mutual option. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April and is hoping to be ready in the early part of next season. He’s indicated that he’d like to stay with Baltimore.

Eflin left his start on March 31st with an injury and then underwent Tommy John surgery on April 8th. Eflin said, “Probably ever since about four or five weeks after surgery, I felt really, really good. I’ve reached all the milestones that I needed to.” He is going to start throwing in the next week or two, which should allow him to be ready close to the start of the season. The usual recovery timeline for Tommy John surgery is about a calendar year, which means Eflin could be ready to go in April of 2027, but it remains to be seen where he will pitch since it’s unlikely the Orioles will pick up his $25 million mutual option.

The procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, will sideline Eflin until at least the early stages of the 2027 season. The 32-year-old veteran suffered the injury during his season debut last week, and it marks the first reconstructive surgery of his career. His absence is a significant hit to Baltimore’s rotation depth and likely means that one of Dean Kremer, Cade Povich or Brandon Young will have to step into a more prominent role this season.

There is still no set timeline on Eflin’s return from right elbow discomfort, and he’s getting a second opinion this week. This move means the earliest he could return is at the beginning of June.

Eflin is flying to Texas to see Dr. Keith Meister, which would seem to indicate that he did not exactly love the first opinion medical professionals offered him. We would be surprised if Eflin wasn’t out for a majority of the year based on this update, even if he has avoided a UCL tear and instead has something (relatively) more minor.

The 31-year-old left last night’s game in the fourth inning. As of now, we have no further information on the extent of the injury, and the Orioles are awaiting imaging results. However, fantasy managers should expect a long absence, which is a bummer for a pitcher who seemed primed to have a bounce-back season. Albert Suarez was called up to take Eflin’s place in the rotation.

Not good. Eflin is presumably headed for an MRI to determine whether he’s dealing with any structural damage and appears ticketed for the injured list, even if this isn’t a worst-case scenario. The 31-year-old veteran hurler looked sharp in his season debut, recording seven strikeouts while limiting the Rangers to just one run on four hits over 3 2/3 innings. There should be a definitive update on his status at some point in the coming days. Dean Kremer would be the logical choice to fill Eflin’s spot in Baltimore’s rotation.

Not a great sign. It’s a bit unclear what transpired that caused Eflin to depart with two outs in the fourth inning after allowing one run on four hits. He finished with seven strikeouts and issued a pair of walks, throwing 74 pitches (44 strikes) in his season debut. The hope is that he isn’t dealing with a flare up of the back issues that plagued him last year. There should be an update from the club on his status shortly.

Rogers had already been announced as the Opening Day starter. Bradish will pitch on Saturday against the Twins with Shane Baz working the finale of that opening series. Chris Bassitt and Zach Eflin will then work the first two games against the Rangers.

The decision to jettison Kremer after a solid showing in spring training and the World Baseball Classic signals that Baltimore will go with Zach Eflin as the final member of a five-man, season-opening rotation. The 30-year-old righty led the Orioles with 171 2/3 innings over 31 appearances (29 starts) last year, which provides some insight into how much the club overhauled their rotation this offseason. He’s unlikely to spend too much time at Triple-A since Baltimore is eventually going to move to a six-man rotation, like most teams in the current era, after a couple weeks to build in extra rest for their starters.