Roughly two weeks to go until spring training, and the Baltimore Orioles shook up the baseball world with a blockbuster trade Thursday evening to shore up their pitching rotation for 2024.
Baltimore has landed former Cy Young winning pitcher Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for infielder Joey Ortiz, LHP DL Hall, and the 34th pick in the upcoming 2024 MLB Draft.
Only days after announcing that the team would see a new ownership group assume control of the team (pending MLB owners approval), Baltimore made their first big splash of the offseason. With questions surrounding their starting rotation, Orioles GM Mike Elias made the move to acquire the 2021 Cy Young winner to help ensure that last year’s 101 win campaign wasn’t just a flash in the pan.
Corbin recorded a 10-8 record, 3.39 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and posted 200 Ks across 193.2 IP in 2023. The third such time he’s eclipsed the 200 strikeout mark in as many years. While those numbers dipped from his standout 2022 and 2021 campaigns, Burnes was still selected for the All-Star game, and finished 8th in Cy Young voting while helping his team reach the postseason for the 5th time in 6 years.
Most impressive about the deal from a Baltimore perspective is the fact that they didn’t have to part with any of their top 5 prospects in order to get a deal across the finish line with Milwaukee.
The reigning NL Central champions had been fielding trade offers for Burnes for much of the offseason, but ultimately opted to pull the trigger on a deal prior to the season in an effort to integrate the returning pieces into their lineup. Entering the final season of his contract before becoming an UFA at season’s end, many believed that Milwaukee wasn’t interested in paying the premium dollar figure it would take to retain the 6’3″ righty’s services on the open market. As such, ensuring that they acquired a package of young, financially friendly assets, took on added importance for the Brewers front office.
Headed back to Milwaukee is shortstop Joey Ortiz who appeared in 15 games for Baltimore in 2023 recording a .212 avg, with 0 HRs, 4 RBIs, 4 runs, 0 SB, 0 BB, and 9 Ks. The soon to be 26 year old is currently ranked as the 63rd best prospect in baseball according to MLB.com, however would have been hard pressed to find regular playing time in the Orioles’ stacked lineup.
DL Hall is a former 1st round pick from 2021 who recorded 23 strikeouts in 19.1 IP, while posting a 3-0 record, 3.26 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in limited action for Baltimore in 2023. The 6’2″ lefty bring a good mix of pitches to the mound, but it’s currently unclear whether Milwaukee plans to use him as a starter or keep him in the bullpen for his inaugural campaign in Wisconsin.
While Brewers fans can’t be overly thrilled to lose their ace for what amounts to mid-tier prospects from the loaded Orioles farm system, the fact of the matter is that the club was unlikely to re-sign Burnes, and was looking to acquire “MLB ready” players to keep their window to compete open.
GM Matt Arnold insinuated as much when he told reporters “Any time you trade a guy like Corbin, it’s always a difficult decision. I think the overarching theme here is that we’re excited about the players we’re getting back. And the reality of our situation is that we had one year left with Corbin. I think Corbin had been pretty public about how this was going to be his last year as a Brewer.”
With the NL Central as wide open as it’s ever been, the Brew Crew hopes that their newest additions, coupled with veteran additions such as Rhys Hoskins, can keep them atop the divisional standings heading into the fall.
And as we saw last year with Arizona, all you have to do to give yourself a shot at a World Series title is punch your ticket to the postseason. From there, anything is possible.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Ian D’Andrea. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.