Orioles land Corbin Burnes in blockbuster trade

The Baltimore Orioles are finally adding a much-needed ace.

Baltimore acquired 2021 NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday for infielder Joey Ortiz, left-hander D.L. Hall, and the No. 34 pick in the 2024 draft.

"Corbin Burnes is exactly what we needed," Orioles general manager Mike Elias said Friday, according to Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner.

Burnes is set to earn $15.6 million in his final year under contract before hitting free agency. He's coming off another strong season in which he posted a 3.39 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP, and 200 strikeouts in 192 2/3 innings.

The right-hander has finished in the top eight in NL Cy Young voting in each of the last four seasons and was an All-Star in each of the last three. Burnes owns the second-highest fWAR among starting pitchers (17.3) over the last four campaigns and the fourth-lowest ERA behind Justin Verlander, Max Fried, and Clayton Kershaw over that time.

The move comes days after the Orioles were purchased for $1.7 billion by a group of private equity partners, including Baltimore businessman David Rubenstein.

Baltimore won the AL East title last season after a 101-win campaign but entered the winter in desperate need of starting pitching. Burnes will headline a rotation that'll likely include Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, John Means, and Dean Kremer.

Burnes has spent his entire six-year career in Milwaukee. It was expected he would be moved at some point earlier in the offseason, but a trade looked less likely as spring training grew closer. The Brewers signed first baseman Rhys Hoskins and top prospect Jackson Chourio this winter, which appeared to signal that the club would try to contend this year. Trading Burnes doesn't eliminate that possibility but is a major hit to the team's rotation.

The Burnes deal represents another major departure from Milwaukee's core after the club traded away Josh Hader at the 2022 deadline. Willy Adames is set to hit free agency at the end of this season, while star closer Devin Williams is under team control for only two more years. Ortiz and Hall could eventually serve as long-term replacements for both players.

The Orioles landed Burnes without surrendering any of their top-end prospects. Ortiz was Baltimore's No. 6-ranked prospect and No. 63 in MLB. He was likely blocked at the major-league level by Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday. Hall was the organization's No. 5-ranked prospect in 2022 before graduating out of the system.

Ortiz, 25, hit .321/.378/.507 with nine home runs, 30 doubles, and 11 strikeouts in 88 games in Triple-A last season. He posted a .448 OPS in 15 MLB games. Ortiz played third base, second base, and shortstop.

Hall, 25, posted a 3.26 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts in 19 1/3 relief innings with Baltimore last season. He also threw 49 innings in Triple-A where he recorded a 4.22 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, and 70 strikeouts.