Orioles close to acquiring Corbin Burnes (Update: Acquired for Joey Ortiz and DL Hall)

[Moose Milligan]

Three or four writers on The Athletic gave the Orioles an A for the trade.  That's great, but the writeups on Cease are absolutely glowing:

https://theathletic.com/5245961/2024/02/01/mlb-trade-grades-corbin-burnes-deal/

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Stephen J. Nesbitt: In one fell swoop, by landing the top starting pitcher on the trade market the Orioles have taken their rotation from middle of the pack to something approaching potent. The Orioles have been rewarded for their lengthy rebuild with a lineup packed with young talent — and more premium prospects on the way — but the missing piece of their puzzle was an ace. Burnes is every bit an ace. Don’t take it from me. Take it from the industry experts who voted him last spring as Gerrit Cole’s equal and a top-three starter in the sport.

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“Cerebral,” a scout said at the time. “Durable. Damn good. He’s got it all.”

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Will Sammon: Burnes is as dedicated to his job as any athlete I’ve been around. To bounce back from a dreadful 2019, he changed everything about his daily and weekly rituals while working with a mental strength coach. Ever since, his yearly production on the mound has been as routine as making a bed in the morning.

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On the mound, Burnes operates with a constant chip on his shoulder. At his job, he carries an arrogance with him, like many of the great players tend to do. Those who know him best suggest he’s ready to post a monster season ahead of free agency. The Orioles landed an ace, a former pillar of the Brewers’ consistent recent success.

Baltimore's gonna love him, as Baltimore loves a good chip on it's shoulder.

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Eno Sarris: This makes a ton of sense for the Orioles. It’s only one year of Burnes, but that’s a top-three starter in the league paired with two young top-20 starters, at least by my latest rankings. They probably didn’t have a starting spot for Ortiz in the infield, and Hall was a maybe-bullpen, maybe-starter, maybe-bullpen guy even by their own public comments. New ownership, a team coming off a great season — they seized the moment.

Seized the moment!

[Tony-OH]

3 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

I like the move …. I was calling for Burnes all offseason as my preference. I can’t say I told you so as it took a new owner to get him

I think we all preferred Burnes over Cease, but most thought Burnes would cost too much. If I thought Burnes was available for what we got him for, he certainly would have been at the top of the list, even with just one season left.

I think Elias thinks he has a chance of extending Burnes now that he has a new owner and pulled the trigger.

[Tony-OH]

4 minutes ago, Sammy Seagull said:

This is ONLY a good trade if Burnes stays 3-5 years. One year deal is a poor move, Elias should be embarrassed he did this deal only to pacify band wagon fans. Prove me wrong.

Yikes. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion, but to say he Elias should be embarrassed for acquiring one of the best starting pitchers on a contending team that needed a TOR, and only gave up his 6th best prospect, a talented left-hander reliever with a long injury history, and a draft pick is pretty harsh.

If the Orioles win the World Series and Burnes leaves, should Elias still be embarrassed? 

You have to trade talent to get talent and this is the kind of talent you give up at the trading deadline for a Burnes-type rental. Elias got him for a whole year at least. Burnes gets to be an Orioles, hopefully likes it here, and the new owner is willing to extend him before he hits free agency.

But if the Orioles win the World Series, it doesn't matter what becomes of Ortiz, Hall and the draft pick, and I like Ortiz and Hall (as a reliever) a lot. 

[Sports Guy]

BTW, I don’t think the new owner has anything to do with this trade.

I know  people want to connect those dots but it’s highly unlikely that had anything to do with it.

[SteveA]

9 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Just extend Holliday and let’s watch him win ROY.

Burnes, Bradish, Grayson, Means, Kremer

Kimbrel, Cano, Wells, Tate, Baumann, Coloumbe, Perez, Irvin

vs RHP

1. Holliday 2B L

2. Adley C S

3. Gunnar SS L

4. Santander RF S

5. Mountcastle 1B R

6. O’Hearn DH L

7. Hays LF R

8. Mullins CF L

9. Westburg 2B R

McCann, Urias, Mateo, Hilliard

Sorry but they made the shift illegal.  You have to move someone to the left side of the infield.

