The Orioles announced this evening that starter Trevor Rogers is headed to the 15-day injured list. He’s dealing with an undisclosed illness. The placement is retroactive to April 26, so Rogers is first eligible to return on May 11. Reliever Cameron Foster, who was optioned on Saturday, is back up from Triple-A Norfolk to take his spot on the pitching staff.
Baltimore also announced that long reliever Albert Suárez cleared outright waivers and elected free agency after being designated for assignment over the weekend. However, Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner was among those to report that Suárez is expected to re-sign on a new minor league contract. The righty is out of options, so the O’s needed to run him through waivers to get him back to Triple-A.
Rogers deservedly earned the nod as Baltimore’s Opening Day starter after his dominant second half in 2025. He fired seven scoreless innings to beat Minnesota in the debut. Rogers followed up with consecutive quality starts against Texas and the White Sox. His most recent three appearances have been rockier, as he has failed to advance into the sixth inning and taken the loss all three times out.
That has pushed Rogers’ earned run average to 4.75 across 30 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate is down a few points relative to last season, though he’s getting more chases off the plate and still has a strong 12.1% swinging strike percentage. He’ll probably be back around when first eligible but will lose at least two starts to the illness.
Rogers joins Zach Eflin and Dean Kremer on the injured list. Eflin underwent UCL surgery and is out for the season. Kremer will be down for a while due to a quad strain. Those injuries already pushed Brandon Young into the rotation. They’ll need another starter this weekend, as they don’t have an off day until May 14.
Baltimore was off on Monday. Shane Baz pitched last night in a win over the Astros. Their game today was rained out but will be made up with a doubleheader tomorrow. Chris Bassitt and Young will start those games. Rogers’ turn would have come up on Friday for the series opener against Will Warren and the Yankees.
Monday’s off day means Kyle Bradish would be on regular rest if the Orioles wanted to run him instead, but they’ll probably keep him on schedule for Saturday. Cade Povich is the only depth starter on the 40-man roster and would be on five days rest for Friday. Prospect Trey Gibson would be on regular rest if the O’s wanted to go in that direction. They have a couple vacancies on the 40-man after waiving Sam Huff and Suárez in recent days, so they could accommodate Gibson without issue.
That’s interesting hopefully more details come out because missing all that time for an illness is unusual.
Not a doctor, but flu followed by a secondary infection like pneumonia will put you down for a while, and that’s not too uncommon.
Though it reminds me of the old joke “What do you get for the man who has everything?”
“Penicillin.”
My bro @Andy Kosta gets mentioned on MLBTR. That’s awesome. His is an AMAZING beat writer!
twins – It’s not common, but it does happen. In the past few years Wilyer Abreu and Vaughn Grissom had lengthy illnesses that impacted their ability to play. They both lost quite a bit of weight.
Rogers definitely looked off in his last start, against the Red Sox. It made no sense when several below average Sox hitters reached base against him.
Get well soon!
i know what the undisclosed illness is. its a really bad cough.
as in he’s coughed up 12 runs in his last 3 starts good for a 9.53 era
They forgot to mention that Tyler Wells could also step into the starter role.
I’d be surprised. He hasn’t gone beyond two innings or 32 pitches yet this season, so it’s tough to ask him to go more than 3-4 innings right away. Doesn’t seem worth it if Rogers only misses a couple turns. Guessing it’ll be Povich
The Orioles don’t have a day off until May 14th and have a doubleheader tomorrow. We’ll need more than just Povich. Suarez likely gets added back and makes a start. Wells or Nunez could be the opener for the game.
Unless they use Tyler Wells as an opener who pitches 2-3 innings to start the game, I doubt it. I think Mike Elias would feel more confident with Povich in the rotation and have Wells as a long man
Depends on the lineup but if it’s Povich tomorrow, as I expect, he’ll start the game. The Yankees are lefty heavy. I could see an opener being used if the lineup made sense to do so.
We haven’t needed to use that strategy but unfortunately if we’re running the rotation we currently have out there—that’ll change.
It must be pretty serious because it’s the 15 day IL
This… feels ominous. Hope the guy’s ok, seems an odd reason to hit the IL.
What illness other than “the Vid” lasts 15 days? I’m not sure people are still getting that. I still see people with a mask on.
11,507,000 tested positive for COVID in the US in 2025. Actual infections were probably far higher. Hospitalization was just 3.7% of positive tests, so immunization has worked.
3.7% hospitalization might also reflect widespread prior immunity and a less severe dominant variant—not just a single-variable ‘immunization worked’ headline.
Mystery: swine flu? Legionaire’s?
The illness is a 3 point increase in ERA this season?
Hope nothing is serious. Scary that he is going on the 15 day for an illness. Prayers out to him.
Albert Suarez is a good pitcher. Im surprised that the O’s were able to pass him through waivers.
Maybe he’s not as good as you think.
I watched his film last night, I liked what I saw from him. He is a big bodied guy, reminds me some of
Bartolo Colon in his delivery.
He can pitch up in the zone with his cutter. His curve ball doesn’t break like it used to but its still effective in changing speeds.
I think Suarez will be back with the O’s sooner than later.
I’m expecting Povich gets recalled to start tomorrow and Foster goes down. Big AL likely gets a call up shortly after depending on Kremer’s timeline. I think Brandon Young is a candidate to go down after today’s blow up.