{"id":81520,"date":"2024-07-28T12:15:09","date_gmt":"2024-07-28T16:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=81520"},"modified":"2024-07-28T12:15:09","modified_gmt":"2024-07-28T16:15:09","slug":"orioles-activate-zach-eflin-after-trade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/28\/orioles-activate-zach-eflin-after-trade\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Bolster Rotation: Key Addition Activated Amid Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the Baltimore Orioles look to avoid a series sweep, they will activate their newest acquisition, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/eflinza01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zach Eflin<\/a>. One of the best teams in the American League, the Orioles are not playing like a legitimate World Series contender. Between defensive miscues, mistakes on the mound, and a struggling offense, Baltimore is scuffling in just about every facet of the game. The Orioles activate Eflin as they look to avoid being swept at home for the first time since 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">We have made the following roster moves: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N3W2VVGGsi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/N3W2VVGGsi<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Orioles\/status\/1817564542240501928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 28, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A former divisional rival, Eflin was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/26\/orioles-trade-for-zach-eflin-rays\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">acquired in a trade<\/a> with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday. Finishing sixth in American League Cy Young voting in 2023, Eflin has a 4.09 ERA through 19 starts this season. A nine-year veteran, the 30-year-old righty owns a 4.26 ERA in 177 career games (165 starts). He posted a 3.38 ERA over 10 relief appearances during the Philadelphia Phillies&#8217; World Series run in 2022. Eflin also drew the start for Tampa Bay in Game 2 of the AL Wild Card Series last season.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Orioles Activate Newly Acquired Starter Zach Eflin<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only does Eflin bolster the Orioles rotation this season, but the righty is also under contract through the end of 2025. Considering the uncertain timelines for starters <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bradiky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Bradish<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/meansjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">John Means<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=wellsty01,wells-006tyl,wells-004tyl&amp;search=Tyler+Wells&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Wells<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> following <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/06\/19\/orioles-kyle-bradish-tommy-john-surgery\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">season-ending elbow surgeries<\/a>, he should provide a much-needed boost. Eflin will join ace <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/burneco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Corbin Burnes<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodrigr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Grayson Rodriguez<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> atop the Orioles rotation. He will wear the No. 24 and is expected to make his Orioles debut against the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday. In a corresponding move, reliever <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bakerbr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bryan Baker<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> was optioned to Triple-A Norfolk.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baltimore has lost 10 of their last 14 games and 12 of 18. The Orioles are 8-12 in July and lead the New York Yankees by one game in the AL East. In addition to Eflin, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/07\/26\/orioles-trade-austin-hays\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Orioles have also acquired<\/a> reliever <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dominse01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and outfielder <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/pachecr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-28_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cristian Pache<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from the Phillies. With Tuesday&#8217;s trade deadline approaching, Baltimore is far from done as they look to end their 40-year World Series drought.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSuper excited. I\u2019ve heard nothing but incredible things about this locker room,\u201d Eflin said about joining the Orioles. \u201cYou see the youth, how much the guys care about each other, how hard they play \u2014\u00a0 it\u2019s something we\u2019ve always admired in Tampa.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Photo Credit: \u00a9 Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Baltimore Orioles look to avoid a series sweep, they will activate their newest acquisition, Zach Eflin. One of the best teams in the American League, the Orioles are not playing like a legitimate World Series contender. Between defensive miscues, mistakes on the mound, and a struggling offense, Baltimore is scuffling in just about [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4975,"featured_media":81530,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1071,35],"tags":[2231,1937,2030,2544,3251,268,5885,566,6077],"class_list":["post-81520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orioles","category-mlb","category-news","tag-corbin-burnes","tag-cristian-pache","tag-grayson-rodriguez","tag-john-means","tag-kyle-bradish","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-seranthony-dominguez","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-zach-eflin"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4975"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81520\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}