Former Baltimore Orioles Stars Have Made 'Bad First Impressions' on New Teams

The Baltimore Orioles let two stars walk this offseason and they both have had weak starts in their new uniforms.

Apr 18, 2025; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) reacts as he walks back to the dugout after the second inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. | Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles saw two stars leave the team this past offseason and neither player has had a very good start in their new uniforms.

Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer did an overview of some of the top "first impressions" of this season from players that joined new teams. Former Orioles standouts Anthony Santander and Corbin Burnes were included and both starts were considered "bad."

The departure of Burnes has been a real lose-lose situation for both parties. He left Baltimore after just one season for a six-year, $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

It has now become known that the Orioles were willing to give him more money on a per-year basis, but did not want to give him the length that the Diamondbacks were offering.

Bringing him back would have made perfect sense, so they probably should have caved and given him two more years than they offered.

He was coming off of a campaign that saw him post a 2.92 ERA and be in contention for his second Cy Young. Baltimore was without a replacement ace and ended up never signing one.

Their starting rotation has been the second-worst in the league with a combined ERA of 5.73. Burnes, if he was able to continue his strong performance, would have helped out greatly.

Instead, he has been in Arizona where he has posted a 4.64 ERA with a career-high walk rate combined with a career-low strikeout rate.

The 30-year-old should be able to turn things around, but he certainly hasn't looked like a $210 million player so far.

Unlike Burnes, it was very unlikely that Santander was ever going to be brought back. The Orioles have a ton of bats they have to pay in the coming years and he was just one of the more expendable ones.

He was coming off of a 44-home run campaign, though, so he was going to have a solid market in free agency without them.

The slugger signed a five-year, $92.5 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. His start is a bit more worrying than Burnes'

Santander has posted a slash line of just .217/.290/.337 through his first 21 games with two home runs and eight RBI. Being that he is a designated hitter, his bat is all that he has had.

Even though he has never batted for average or gotten on base at a great rate, he has still remained productive. He's on pace for just about 16 home runs and 57 RBI this season, which would be a disaster.