{"id":630751,"date":"2026-03-18T22:30:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/630751\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:30:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:30:47","slug":"albert-suarez-has-opt-out-in-deal-with-orioles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/630751\/","title":{"rendered":"Albert Su\u00e1rez Has Opt-Out In Deal With Orioles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Right-hander Albert Su\u00e1rez<\/a> is in camp with the Orioles on a minor league deal. He can opt out of that pact at the end of spring training if not added to the roster, reports Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner<\/a>. Kostka adds that teams are keeping tabs on Su\u00e1rez and his status as that opt-out decision approaches.<\/p>\n

Su\u00e1rez, 36, spent 2019 to 2023 putting up good numbers in Japan and Korea. He returned to Major League Baseball in 2024 by signing with the Orioles and went on to have his best big league season to date. He gave the O\u2019s 133 2\/3 innings in a swing role, making 24 starts and eight relief appearances. He allowed 3.70 earned runs per nine with a 19.1% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t able to repeat that performance last year. He was beset by a subscapularis strain and a mild flexor strain, only making five appearances on the year. He was non-tendered at season\u2019s end and re-signed to a minor league deal. He has a 7.59 ERA in a small sample of four appearances in Grapefruit League play this spring.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t appear as though he has a great path to a roster spot with the Orioles right now. They currently have a rotation consisting of Trevor Rogers<\/a>, Kyle Bradish<\/a>, Shane Baz<\/a>, Chris Bassitt<\/a>, Zach Eflin<\/a> and Dean Kremer<\/a>. They could option Kremer but it feels a bit unlikely since he\u2019s been in the rotation for most of the past five years.<\/p>\n

Assuming those six guys are on the roster, that leaves rooms for seven more pitchers, given the roster limit of 13 arms. Ryan Helsley<\/a>, Keegan Akin<\/a>, Dietrich Enns<\/a> and Rico Garcia<\/a> can\u2019t be optioned. Yennier Cano<\/a> and Tyler Wells<\/a> have optioned but Kostka describes them as locks for the roster. Kostka also suggests Grant Wolfram<\/a> is likely to get a spot as well.<\/p>\n

That would be seven and would result in Jackson Kowar<\/a>, who is out of options, getting squeezed out. Kowar has big velocity but hasn\u2019t translated that into strong results yet. He has an 8.21 ERA in 91 big league innings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible one spot could be opened if Eflin requires a stint on the injured list, though he seems to be trending towards avoiding the IL. If one spot does open up, Kostka suggests that it could go to Kowar or Su\u00e1rez, though he also lists Jos\u00e9 Espada<\/a> and Yaramil Hiraldo<\/a> as possibilities. Those latter two guys have options and pretty limited big league experience. If the O\u2019s want to maintain some depth, they could option them while using a spot to either select Su\u00e1rez or keep Kowar.<\/p>\n

With less than a week left in camp, decisions will need to be made soon, unless Eflin\u2019s progress slows down or someone else gets hurt. Depending on how things play out in the coming days, it\u2019s possible both Su\u00e1rez and Kowar end up available to other clubs, Su\u00e1rez via his opt-out and Kowar via waivers.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Right-hander Albert Su\u00e1rez is in camp with the Orioles on a minor league deal. He can opt out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[1080,5,7983,36364,15585,96],"class_list":["post-630751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-baseball","tag-albert-suarez","tag-baseball","tag-jackson-kowar","tag-jose-espada","tag-yaramil-hiraldo","tag-zach-eflin"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116252552938961555","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630751\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}