The Milwaukee Brewers traded All-Star right-hander Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night for left-hander DL Hall, infield prospect Joey Ortiz and a competitive balance draft pick.
It's a blockbuster for the Orioles, who had a quiet offseason but remained hopeful they could add more pitching as they prepare to defend their AL East championship. Baltimore has a terrific core of young players — particularly position players — but had not been particularly aggressive in terms of signing free agents or making trades. Now the Orioles are acquiring the 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner.
Burnes, who turned 29 in October, went 10-8 with a 3.39 ERA last year. The previous three seasons, he had an ERA under 3.00, including when he went 11-5 with a 2.43 ERA in 2021.
He joins a Baltimore rotation that was good enough to help the team win 101 games last season — but remained more of a question mark than some other areas on the roster.
Kyle Bradish and rookie Grayson Rodriguez pitched well down the stretch in 2023, and now Burnes arrives as someone who can clearly be an ace when he’s pitching to his potential.
Baltimore is sending the 25-year-old Hall to the Brewers after he went 3-0 with a 3.26 ERA last season. Ortiz is ranked as baseball's No. 63 prospect.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB
