yardbarker
Right-hander Zach Eflin is hoping to stay with the Baltimore Orioles, according to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com. Eflin's 2025 season was derailed by injuries, limiting him to 71 1/3 innings with a 5.93 ERA. Despite the struggles, the Orioles had brought him back on a one-year, $10MM contract last winter.
Eflin's tenure in Baltimore has been plagued by misfortune. He exited his first start of the 2025 season with elbow discomfort and underwent Tommy John surgery in early April, ending his year prematurely. His contract includes a $25MM mutual option for 2027, but the Orioles are certain to buy him out for $2MM instead.
That buyout could signal the end of Eflin's time with the Orioles, but the team might consider re-signing him on a more affordable deal. The 32-year-old is eager to remain in Baltimore, per Kubatko. Given that he is likely to miss a significant portion of the 2026 season while rehabbing, he may pursue a two-year contract in free agency.
Any team that signs Eflin will be hoping for a smooth recovery and a return to the form he showed before a series of lat, back, and elbow injuries disrupted his career. Eflin is not far removed from a highly effective two-year stretch split between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Orioles, who acquired him in July 2024.
Over that 59-start, 343-inning span, Eflin posted a 3.54 ERA with strong underlying metrics. ERA estimators such as xERA (3.36), FIP (3.37), xFIP (3.45), and SIERA (3.62) all viewed his performance favorably. He also walked just 3.5% of batters during that period, the second-lowest rate behind only George Kirby of the Mariners (2.7%).
Although Eflin doesn't throw hard or generate many strikeouts (20.7%), he has consistently limited walks (5.7%) and induced ground balls (43.8%). Those skills have helped him build a long career as a starter since debuting with the Phillies in 2016. His first couple of years were rough, as was 2025, but from 2018-24 he pitched to a useful 4.07 ERA with similar peripherals over 949 2/3 innings.
While Eflin has barely contributed in Baltimore over the past two seasons, he is one of three veteran starters the team could lose in free agency. Left-hander Trevor Rogers is a strong qualifying offer candidate and should attract plenty of interest if he rejects it and tests the market. Right-hander Chris Bassitt, also an impending free agent, is considering retirement at age 37.
As things stand, Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz, and Brandon Young are the only locks for the Orioles' rotation in 2027. Trey Gibson, Luis De León, and Cade Povich are other in-house options, but president of baseball operations Mike Elias will likely explore free agency and the trade market for additional answers.
Originally reported by yardbarker.