Shocking Twist: Orioles’ Free Agent Ace Could Bolt to Rival Team, Fans’ Worst Nightmare
The Baltimore Orioles find themselves in the kind of situation no team wants to be in with one of the most highly sought after free agents coming from their own roster.
To make the matter even worse, Baltimore has had just one season with Corbin Burnes at the top of the rotation after making a blockbuster deal for him last winter and despite the addition of the ace, the team failed to win a single playoff game for now the tenth season in a row. Burnes becomes the prize of the pitching market in free agency after another spectacular season in 2024 with his new team, and the Orioles are scrambling as the prospect of them losing the services of the 2021 NL Cy Young winner looks more likely by the day.
If things do play out that way and Baltimore does in fact lose Burnes, there are certain locations that will sting significantly more than others. Of course, nobody wants to have to face a former superstar from your team in the same division for the 13 games they have to play against their rival yearly, so seeing Burnes end up with the Red Sox or Yankees is probably a worst-case scenario. Right behind that however might just be the ace leaving for the defending World Series champions and current envy of Major League Baseball Los Angeles Dodgers. Nick Villano of FanSided predicted Burnes to do just that in a recent article power ranking the top-20 free agents.
“The Los Angeles Dodgers are going to get one of the two top pitching options on the market, and Burnes makes a lot of sense for them,” Villano wrote. “He’s a top pitching prospect who can add to the Dodgers staff, which seemed downright broken at the end of last season. Jack Flaherty was not good in the playoffs, but they had no choice but to keep trotting him out. Clayton Kershaw was injured and likely won’t be back. Adding Burnes to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and possibly Shohei Ohtani makes this the best rotation in baseball, which is what the Dodgers are always going for. ”
If Burnes did in fact depart for the Dodgers, it would be tough to stomach but at least somewhat understandable for the California native to want to return to his home state and continue the dominance of the team he grew up just two hours from in Bakersfield.
Baltimore is expected to at the very least make a serious offer to retain his services, but when teams like Los Angeles along with every other big market team in the league get involved, the numbers start to get a bit staggering.
