The Baltimore Orioles have agreed to a trade to acquire former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
While Milwaukee had fielded trade offers for Burnes all winter, the shrinking time until spring training had left some teams believing the Brewers would hold on to the 2021 National League Cy Young winner. Up stepped the Orioles, who won 101 games last year and feature perhaps the best young core in the major leagues but had questions about their rotation.
Landing Burnes could help put them to rest. The 29-year-old, who will hit free agency after the 2024 season, went 10-8 with a 3.39 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 193.2 innings last year as the Brewers ran away with the NL Central title.
The year before, Burnes led the NL with 243 strikeouts in 202 innings. And in ’21, he punched out 234 in 167 innings, with just 34 walks, and posted a 2.43 ERA.
He joins a Baltimore rotation that returns Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez — who had the best and third-best ERAs, respectively, among American League pitchers in the second half — as well as Dean Kremer, Tyler Wells and John Means.
Despite being the favorite in the Central, Milwaukee chose to move Burnes rather than potentially deal him at the trade deadline or lose him in free agency. Once the deal is complete, Milwaukee will shed Burnes’ $15.6 million salary and carry an Opening Day payroll estimated by Baseball Prospectus at $92 million. The Orioles, whose owner, John Angelos, earlier this week agreed to sell the team to billionaire David Rubenstein, would jump to just about $90 million. Seven other major league teams have sub-$100 million Opening Day payrolls.
The Brewers have long operated with the future in mind as much as the present, helping them make the postseason five of the past six years. Their biggest deal in recent years was the controversial move that sent All-Star closer Josh Hader to San Diego around the 2022 trade deadline for prospects Esteury Ruiz and Robert Gasser as well as closer Taylor Rogers and right-hander Dinelson Lamet. The Brewers later dealt Ruiz to acquire All-Star catcher William Contreras, and Gasser could fill the spot in the rotation vacated by Burnes.
