Zach Eflin injury sparks Orioles roster move but Opening Day do-over is inevitable

With Zach Eflin hitting the 15-day IL, the Baltimore Orioles used the corresponding roster move to call up Albert Suarez. Suarez was an important part of the Orioles' 2024 season but missed most of last year with an injury. On its face, this seemed like an odd move, because Suarez was not the last starter to be cut from spring training; that distinction went to Dean Kremer.

However, Suarez as the corresponding move for Eflin makes sense because the Orioles are in more immediate need of a swingman-style pitcher who can come out of the bullpen and give the rest of the group the night off. As evident in Wednesday's victory over the Rangers, Suarez was the first pitcher out of the bullpen in relief of starter Trevor Rogers. He pitched three innings of one-run ball and finished the game.

Albert Suarez showed why the Orioles were right to call him up, but now the Orioles have to deal with the consequences of doing so

There are a few consequences to the Orioles calling up Suarez, though. One is that in order to make room for him on the roster, they had to move Jordan Westburg to the 60-day IL. Now, the earliest Westburg can return to action is May 21st. Westburg's injury timeline is a bit fuzzy, with Craig Albernaz's most recent update being "he's swingingish".

The other impact of the Suarez call-up is that Kremer will have to wait a little longer to join the team. Because Kremer was optioned and didn't start the season with the team, he cannot be called up until April 9th. The only exception to that rule is in the case of an injury, like what happened to Eflin. Now that Suarez is the corresponding move to Eflin hitting the IL, Kremer is still not eligible to be called up unless there is another injury.

Eflin's spot in the rotation is going to come up before Kremer can be called up. So, unless another pitcher actually gets injured or the Orioles decide to get a little shady with their injury designations, the Orioles are going to have to figure out how to fill that spot without Kremer.

Rogers could pitch in Eflin's spot initially because he's getting the off day between series to rest, so he'd be on normal rest, but then the Orioles would have to pitch Bradish and Baz both on short rest before Kremer could be called up. With it being so early in the season, the Orioles are unlikely to push their guys like this.

The most likely solution is a bullpen game where Suarez, Wells, and maybe Anthony Nunez each pitch 2-3 innings to get through the game. For that to be realistic, they'd each need to be off the two days before, so that puts extra strain on the bullpen.

Eflin's injury, coming so early in the season, leaves the Orioles scrambling a little bit. If it had come a week later, much of this drama could have been avoided by an immediate Kremer call-up, but that just wasn't in the cards at the moment. Nevertheless, the Orioles will do what they have to do to cover Eflin's start, and then they will be inevitably reunited with Kremer again, effectively ending any drama surrounding his exclusion from the opening day roster.