The Orioles and Atlanta are two of the clubs that are interested in free agent right-hander Nathan Eovaldi, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network (X link). The interest from Atlanta was previously reported.
Eovaldi, 35 in February, is a plausible fit for many clubs in the league. Given his age and injury history, he won’t be able to secure a long-term commitment. But since he’s been a consistently strong performer in recent years, he should still be in demand. MLBTR predicted him for a $44MM guarantee on a two-year deal as part of the annual Top 50 Free Agents post. Perhaps he could get a third year, but he’s not really out of any club’s price range.
Whoever signs Eovaldi will be getting a player with a checkered health history, as he’s undergone two Tommy John surgeries in his career. Many players with that distinction have struggled to continue performing at a high level but Eovaldi has been quite steady of late.
He missed the 2017 season while recovering from that second surgery, was good in 2018 but wobbled a bit in 2019. But he’s made 115 starts over the past five years with a 3.75 earned run average. He didn’t finish any of those seasons with an ERA higher than 3.87. His strikeout rate finished between 22.4% and 26.1% in those campaigns, his walk rate between 3.5% and 8.1%, and his grounder rate between 42% and 51%. Overall, it’s been 654 2/3 innings with a 24% strikeout rate, 5.6% walk rate and 46.9% ground ball rate.
That kind of performance would upgrade just about any rotation in baseball, so they each should have some level of interest, especially given the cap on Eovaldi’s earning power. The Rangers have interest in bringing him back but he’s also been connected to Atlanta, the Red Sox and now the Orioles. It seems fair to assume that several other clubs are also interested, even in the absence of explicit public reporting.
Baltimore is certainly a logical fit, given their rotation situation. Their 2024 ace Corbin Burnes is now a free agent. Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are each going to miss at least part of the 2025 season as they recover from UCL surgeries. Trade deadline acquisition Trevor Rogers struggled after being acquired and was quickly demoted to the minor leagues.
The current rotation nucleus consists of Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. Rogers could jump in there if he gets back on track next year. Albert Suárez just wrapped up a solid year in a swing role, but since he’s a 35-year-old journeyman, the O’s would probably prefer to add some arms and bump him back into that sixth or seventh starter slot. Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich made their major league debuts in 2024 but without fully cementing themselves as viable big leaguers.
In short, the club could certainly do with an upgrade or two. The big question for the O’s is what kind of approach they will take this winter. It’s been almost seven years since the Orioles have given out a multi-year deal to a free agent, as shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker. The last time they did so was a four-year deal for Alex Cobb back in March of 2018. After that, the club went into a lengthy rebuilding process and then was up for sale. David Rubenstein bought the club from the Angelos family, though that sale wasn’t complete until the spring of 2024.
That makes the O’s hard to predict this winter, as it will be the first offseason of the Rubenstein era. There are some signs that greater spending will be possible. The club took on some notable money at the deadline by acquiring Eflin and Seranthony Domínguez. Eflin is making $18MM in 2025 while Dominguez had an $8MM club option that the O’s eventually picked up. A couple of weeks ago, general manager Mike Elias said that “the whole spectrum” of pitching upgrades were being considered. He went on to thank ownership for making all possibilities viable but also cautioned that the O’s wouldn’t be spending money just for the sake of it.
Reading the tea leaves, it seems fair to expect something more aggressive than they’ve done in recent years, though that could come in many forms. Burnes is still available and is lined up to secure a deal well into nine-figure territory. He and Blake Snell were the top two names available but Snell has reportedly agreed to a five-year deal with the Dodgers, a guarantee of $182MM but with deferreals dropping the net present value into the $160-165MM range. Max Fried is also likely to end up with nine digits and Jack Flaherty has a chance to do so as well. The middle market has seen Yusei Kikuchi and Nick Martinez come off the board but it still features Eovaldi, Nick Pivetta, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and others.
RosterResource projects the Orioles for a modest $99MM payroll, with literally nothing on the books for 2026 and beyond. That payroll is already a bit higher than last year’s $93MM Opening Day figure from Cot’s Baseball Contracts, but as mentioned, it’s possible that the new ownership group is willing to push things further. It also wouldn’t be unprecedented for the franchise, as Cot’s had them as high as $164MM in 2017, before their fortunes fell and they spiralled into their aforementioned fallow period.
