Baltimore Orioles Hoping They Get Back Major Reinforcements Mid-Year

Two key pieces of the Baltimore Orioles rotation could be coming back at the midpoint of the year.

May 2, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Kyle Bradish (38) delivers a first inning pitch against the New York Yankees at Oriole Park at Camden Yards / James A. Pittman-Imagn Images

The majority of attention on the Baltimore Orioles right now is surrounding if they'll acquire an ace.

It's the one thing missing from this team after Corbin Burnes decided to stay in his home state by shocking everyone and signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Last year, the Orioles never got to see their rotation as they had envisioned.

After just eight starts, Kyle Bradish underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery. The same happened for Tyler Wells after his third start. John Means had the second Tommy John surgery of his career after making four starts.

That left Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez and multiple other arms who were used throughout the campaign.

But, Baltimore still was in thick of the division race ahead of the trade deadline despite their rash of injuries, and the front office made two aggressive moves to bring in rotation help.

One worked out in Zach Eflin, while one, Trevor Rogers, turned out to be a flop.

However, both are expected to contribute this year with Eflin slotted into the No. 1 or No. 2 role depending on how Brandon Hyde wants to deploy things at the start of the season.

The Orioles are confident in this group, especially after signing Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano, but there's no doubt they look worse on paper than they did at this time last year.

Landing Luis Castillo or Dylan Cease would certainly change the outlook of the rotation, but perhaps there's a reason why Baltimore hasn't aggressively jumped over making a trade for one of these two high-end starters.

"This unit has some depth and hopes to get Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells back around mid-year," writes Steve Melweski of MASN.

Getting back either of them at the midpoint would be welcome.

Getting both back would be huge.

If they are able to return in the summer, Baltimore would be getting back two of their best arms, something that would be like a deadline deal without them having to give up assets.

Of course, getting to that point with them still in the playoff race is what they're weighing.

Making a trade for an ace right now would position the Orioles to be in the division race, but they also could be comfortable standing pat and seeing what their current group can do while they continue to monitor the rehabs of Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells.

Time will tell what the front office decides to do, but with the potential for this duo to return mid-year, there might not be a huge rush to give up assets for another arm.