Orioles righty Albert Suarez’s season ended with an elbow injury, and the 36-year-old underwent an MRI earlier this week to determine whether there was any structural damage that would necessitate surgery. The team announced to its beat that Suarez has been diagnosed with a “mild” strain of the flexor tendon in his right forearm (via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). The expectation is that he’ll be cleared to begin a throwing program within the next several weeks.
It’s a sigh of relief for both Orioles and Suarez, who seems like he’ll avoid surgery barring any notable setbacks once he begins that throwing progression. A shoulder strain limited him to just 11 2/3 innings this season, but Suarez was an out-of-the-blue key contributor for the 2024 Orioles, tossing 133 2/3 innings with a 3.70 ERA between the rotation and bullpen. That marked his first big league action since 2017; Suarez spent the 2019-23 seasons pitching in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball and in the Korea Baseball Organization — throwing quite well in each league.
Suarez’s success overseas piqued the Orioles’ interest enough to bring him aboard as a minor league signee at age 34 in the 2023-24 offseason. He’s since given the team a total of 145 1/3 innings with a 3.59 ERA, 19.4% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. The Orioles figure to be on the hunt for ways to bolster a rotation that right now includes Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish and Dean Kremer at the very least. Righty Tyler Wells looked sharp in four late starts this season after returning from Tommy John surgery. Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez is in the mix, too, though he didn’t pitch in 2025 after undergoing an elbow debridement procedure. Right-hander Brandon Young and former top prospects Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott could factor into the rotation as well.
The top trio of Bradish (who, like Wells, returned from Tommy John surgery this season), the steadily reliable Kremer and the revitalized Rogers makes for a solid top three. Between Wells, Rodriguez, Povich, McDermott, Young and Suarez, the O’s have some decent depth, but most of that group has had some recent health concerns and/or struggles in the majors.
Suarez is the only one of that bunch who doesn’t have minor league options remaining, however, making him a strong favorite to open the 2026 season in a swing capacity — health permitting. Baltimore controls him for another three seasons, and he’ll be arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected a $900K salary for the right-hander.
Baltimore is expected to be active in both the free agent and trade markets this offseason. President of baseball operations Mike Elias told MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald in last week’s podcast appearance that the Orioles “don’t want to take that off the table, by any means” when asked about his club’s willingness to invest multiple years in a free agent starting pitcher.
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