MLB Insider Gives Baltimore Orioles Lofty Place in Free Agency Rankings

The Baltimore Orioles are focused on trying to bring home the team’s first World Series title since 1983. That’s part of the reason they went out and traded for pitcher Corbin Burnes in the offseason.

The move has worked out handsomely, to the point where Burnes is a prime candidate to win his second Cy Young award. But it will also make him hard to keep this offseason.

The Athletic’s Jim Bowden, a former Major League general manager, published his Top 50 free-agent rankings recently and the right-hander was No. 2 on the list, with New York Yankees slugger Juan Soto the only player ahead of him.

In 25 starts this season Burnes is 12-5 with a 3.10 ERA. He has struck out 144 and walked 38 in 153.2 innings. The 29-year-old hasn’t missed a turn in the rotation and with a month to go he is poised to set a career-high in victories, which happens to be the 12 games he won in 2022.

He was named the starter for the American League in the All-Star Game, the first time he was selected for the honor in his fourth straight trip to the game.

Bowden wrote, quite simply, that “Burnes will be the most sought-after pitcher in this free-agent class.”

When the Orioles traded for Burnes they knew he would be eligible to be a free agent after the season. Trying to keep Burnes could be the first significant test of new owner David Rubenstein, who took over in March. He now fully owns the franchise and fans hope he’ll be more of a spender than previous owners, the Angelos family.

Earlier this year, he talked to the New York Post about what he was looking for in free agency. He didn’t talk money. He talked about competing for titles.

“I want to go to a team that’s going to compete for the entirety of my contract,” he said.

Baltimore has one of the best everyday lineups in the game, led by potential MVP candidate Gunnar Henderson and All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman. Along with quality veterans in the outfield like Anthony Santander and Cedric Mullins, young players like Jackson Holliday, Ryan Mountcastle and Colton Cowser are giving the O’s a quality boost offensively.

With Milwaukee in six seasons he went 45-27 with a 3.26 ERA. He made the All-Star Game three times and won the 2021 National League Cy Young award as he went 11-5 with a MLB-leading 2.43 ERA.