Yankees urged to trade for $18 million Opening Day starter from AL East rival

For the first-place New York Yankees, starting pitching still appears to be the biggest question mark.

Max Fried has been every bit the ace the Yankees could have hoped he'd be, while Carlos Rodón is on a roll in his last three starts. But at the back end of the rotation, injuries have forced the Yankees to depend on rookie Will Warren and 38-year-old Carlos Carrasco.

It's still early in the season, so the Yankees can allow Warren a bit more runway and wait for Marcus Stroman and Luis Gil to get healthy before making decisions. But by the trade deadline, it's likely they'll still want to make moves.

Before the season, the Baltimore Orioles might have been the last team in the division the Yankees thought would drop out of the race. But even after taking two of three from New York earlier this week, the Orioles sit in last place at 12-18.

On Thursday, Kade Kistner of Yankees on SI theorized that the Orioles could actually help the Yankees out via trade if they're out of the race by July. Kistner named Orioles Opening Day starer Zach Eflin as a possible trade candidate for the Yankees.

"An interdivisional trade is rare, but Eflin is in the final year of a three-year, $40 million deal. Moving him is the logical decision for the Orioles and is likely to happen," Kistner wrote.

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"Eflin, before going on the (injured list), posted a 3.00 ERA in 18.0 innings pitched with a 0.833 WHIP. A veteran presence and someone with plenty of postseason experience, he would also make for a nice addition to New York's rotation."

Eflin, 31, was fantastic for the Orioles after the trade deadline last year, when he was involved in another intra-division trade from the Tampa Bay Rays. Since the start of 2023, Eflin has a 3.52 ERA and 328 strikeouts in 361 innings pitched.

The Yankees will be looking for stability above all else, and assuming Eflin proves his back injury is a thing of the past months before the deadline, he could be the valuable innings-eater this New York squad needs.

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