Inside The Orioles

Orioles Predicted to Trade Pair of Stars to Padres At Next Week's Trade Deadline

The Baltimore Orioles are expected to trade some of their expendable stars at the deadline, the San Diego Padres make sense for a couple of them.
Dylan Sanders|
May 24, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; San Diego Padres hats in the dugout during the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park.
May 24, 2023; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; San Diego Padres hats in the dugout during the game against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. | Brad Mills-Imagn Images

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Baltimore OriolesSan Diego Padres

The Baltimore Orioles have not been able to overcome their incredibly slow start to the 2025 campaign and are indeed expected to sell off a few pieces at next week's MLB trade deadline.

CBS Sports analyst Mike Axisa predicts that the Orioles will be able to find a trade partner for two players at once with the San Diego Padres. In particular, Axisa stated that the Padres would trade for both Baltimore outfielder Cedric Mullins and starting pitcher Zach Eflin.

Mullins will have plenty of trade value at the deadline, even if his play has started to drop since the start of the year.

More News: NL East Contender Named Best Trade Spot for Orioles Star Cedric Mullins

The 30-year-old has posted a .218/.300/.405 slash line with 13 home runs and 42 RBI with 14 stolen bases. He was making pace for his second career 30/30 campaign, but that has since slowed down.

At his absolute worst, Mullins can flash power at any given moment and actually hits southpaws fairly well for a lefty.

San Diego needs another starting outfielder and Mullins should be able to provide a high-potential bat for the postseason.

Padres starting pitchers not named Nick Pivetta have been struggling over the past few months. Positive momentum wouldn't be the best word to attach to Eflin, but the potential is there if he can get back on track.

Just last year, the Orioles traded for Eflin at the deadline after a mediocre start to the year and he provided a 2.60 ERA in the second half.

That would be perfect production for San Diego, but the hill to climb back is much steeper this time around.

More News: Samuel Basallo Will Be Top Prospect To Watch for Orioles in Second Half

Eflin has posted a 5.95 ERA over 12 starts with a 1.435 WHIP and 42 strikeouts in 62 innings. He also hasn't pitched in the Majors since the end of June, but is already working his way through his rehab starts to get back.

In this predicted trade, Baltimore would be receiving a prospect haul of Boston Bateman, Humberto Cruz and Kash Mayfield from San Diego. While the Orioles wouldn't be getting a star prospect in return, it's still a fair asking price for who they are giving up.

That is a trio of pitching prospects that are a few years away from the Majors, but could be the potential future core of the rotation in Baltimore.

More News: Orioles Predicted To Trade Most MLB Players at Trade Deadline

Mayfield is the oldest of the group at 20, and he was a first-round pick during last year's MLB draft. Bateman was their second-round pick in the same class.

For more Orioles news, head over to Orioles On SI.

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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