Zach Eflin’s back soreness is sending him to the 15-day injured list. The Orioles announced the move, which is retroactive to June 29, while recalling rookie righty Brandon Young to take his spot on the active roster.
Eflin only made it through one inning during his start on Saturday before he was forced out of the game by back tightness. The O’s have not provided any more specificity, only announcing the injury as lower back discomfort. His return timeline isn’t clear. Eflin is an impending free agent on a last place team, so an injury one month before the deadline could impact the summer trade market.
This continues a frustrating season for the 31-year-old righty. It began well enough, as Eflin opened the year with three consecutive quality starts. He exited his third appearance with shoulder discomfort that was later diagnosed as a low-grade lat strain. That cost him a month. More concerning is that Eflin has not looked right since he made his return on May 11.
In nine starts since coming back from the shoulder injury, Eflin has been tagged for a 7.16 earned run average. He has fanned under 17% of opposing hitters while surrendering a staggering 14 home runs in only 44 innings. Even if one wants to write off Saturday’s performance — in which he gave up four runs in one inning while trying to pitch through the back discomfort — he’d been hit hard in four of his prior eight outings.
That was already dealing a hit to Eflin’s trade value. While clubs would be intrigued by his 2023-24 numbers, he’s a relatively expensive rebound target on an $18MM salary. This injury adds another layer of uncertainty and could run the risk of taking him off the trade market entirely if he’s still injured by the end of July. Players on the IL are eligible to be traded, but that’d be a difficult sell to other teams if he hasn’t shown some level of improved form by the deadline. O’s GM Mike Elias said over the weekend that they’re not yet committed to selling. Still, it’d take a huge performance over the next couple weeks to raise their playoff odds to a point where the front office can justify not moving at least their impending free agents.
In the meantime, Young seems likely to step into Tony Mansolino’s rotation. The 26-year-old has struggled in a trio of spot starts, giving up 10 runs over 12 2/3 innings. He owns a 3.25 ERA in 25 outings at the Triple-A level over the past couple seasons. Young has a five-pitch mix led by a fastball that sits around 93 MPH.
Great
Unless youre telling me Bradish, Wells and Rodriguez are magically coming off the IL tomorrow and pitching like they were never injured in the first place, I don’t see it happening this year. The front office may be content to take it up all the way to the deadline based on the team playing better recently but the hole is way too big to get out of in my opinion, barring some absolute miracle.
If they play better temporarily that’s one thing. They are 22-19 in the last 41 games which is ok, but the problem is that still leaves them 10 under .500. Up to the deadline the schedule is not helpful (ATL, NYM, MIA, TBR, CLE, COL, TOR). Even if they do well and go 14-10 that still leaves them 6 under .500 and very likely still behind the glut of 6 teams for the last WC spot at the end of July.
Remember this team still sold in 2022 when a couple games above .500 at the deadline and much healthier. They may have been 2 back of the final WC spot with no one in between.
On a longer horizon, 86-76 is probably close to the line to get a WC spot. Orioles need 49-29 to get there….that is .628/102 win ball. Not happening. They dug too deep a hole and taking too long to get out of it.
2025 is a lost season, it would take a tremendous amount of effort over the next few weeks to right the ship, and I don’t see it happening. Re-tool and prepare for 2026 instead.
Agree. There’s a foundation in place that is solid enough to right things in 2026..
That said; there are a couple of glue guys, steady pros, that i feel they need to bring back as the youngins continue to get comfortable..Urias and Mullins. And Bautista too.
Mullins has been lousy for over a month now. He is what he is. The glove is fine and he can go on a hot streak but you can’t commit serious dollars to him. He goes in July unless we get extremely hot.
Jeff
That’s the conundrum of prospect hugging. Who makes way for them? Certainly Beavers deserves a shot in the OF this season and Bradfield within the next year. Carlson played well enough in the past month. What about Laureano, under control through 2026? That means Mullins has to go, no one’s going to take O’Neill with 2 HR and 27 trips to the DL, they’re not trading Cowser, and Laureano has been their best player of late.
I think they should sell high on O’Hearn TBH, as much as I’ve enjoyed his play. Mullins I think can do more for another team and himself moving forward by getting moved.
I think they should keep Bautista and solidify the back end of the bullpen. That has made a big difference the last 6 weeks as he seems to have regained form. Eflin, Morton, Sugano, any bullpens on expiring deals – if another team wants to give something up for them, sure.
This will be an even younger team, but that’s what happens when you prospect hug and don’t trade for any long-term, mainstay veteran pieces like a non-platooned position player or a rotation foundation. Still need at least 2 top-level rotation pieces (a 1 or 2) no matter who is expected to come back.
I don’t mention Kremer, Laureano, Rogers, etc. I’d be shocked if they trade anyone with team control beyond 2025.
Some dry MLBTR wit: “Hw’s a relatively expensive rebound target on an $18MM salary.”
Well done!
Always stinks this time of year when there’s a guy who gets trade buzz and then gets hurt. Luis Robert Jr is another one. Has to be a gut punch to GMs in those cases.
I agree, but timing is also tactical–they want to extract the highest bids. So, you gamble with injury and/or underperformance,
If not for the unprecedented number of series injuries to pitchers and key position players AL East would be a 3 team race between Rays, Jays and O’s. Yankees were healthy and some guys got hot starts, but in the second half Judge won’t see a pitch to hit and without him pounding they are a below average team.
They are 20-25 against teams 500 or better. Meanwhile Os have played 6 games with their everyday line up and are still without key pieces. The list of pitching injuries, Eflin and Aiken being the last ones is unreal.
All that said on July 5th they are 8 games behind NY, who will soon be in third.