Rays fans were bracing for bad news when righty Zach Eflin exited his most recent start after four innings and went for an MRI on his left knee, but Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweets that he’s expected to avoid the injured list entirely. Eflin threw a 25-pitch bullpen session over the weekend and is now slated to start Tuesday against the Yankees. He’s not expected to have any limitations on his workload tomorrow.
It’s a sigh of relief for a Rays club that already lost Jeffrey Springs and Drew Rasmussen for the season. A third major injury would’ve surely accelerated Tampa Bay’s pursuit for rotation help, which has been ongoing, but it seems Eflin has avoided an injury of any real note. The right-hander’s chronic knee issues are well known; he’s spoken openly about them in the past, underwent surgery on both knees in 2016 and had a second surgery on his right knee in 2021.
That history of knee issues didn’t dissuade the Rays from making an aggressive bid to sign Eflin in free agency, ultimately inking him on a three-year, $40MM contract. He’s in the midst of perhaps the finest season of his career, tossing 116 1/3 innings of 3.64 ERA ball with a strong 25.2% strikeout rate, a masterful 3.7% walk rate and a career-high 51.7% ground-ball rate. He’ll remain in the rotation alongside Shane McClanahan, Tyler Glasnow and Taj Bradley.
The Rays were in the market for starting pitching help even before Eflin’s injury scare, and it stands to reason they’ll still be poking around that market, albeit with less urgency than if Eflin had endured a significant injury. Tampa Bay has been connected to the Cardinals’ available starters, and while Jordan Montgomery has since been traded to the Rangers, righty Jack Flaherty remains on the block. They were also tied to Marcus Stroman a few weeks ago, but that was before the Cubs rattled off an eight-game winning streak that thrust them back into the competition in the NL Central. He’s now unlikely to be moved. Lance Lynn, another Rays target, has since been traded to the Dodgers.
Even with those misses, there are still several names available. Michael Lorenzen, Eduardo Rodriguez, Justin Verlander, Jose Quintana, Aaron Civale and old friend Rich Hill are just some of the many pitchers whose names have been bandied about the rumor circuit over the past week or so.
What an Eflin relief.
Eflin great news!
The Rays had better part with some prospects for pitching.
Let’s go! Good news.
HUGE for TB if he’s truly fine. They need him.
Not sure the asking prices on what other teams want. If it’s Junior C, C Williams, Montgomery or even a Mead I can see where the Rays will be hesitant. In a year or 2 those names can be filling out the Rays big league roster. Rays might be better off picking up a reliever & pitcher like Hill to manage the workload of the other pitchers the rest of the regular season. If Zach L can give them 4 or 5 innings like Sunday the rest of the season that will also surely help the Rays the rest of the way. Picking up another veteran bat to slot into the #6-#8 slot might be another option.
Anyone on that list of SP but Hill. Verlander would be good, but it depends on what the Mets want for him and if the Braves want to pay his enormous salary.
I’m going to guess the odds are pretty low that the Braves will pay Verlander’s salary if the Rays acquire him.
Good to see he was able to swerve out of hitting the injury list.
I truly wish the guy the best… but I’ve seen this play out in Philly with him too many times.
Wonder will Trevor Brigden ever get a shot …His numbers looks good in AAA
I have to wonder if this is the reason the Rays didn’t end up with Lance Lynn. Maybe they were aware of a positive prognosis and decided to abandon going after Lynn.
Who knows what prospects the White Sox wanted from the Rays. Lynn wasn’t exactly pitching like a top 3 starter this season.