Orioles Have To Regret Losing One of Best Aces in Baseball in Free Agency

The Baltimore Orioles certainly have regrets about how things unfolded with their former ace.

Apr 1, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) pitches in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

There are a lot of teams who have had pressing needs emerge early in the MLB season, but there may not be a franchise that has as big of a glaring need as the Baltimore Orioles.

How they handled their pitching staff in the offseason left a lot of people scratching their heads. Through the first two weeks of the campaign, the doubters have been proven correct as things have been a mess on the mound.

Some of the issues are beyond the Orioles’ control, such as injuries. Those are hard to project and the team currently has a full rotation on the injured list.

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells were there, recovering from injuries suffered in 2024. Trevor Rogers was hurt in January and Chayce McDermott suffered an injury early in spring training.

Presumed ace Grayson Rodriguez ended up on the injured list dealing with elbow inflammation and is working his way back during a rehab assignment.

Since the regular season got underway, Opening Day starter Zach Eflin and Albert Suarez have landed on the injured list as well.

That is a lot of production to be missing, as not even Baltimore’s game plan this offseason was enough to overcome that amount of loss.

The team opted to load up on depth, signing veterans Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Gibson.

There is no such thing as too much pitching, which they are learning firsthand. But, they have put themselves at a disadvantage not having a bona fide ace to anchor the staff with.

The Orioles have to regret how they handled things with their ace from 2024, Corbin Burnes, who departed in free agency. He signed a massive six-year, $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Their reported final offer to him was a four-year, $180 million deal. That is a massive AAV, but it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from going to the Diamondbacks, where he can remain full-time with his family.

Even with Burnes' early-season struggles in Arizona, it doesn’t change the fact that Baltimore seems to have misevaluated its pitching staff, as it is a legitimate Achilles heel out of the gate that needs to be addressed.