There haven\u2019t been many more teams around Major League Baseball as disappointing as the Baltimore Orioles.<\/p>\n
The Orioles are in last place in the American League East at 36-47, sitting 12.0 games behind in the loaded division.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s about a 0% chance that the Orioles will win the division, barring anything drastic changing.<\/p>\n
With that in mind, the Atlanta Braves might have an opportunity to land one of their top players in the form of Zach Eflin, whom CBS Sports recently pitched the idea of them trading for. They named them one of three potential landing spots.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s intriguing to think about what the right-hander could bring to Atlanta.<\/p>\n
\u201cEflin\u2019s bloated ERA is the product of an inflated home-run rate, one that isn\u2019t necessarily reflected in his ball-tracking data. He\u2019s allowing harder contact than last year, to be certain, but he\u2019s closer to the league-average mark than not in that respect. More concerning is that both his cutter and curveball have lost effectiveness as swing-and-miss offerings, causing his strikeout rate to drop to its lowest mark since 2017. It\u2019s to be seen if the Orioles sell; if they do, he\u2019s an impending free agent whose best work this season could lie ahead. Potential landing spots: Padres, Braves, Twins,\u201d CBS wrote.<\/em><\/p>\n Where Do the Braves Stand Ahead of the Trade Deadline?<\/strong><\/p>\n Some have questioned whether the Atlanta Braves will buy or sell at the deadline. Eflin has a 5.95 ERA and hits free agency at the end of the year, so there\u2019s reason to believe he might not be too expensive.<\/p>\n Even if the Braves want to buy some and sell a bit, Eflin could be a decent option to pursue.<\/p>\n Mark Feinsand of MLB.com brought up some good points recently.<\/p>\n He noted that the Braves have been here before, and if there\u2019s one team not to count out, it might be them.<\/p>\n If the Braves are thinking the same way that Feinsand is, they\u2019ll likely be buyers.<\/p>\n \u201cThree years ago, the Braves were seven games behind the Mets with 50 games remaining on the schedule. Atlanta went 35-15 (.700) down the stretch to capture the NL East title.<\/p>\n The year before that, Atlanta never broke the .500 mark during the first half of the season, finally getting its head above water for the first time on Aug. 6. The Braves went 33-18 (.647) in their final 51 contests, winning the division by 6 1\/2 games before rolling through October en route to the 2021 World Series title.<\/p>\n \u201cThese experiences in the not-too-distant past will certainly be at the top of president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos\u2019 mind as he navigates his way toward the Trade Deadline,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n Will the Orioles Look to Sell?<\/strong><\/p>\n In order for the Atlanta Braves to have an opportunity to trade for Eflin, they\u2019ll need the Baltimore Orioles to sell. When speaking about what their plans might be, Orioles general manager Mike Elias noted that he doesn\u2019t have anything in mind yet.<\/p>\n The Orioles are about as good as done in the American League, but it\u2019s possible that things could change over the next month. They have a very talented team and are 7.0 games out in the Wild Card race, and could lower that deficit if things go as expected when entering the year.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t have an exact day in mind, but we\u2019ll use our tools and judgment to decide when that might be. But for now, we\u2019re hoping to keep playing well, keep racking up wins, staying within an arm\u2019s reach of the Wild Card race in the meantime, but we will have to make a reasonable determination at some point in the next several weeks,\u201d he said, per MLB.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There haven\u2019t been many more teams around Major League Baseball as disappointing as the Baltimore Orioles. The Orioles are in last place in the American League East… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65555,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n