MIKE BURKE
Allegany Communications Sports
The Baltimore Orioles are currently aceless. Some would say clueless. Many others, gutless. Or, worse – forever cheap.
I have my own theory, but in the case of one-year Orioles ace Corbin Burnes signing a 6-year, $210-million free-agent contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks, let’s just say the Orioles are aceless and leave it at that. For now.
The New York Post’s Jon Heyman, who broke the story, reported that “three East teams, including the Jays and Orioles, were the biggest bidders,” which, when it comes to the Orioles’ recent dealings in free agency, brings to mind the words of Dodgers GM Andrew Friedman, who said, “If you’re always rational about every free agent, you will finish third on every free agent.”
Maybe that’s the case with the Orioles, but maybe it isn’t.
Truth is, there likely wasn’t any amount of money the Orioles could have offered that would have persuaded Burnes to return to Baltimore. At the end of the day, he wanted to be in Arizona where his family lives, and when the offer came from the Diamondbacks, he took it, as he had been given permission multiple times last season to leave the Orioles and be with his wife for the birth and care of twin daughters, as well as their two-year-old son.
What might seem even more galling to the angry Orioles social media base is the Diamondbacks, a good team that won the National League pennant just two years ago, already had six starting pitchers and have needs on the position-player side and in the bullpen. Thus, they had not been linked to Burnes, the top starting pitcher on the market.
According to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic, the Diamondbacks were not even pursuing Burnes. The pitcher’s representatives came to them late in the free-agent process expressing a desire to pitch in Arizona. Sources said Burnes’ agent, Scott Boras, opened dialogue directly with Ken Kendrick, the Diamondbacks’ managing general partner, who is reported to have believed the chance to sign Burnes as being too good of an opportunity to pass up.
There are plenty of Orioles fans who believe Orioles general manager Mike Elias and new ownership, led by David Rubenstein, must not have felt the same way. Common sense, though, indicates Burnes merely wanted to stay home with his family, no matter how much money the Orioles, the Toronto Blue Jays or the San Francisco Giants put at his feet.
The Diamondbacks have been an organization that ranks among the bottom half of spending in MLB, so, naturally, there are risks with this deal, as there would have been for the Orioles or other organizations that had signed Burnes, as an injury or a dropoff in results can handcuff a team for years to come, which the Orioles understand, as they are still paying on the nightmare Chris Davis contract.
There is also concern that the Burnes cutter, his trademark pitch, doesn’t induce the swings and misses that it once did as his strikeout rate with the pitch dropped 14 percent last season with the Orioles (I have my own theory on that as well, beginning with Burnes is smarter than they are).
So far, the Orioles have added right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano on a $13 million contract for 2025. He isn’t viewed as a top-of-rotation piece, perhaps slotting fourth or fifth. But he knows how to pitch and will add depth to a good rotation of Zach Eflin, Grayson Rodriguez, Dean Kremer and/or Trevor Rogers, Cade Povich and Albert Suárez.
Oh, and Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells should make their returns from reconstructive elbow surgery later in the season. Bradish seems to have No. 1 stuff, but until he comes back it doesn’t matter what seems to be.
Right-hander Roki Sasaki is the top starter remaining in free agency, followed by Jack Flaherty, a disappointment with the Orioles in the second half of 2023, but a lot of other free-agent pitchers are now signed, sealed and delivered elsewhere, including some who would have fit perfectly with the Orioles (can you say Nathan Eovaldi?)
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Nah, Elias will figure out something. He did last year when he made the late trade for Burnes, though, if I’m going to give up any more prospects, I’d prefer to give them up for someone who’s going to be in Baltimore for more than one year as he did mid-season with Eflin (I’m thinking Luis Castillo?).
Not only that, I’d love to see the O’s bring back switch-hitter Anthony Santander so spots can be picked to complement the right-handed hitting Tyler O’Neill with Cedric Mullins and Colton Cowser.
O’Neill signed a three-year deal with a player option after the first. So if he has a year in 2025, he ain’t coming back in 2026.
And they moved The Great Wall of Baltimore in for this guy?
I don’t think so. Just relax. It’s all going to play out.
Mike Burke writes about sports and ..other stuff for Allegany Communications. He began covering sports for the Prince George’s Sentinel in 19.81 and joined the Cumberland Times-News sports staff in 1984, serving as sports editor for over 30 years. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on X @MikeBurkeMDT