Corbin Burnes Traded to Orioles, Brewers Receive D.L. Hall, Joey Ortiz, Draft Pick

The rebuild has begun for the Milwaukee Brewers, who have traded 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes to the Baltimore Orioles.

Milwaukee will receive shortstop Joey Ortiz, left-hander DL Hall and the 34th pick in the 2024 draft in exchange. Ortiz is Baltimore’s No. 6-ranked prospect, per MLB.com.

Burnes might be the most impactful pitching addition for any team this winter. The 29-year-old has posted a 2.86 ERA in 622.1 innings over the past four seasons. He’s struck out at least 200 hitters every year since 2021.

Since the start of the 2020 season, Burnes ranks second among all pitchers with 17.9 FanGraphs wins above replacement. He’s been named to the NL All-Star team in each of the previous three years and has finished in the top 10 of NL Cy Young voting in four consecutive years.

This offseason began on an interesting note for the Brewers when Craig Counsell left his position as manager to take the same job with the Chicago Cubs.

There were some indications prior to the Counsell move that Milwaukee was going to be subtracting payroll. Mark Canha, who was acquired from the New York Mets during the season and had an $11.5 million team option for 2024, was traded to the Detroit Tigers.

If the Brewers were going into cost-cutting mode but wanted to shorten their turnaround time to becoming a playoff contender again, trading Burnes was the best move they could have made.

Burnes is entering his final year of arbitration and is projected to earn $15.1 million. Considering Lance Lynn, who had a 5.73 ERA and allowed 44 homers in 183.2 innings last season, got $11 million on a one-year deal from the St. Louis Cardinals, the Orioles paying an estimated $4 million more for one of the best pitchers in MLB is a steal.

Given how low the odds were that Milwaukee would re-sign Burnes to a long-term deal, this isn’t a bad move for the organization. Despite making the playoffs five times in the past six seasons, this iteration of the club seems to have maxed out its potential.

The Brewers have been swept in the Wild Card Series in two of their last three postseason appearances. Their offense finished 17th in runs scored and tied for 21st in weighted on-base average in 2023.

Trading Burnes at the peak of his value allows the Brewers to build up a farm system that already ranks as one of the three best in MLB, led by arguably No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Chourio.

After the O’s won the AL East and secured a playoff berth last season for the first time since 2016, it became clear they were just a few pieces short of being a true championship contender.

Landing Burnes is a huge get for the franchise as they aim to repeat as division champions in 2024. He’ll be the highlight of a Baltimore rotation that also includes Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez, John Means and Dean Kremer.