Despite playing excellent baseball over the weekend, taking two of three against the division rival Milwaukee Brewers, the Chicago Cubs are in a strange position.
The pitching staff continues to be derailed by injuries, with Shota Imanaga now going down.
There's hope that Imanaga avoided a serious injury, but more will be known once images are taken on Monday. This is a concerning development as the Cubs need as much pitching as they can get after Justin Steele went down for the remainder of the year.
Searching for potential options if Imanaga is out for an extended period, the Cubs will likely have to make a trade.
According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, there might be an arm available they could be interested in, with Zach Eflin of the Baltimore Orioles potentially being on the market.
"If the Baltimore Orioles aren’t a contender by the All-Star break, teams will be pouncing on starter Zach Eflin, reliever Seranthony Dominguez and center fielder Cedric Mullins at the trade deadline," Nightengale wrote.
It'll be interesting to see how the Orioles continue to play throughout the year, but at 13-20 and already 5.5 games behind in the loaded American League East, sitting in last place, they can't feel too confident.
If Eflin becomes available, he'd be the perfect type of arm for the Cubs to pursue.
The team has needed a right-handed caliber ace over the past few seasons, and he'd be just that. He's been excellent during his time with the Orioles, after being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays last season.
Eflin is dealing with an injury at the moment, but he's expected to make a return sometime in the near future, and is hopeful to continue throwing at a 3.00 ERA level, just like he was prior to the injury.
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