[SteveA]

Hey, does this deal mean that for the first time in about 9 years, Chris Davis WON'T be the highest paid Oriole this year?

[Roll Tide]

13 minutes ago, Sammy Seagull said:

This is ONLY a good trade if Burnes stays 3-5 years. One year deal is a poor move, Elias should be embarrassed he did this deal only to pacify band wagon fans. Prove me wrong.

I think he got assurances that he would have the money to extend him. That made it easier to give up controlled assets 

[Tony-OH]

3 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

BTW, I don’t think the new owner has anything to do with this trade.

I know  people want to connect those dots but it’s highly unlikely that had anything to do with it.

I don't think he told Elias to make a trade, but I do wonder if Elias thinks he might be able to extend him with the new owners and was more willing to deal Ortiz and Hall for him because of that. 

[ChuckS]

2 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

Yikes. I mean, you're entitled to your opinion, but to say he Elias should be embarrassed for acquiring one of the best starting pitchers on a contending team that needed a TOR, and only gave up his 6th best prospect, a talented left-hander reliever with a long injury history, and a draft pick is pretty harsh.

If the Orioles win the World Series and Burnes leaves, should Elias still be embarrassed? 

You have to trade talent to get talent and this is the kind of talent you give up at the trading deadline for a Burnes-type rental. Elias got him for a whole year at least. Burnes gets to be an Orioles, hopefully likes it here, and the new owner is willing to extend him before he hits free agency.

But if the Orioles win the World Series, it doesn't matter what becomes of Ortiz, Hall and the draft pick, and I like Ortiz and Hall (as a reliever) a lot. 

Do you want to do that though for a 30 year old pitcher likely to command 200+ mil over five or more seasons? Maybe he ends up having a Scherzer like career and it will be worth it, but it seems risky. 

I rather extend Gunnar and Jackson, unless we are going to be able to start dishing out huge contracts like candy.  

[sportsfan8703]

Wells as a reliever in his career…

67 IP 3.49 ERA 73K/13BB 0.79 WHIP .531 OPS

[Roll Tide]

14 minutes ago, Tony-OH said:

I think we all preferred Burnes over Cease, but most thought Burnes would cost too much. If I thought Burnes was available for what we got him for, he certainly would have been at the top of the list, even with just one season left.

I think Elias thinks he has a chance of extending Burnes now that he has a new owner and pulled the trigger.

I think having no chance to extend was his hesitation at dealing for guy like this. I agree with you on now we have a possibility to extend him.

[Matt Bennett]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

I don't think he told Elias to make a trade, but I do wonder if Elias thinks he might be able to extend him with the new owners and was more willing to deal Ortiz and Hall for him because of that. 

I hope this is the case. We can't let a talent like Burnes hit FA. 

[Mooreisbetter27]

22 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Three or four writers on The Athletic gave the Orioles an A for the trade.  That's great, but the writeups on Cease are absolutely glowing:

https://theathletic.com/5245961/2024/02/01/mlb-trade-grades-corbin-burnes-deal/

Baltimore's gonna love him, as Baltimore loves a good chip on it's shoulder.

Seized the moment!

You have Cease on the brain. 

[interloper]

13 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

BTW, I don’t think the new owner has anything to do with this trade.

I know  people want to connect those dots but it’s highly unlikely that had anything to do with it.

I sorta lean this way too. My only question is adding $15 mil to the budget. Angelos could have said "sure go ahead but let's wait until I have the sale agreement in hand". 

Other than that, I would caution folks from assuming this means we're gonna go sign Montgomery and issue mass extensions and all that. Still a lot we don't know.

Edited February 2 by interloper

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, interloper said:

I sorta lean this way too. My only question is adding $15 mil to the budget. Angelos could have said "sure go ahead but let's wait until I have the sale agreement in hand". 

Other than that, I would caution folks from assuming this means we're gonna go sign Montgomery and issue mass extensions and all that. Still a lot we don't know.

Well, we know Angelos was ok with adding 8M for Cease and there is no way he just started talking to Milwaukee since the ownership change. So, Angelos had to be ok with the extra 6-7M more than Cease.