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Eflin will receive a $2 million buyout on the $25 million mutual option. He underwent Tommy John surgery in April and is hoping to be ready in the early part of next season. He’s indicated that he’d like to stay with Baltimore.

Eflin left his start on March 31st with an injury and then underwent Tommy John surgery on April 8th. Eflin said, “Probably ever since about four or five weeks after surgery, I felt really, really good. I’ve reached all the milestones that I needed to.” He is going to start throwing in the next week or two, which should allow him to be ready close to the start of the season. The usual recovery timeline for Tommy John surgery is about a calendar year, which means Eflin could be ready to go in April of 2027, but it remains to be seen where he will pitch since it’s unlikely the Orioles will pick up his $25 million mutual option.

The procedure, performed by Dr. Keith Meister, will sideline Eflin until at least the early stages of the 2027 season. The 32-year-old veteran suffered the injury during his season debut last week, and it marks the first reconstructive surgery of his career. His absence is a significant hit to Baltimore’s rotation depth and likely means that one of Dean Kremer, Cade Povich or Brandon Young will have to step into a more prominent role this season.

There is still no set timeline on Eflin’s return from right elbow discomfort, and he’s getting a second opinion this week. This move means the earliest he could return is at the beginning of June.

Eflin is flying to Texas to see Dr. Keith Meister, which would seem to indicate that he did not exactly love the first opinion medical professionals offered him. We would be surprised if Eflin wasn’t out for a majority of the year based on this update, even if he has avoided a UCL tear and instead has something (relatively) more minor.

The 31-year-old left last night’s game in the fourth inning. As of now, we have no further information on the extent of the injury, and the Orioles are awaiting imaging results. However, fantasy managers should expect a long absence, which is a bummer for a pitcher who seemed primed to have a bounce-back season. Albert Suarez was called up to take Eflin’s place in the rotation.

Not good. Eflin is presumably headed for an MRI to determine whether he’s dealing with any structural damage and appears ticketed for the injured list, even if this isn’t a worst-case scenario. The 31-year-old veteran hurler looked sharp in his season debut, recording seven strikeouts while limiting the Rangers to just one run on four hits over 3 2/3 innings. There should be a definitive update on his status at some point in the coming days. Dean Kremer would be the logical choice to fill Eflin’s spot in Baltimore’s rotation.

Not a great sign. It’s a bit unclear what transpired that caused Eflin to depart with two outs in the fourth inning after allowing one run on four hits. He finished with seven strikeouts and issued a pair of walks, throwing 74 pitches (44 strikes) in his season debut. The hope is that he isn’t dealing with a flare up of the back issues that plagued him last year. There should be an update from the club on his status shortly.

Eflin allowed just one baserunner in the contest, a two-out double to Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the fifth inning. He retired the first 14 hitters that he faced in order, then punched out Ryan McMahon after Chisholm’s double to put an exclamation point on his evening. Eflin generated 11 swings and misses on 70 pitches on the evening, posting a solid CSW of 31 percent. He has been about as good as possible through his two spring starts, hurling 7 1/3 scoreless innings with a 10/1 K/BB ratio.

Technically, it was a faulty tarpaulin that led to water flooding the field at Ed Smith Stadium as the contest was unable to continue due to field conditions following a rain delay. Eflin was off to a nice start with four strikeouts on 32 pitches (22 strikes) over two scoreless innings before a downpour ended his night. He’ll presumably get some work in on a side session to continue building up his pitch count. He’ll open the season at the back-end of Baltimore’s new-look rotation.

Eflin’s velocities today were up across the board from last year but especially so on his secondary pitches; his sweeper was up 1.5 mph from last year and his cutter was 1.8 mph better. That seems really promising in his first outing since back surgery. We weren’t looking at Eflin as a mixed-league guy this year, but if this holds up, he might help as an end-game pick,

He is “having a normal camp” per MASN’s Roch Kubatko. Eflin isn’t going to be high on draft boards, but he’s in a good enough situation in Baltimore to be a worthwhile AL-only league flier or a streamer in 12-team leagues if he makes it through Spring Training healthy.

If all goes well, Eflin could be part of the season-opening rotation, but it’s also possible he’ll start off on the injured list. Eflin re-signed with the Orioles on Sunday after becoming a free agent at season’s end. He’s guaranteed $10 million next season, with a chance to earn up to an additional $5 million if he proves healthy.

According to FanSided’s Robert Murray, Eflin gets a $3 million signing bonus, a $5 million salary and a $2 million buyout on a $25 million mutual option for 2027. The price of both the option and the buyout will increase by $1 million with 15 starts next year, an additional $1.5 million with 20 starts and then another $2.5 million with 25 starts. So, a healthy 2026 spent in the rotation would guarantee him $15 million in all. After two healthy and productive seasons in 2023 and ’24, Eflin had a 5.93 ERA and a 50/13 K/BB in 71 1/3 innings last season. The 31-year-old is expected to be ready in the spring following back surgery in August.

Eflin, who was 26-17 with a 3.54 ERA between 2023 and ’24, is coming off a rough 2025 (6-5, 5.93 ERA in 14 stars) that included season-ending back surgery in August. Maybe he’ll rebound, but he seems more like a depth starter than a potential No. 2 or No. 3 at this point. As things stand now, he’s set to join a rotation that includes Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Shane Baz and Dean Kremer. That wouldn’t leave any room for Tyler Wells or Cade Povich, assuming that everyone is healthy.