Orioles' chances of landing top starter take big hit with Cubs' Justin Steele injury

Orioles fans are well aware that the starting rotation is a problem right now. With the trio of Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, and Kyle Bradish all unavailable, the O's are relying on back-end starters to carry the lion's share of the workload. Unfortunately, that's going about as well as you'd expect.

Most of us are running under the assumption that the Orioles have to do something, and sooner than later. The O's can't afford to fall too far behind in the AL East, especially not this early. They're already sitting in 5th place in the division and the idea of waiting for their trio of starters to get healthy isn't going to cut it. This team needs an upgrade, and it needs one quickly if the O's want to remain competitive this year.

Unfortunately for Baltimore, their chances of landing a top-tier starting pitcher just took a serious hit. Cubs' ace Justin Steele suffered an elbow injury recently and after further evaluation, it's been reported that he'll need to undergo surgery to fix the ligament damage. We won't know whether Steele has to get the standard Tommy John surgery or if he'll be eligible for the internal brace until after the surgery takes place. Either way, he'll be out for the rest of 2025, and will likely start 2026 on the IL as well.

Cubs losing Justin Steele to Tommy John surgery is bad news for the Orioles

The injury is obviously bad news for Steele, whose prior two years had put him in a financially advantageous spot heading into his first year of arbitration. It's even more frustrating for the Cubs, who have been notoriously inept with pitching development. Steele is one of their few pitching development wins and their rotation will be woefully worse without him.

Chicago has gotten off to a hot start in 2025 but the absence of Steele is a major hit to their ambitions to win a competitive NL Central. It's highly likely that Jed Hoyer and the rest of his front office will be actively seeking a replacement in the trade market as we work our way through the next two months.

Having the Cubs in the market for a top starting pitcher is bad news for the Orioles, who should theoretically be vying for the same type of player this summer. The Cubs have a stacked farm system and have shown a willingness to be active in trades. The Orioles have made a couple of moves themselves, including adding Corbin Burnes last winter in a significant deal. However, Mike Elias has been a bit more gun-shy when adding talent at mid-season.

Elias made a couple deals last summer but none were to acquire a top of the market arm. It's possible that both Eflin and Rodriguez get good news with their respective injury statuses over the next 7-10 days and all this cajoling winds up being blown out of proportion. But the more likely outcome seems to be that the Orioles will need to add a big rotation piece if they want to stay in the postseason hunt this year. Trading for a top starter was going to be difficult in the first place. Now that they've got the Cubs to compete with, Elias has his work cut out for him if he wants to make a move.