{"id":377866,"date":"2025-12-29T09:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T09:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377866\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T09:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T09:14:09","slug":"orioles-re-sign-zach-eflin-mlb-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/377866\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Re-Sign Zach Eflin – MLB Trade Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orioles have reunited with Zach Eflin<\/a> on a one-year, $10MM deal with a mutual option for the 2027 season.\u00a0 The team has officially announced the signing, and designated outfielder Will Robertson<\/a> for assignment in a corresponding move<\/a> to create room on the 40-man roster.\u00a0 Eflin is represented by O\u2019Connell Sports Management.<\/p>\n

The $10MM guarantee breaks down as a $5MM salary, a $3MM signing bonus, and then a $2MM buyout on the mutual option.\u00a0 As a reminder, mutual options are virtually never exercised by both parties, so Eflin\u2019s deal is for all intents and purposes just a one-year pact.\u00a0 There is some significant bonus money involved, as both Eflin\u2019s buyout and option will increase by $1MM if he makes at least 15 starts, then by $1.5MM if he makes at 20 starts, and one final increase of $2.5MM if he hits the 25-start threshold.\u00a0 The mutual option\u2019s buyout can therefore max out at $7MM.<\/p>\n

Baltimore has been linked to several top-tier free agent pitchers this winter, and the O\u2019s also just swung a notable trade<\/a> to land a hurler with frontline potential in Shane Baz<\/a>.\u00a0 The 32-year-old Eflin might settle into the back of the rotation, especially given his uncertain injury status.\u00a0 Eflin underwent a back surgery in August<\/a> that came with a rather broad recovery timeline of 4-8 months, so the fact that he has now signed a contract after four months perhaps hints that his rehab is going smoothly.<\/p>\n

The Baltimore Sun\u2019s Matt Weyrich<\/a> hears from a source that the Orioles are hoping Eflin can \u201cmake his season debut early in the\u00a0year,\u201d with his ramp-up process starting \u201cearly in Spring Training.\u201d\u00a0 Once Eflin is ready, he\u2019ll slot in as the fourth or fifth starter in a projected rotation that includes Trevor Rogers<\/a>, Kyle Bradish<\/a>, Dean Kremer<\/a>, and Baz. \u00a0Tyler Wells<\/a> had a line on a rotation spot but might move into a bullpen or swingman role once Eflin returns. \u00a0Albert Suarez<\/a> is another swingman candidate, plus Cade Povich<\/a>, Chayce McDermott<\/a>, and Brandon Young<\/a> are further rotation depth options in the upper minors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

If Baltimore still wanted to make a splash by signing or trading for more of a proven ace, the Eflin signing likely isn\u2019t an obstacle.\u00a0 Given how many injuries the Orioles rotation suffered in 2025, it is no surprise that the team wants as much depth as possible to both cover innings and deliver quality results going forward.<\/p>\n

Eflin\u2019s own injury woes contributed to the Orioles\u2019 health problems, as lat and back injuries resulted in three separate stints on the injured list for the righty last year.\u00a0 Eflin was limited to just 71 1\/3 innings over 14 starts, and he struggled to a 5.93 ERA and a 16.2% strikeout rate.\u00a0 The righty\u2019s 4.2% walk rate was still excellent, however, and since a lot of the damage off Eflin came via a spike in his homer rate, his 4.49 SIERA was more respectable than his real-world ERA.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t the first time Eflin was plagued by injuries, as persistent knee issues bothered the right-hander earlier in his career with the Phillies, though he posted solid results when healthy.\u00a0 In what counted as a significant outlay for the low-budget Rays, Tampa Bay inked Eflin to a three-year, $40MM contract during the 2022-23 offseason, and he ended up delivering the highest two innings totals of his career over the first two seasons of the deal \u2014 177 2\/3 IP in 2023, 165 1\/3 IP in 2024.<\/p>\n

The durability was backed up by a 3.54 ERA, 3.5% walk rate, and 23.1% strikeout rate over those 343 innings, though Eflin\u2019s K% dropped off considerably from 26.5% in 2023 to 19.6% in 2024.\u00a0 Since the Rays are always looking to trim the budget and reload with younger talent, Tampa dealt Eflin to the Orioles at the 2024 deadline, with the O\u2019s absorbing all of the money remaining on Eflin\u2019s $11MM salary for the 2024 season and his $18MM salary for 2025.\u00a0 While his 2025 campaign was a wash, Eflin did pitch well down the stretch for the Orioles in 2024 to help the team reach the postseason.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay was the only team publicly linked to Eflin\u2019s market this winter, but he\u2019ll now instead return to one of his other former teams in his attempt at a rebound season.\u00a0 The Orioles know better than any other club about the right-hander\u2019s health situation, and the upside is obvious if Eflin can return to his old form.\u00a0 At the time of his season-ending surgery, Eflin was also quite vocal about his desire to return to Batlimore in free agency, and now his wish has come true.<\/p>\n

Eflin\u2019s $10MM commitment brings the Orioles\u2019 2026 payroll up to roughly $147.3MM, as per RosterResource<\/a>.\u00a0 Since the O\u2019s finished the 2025 campaign with a payroll of approximately $160.1MM, there\u2019s still more room to spend for a team that already made one of the winter\u2019s blockbuster signings in the Pete Alonso<\/a> contract.\u00a0 Baltimore could further spend on a free agent starter like Ranger Suarez<\/a> or Framber Valdez<\/a>, or perhaps again tip into its minor league depth for another significant trade.<\/p>\n

USA Today\u2019s Bob Nightengale<\/a> was the first to break the news on Eflin\u2019s one-year pact with the Orioles.\u00a0 The New York Post\u2019s Jon Heyman had the<\/a> $10MM guaranteed, and Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner reported<\/a> that the detail of the mutual option. \u00a0FanSided\u2019s Robert Murray<\/a> had the salary breakdown and the information about the bonus structure.<\/p>\n

Inset photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher \u2014 Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Orioles have reunited with Zach Eflin on a one-year, $10MM deal with a mutual option for the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319354,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85,25105],"class_list":{"0":"post-377866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-zach-eflin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}