Two Orioles Starters Will Be 'Highly Coveted' On Trade Market This Summer

The disastrous start to the season for the Baltimore Orioles has continued with seemingly no end in sight.

So far this year, the Orioles have easily been the biggest disappointment in baseball after making the playoffs last campaign.

In the span of one season, Baltimore went from contending for the American League East crown to being one of the worst teams in baseball.

Now, even though the franchise likely thought they were going to be creating something special, they might have to alter those plans.

Even though they would have been slated to be buyers in previous years, that isn’t likely going to be the case in 2025. With some notable free agents at the end of the campaign, being a seller and stocking up on prospects is likely going to make the most sense.

Does Baltimore Have Desirable Assets?

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Orioles potentially having a bunch of players who could be good options to trade if the team ends up becoming sellers.

“The O's have nine impending free agents making north of $5M this season, including starting pitchers Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano, who would both be highly coveted on the open market.”

Even though the starting rotation has taken a lot of the blame for the struggles of the team, it hasn’t been all their fault, and they do have a couple of pitchers who would be valuable to a contender.

Both Zach Eflin and Tomoyuki Sugano would be two of the top potential pitchers available this summer, with both performing well in 2025. While Eflin has missed most of the season so far, he is fairly proven in the league at this point as a solid starter.

Furthermore, Sugano has been very impressive in his first year, coming over from Japan. The 35-year-old rookie has been arguably the best pitcher for Baltimore this campaign.

With pitching always coming at a premium at the trade deadline, the Orioles moving these two could quickly bring back some prospects to help restock their farm system.

While there is still time to turn things around for Baltimore, the reality is that they will more than likely not be a contender this season. If that ends up being the case come July, trading assets that’s are going to be free agents makes a lot of sense.

Even though it has been a highly disappointing campaign so far, the organization must be smart and try to retool as quickly as possible. There is still a lot of talent on the team, and a 2026 turnaround is certainly possible.