Graphic Shows Elite Orioles Rotation After Corbin Burnes Trade
For the price of pitching prospect DL Hall, young infielder Joey Ortiz, and a compensatory draft pick, the Baltimore Orioles’ offseason went from discrete to excellent.
That’s what they needed to surrender to the Milwaukee Brewers to acquire ace and former Cy Young award winner Corbin Burnes.
That transaction took place on Thursday night and set social media on fire.
Apart from signing Craig Kimbrel to be their closer, the O’s were mostly inactive in the offseason, and lost Kyle Gibson, Jack Flaherty, Mychal Givens, Aaron Hicks, Adam Frazier, Jorge Lopez, and Shintaro Fujinami.
But Burnes really unlocks their vast potential and gives them a true, proven ace to navigate the postseason.
They had zero problems with last year’s regular season, winning the most games in the American League at 101.
In the playoffs, though?
They were eliminated in the first round.
Getting Burnes improves the quality and depth of the staff and gives it a true workhorse for October.
Now, the rotation looks like this, per FOX Sports: MLB:
The Orioles projected starting rotation for 2024 🔥 pic.twitter.com/O3SS7pKdEo
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) February 2, 2024
Burnes – Kyle Bradish – Grayson Rodriguez is actually an elite “Big Three.”
Burnes has a career 3.26 ERA and was at 3.39 last year with the Brewers, with 200 strikeouts.
When he won the Cy Young a few years ago, he was at a marvelous 2.43 ERA, and he is still in his prime and very much capable of doing it again.
Bradish had a coming out party last year with a 2.83 ERA in 168.2 frames, and Rodriguez posted a 2.58 ERA in 76.2 frames after returning from a minor leagues stint in July.
This rotation is so improved that John Means, who used to be the ace in the dark days in which the franchise was the worst in baseball, is now the fourth starter, and a very good one at that.
Now, the O’s are ready to embark on a crucial 2024 campaign that could yield a very happy outcome for fans.
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