Right-hander Zach Eflin was listed in a batch of new free agents in a press release from the MLB Players Association. That indicates that Eflin’s 2027 mutual option was turned down, either by himself or the Orioles.
It’s not a surprising development. It has been over a decade since a mutual option was picked up by both sides. They are mostly used as accounting measures. Putting a buyout on a mutual option allows a club to defer some of the player’s payment to the end of the season, as opposed to be being paid out during the campaign as salary.
The O’s re-signed Eflin last winter to a one-year deal with a $10MM guarantee. That was broken down as a $3MM signing bonus, $5MM salary and $2MM buyout on a huge $25MM mutual option. The fact that the mutual option price was more than twice the guarantee illustrates that it was never really intended to be picked up. It just allowed the O’s to delay paying the final $2MM until this week.
Eflin had some incentives baked into the buyout price. If he had made 15 starts, he would have added $1MM, then $1.5MM more at 20 starts and an additional $2.5MM at 25 starts. Those escalators quickly became moot. Eflin was pulled in the fourth inning of his first start of the season with elbow discomfort. He underwent Tommy John surgery in early April. He spent the remainder of the season on the 60-day injured list.
With the contract structure and Eflin’s surgery, it has been clear for a long time that he would end up back on the open market at season’s end. Earlier this month, he said he is open to returning to the O’s. Baltimore could use some rotation help but Eflin will likely be rehabbing into the middle of the 2027 season, so he won’t be their first choice. They will pursue other arms in the coming weeks and months.
A reunion with Eflin could still make sense if the O’s have the payroll for it. He wouldn’t help them at the start of the season but could potentially be a midseason reinforcement if his rehab goes smoothly. If it’s not with the Orioles, Eflin will get interest elsewhere, though his earning power won’t be huge. He only made 14 starts in 2025 with a 5.93 earned run average, having his season shortened by back surgery. He was healthy going into 2026 and his larger track record was enough to get him a $10MM deal with the O’s.
He is now recovering from a more serious procedure and will turn 33 in April. He will still get interest based on his body of work. From 2018 to 2024, he threw 874 2/3 innings with a 3.92 ERA. But even during that run, he was fairly injury prone. Now that he’s coming off two mostly marred seasons and will miss a chunk of 2027 as well, he might have to settle for a deal with a low guarantee, perhaps with many incentives.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
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