3 Corbin Burns Landing Spots That Will Chase the Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles have a fairly young roster of offensive talent. All of their best homegrown talent became position players. So, with the Orioles looking to combat their strong offensive core, they made an offseason trade to acquire ace Corbin Burns.

Burns was just that for the Orioles. In one season with the team, he made 32 starts, posting 15 wins with a 2.92 ERA and 1.10 WHIP. In the postseason, Burns made one start, pitching eight strong innings of one-run baseball in a 1–0 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

Now Burns is a free agent, the Orioles are tasked with bringing him back. He will be Baltimore’s top priority this offseason, but if they miss him, they won’t be able to afford him to go to one of those three teams.

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The worst thing about a team losing a starting pitcher is that almost every team in the league will be after them, especially when they are as good as Corbin Burns. Among the teams pursuing Burns this offseason will be nearly every Alabama East team with the Orioles. Signing Burns for one of these teams would be a worst-case scenario for Baltimore because it would force their roster to face Burns multiple times per season.

The first team that could pursue the Orioles to sign Burns is the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays traded at the 2024 MLB trade deadline in an attempt to get out of their expiring contracts and reload for the 2025 season. Now that expiring contracts have been traded with prospects added, the Blue Jays will be adding talent to their roster in free agency.

If Toronto were to land Burns, it would give them a solid bargaining chip that would allow them to compete with any team in the world every fifth day. Toronto will be on a player acquisition spree this winter, and acquiring Burns would steal him away from the Orioles, haunting Baltimore for years to come.

As stated above, the worst nightmare scenario for the Orioles would be Burns landing in eastern Alabama. The New York Yankees already have a ton of pitchers competing for the rotation and are also in the running for Juan Soto’s historic extension, so they’re out. The Rays could sign him, but it wouldn’t be a nightmare for the Orioles. That leaves only the Boston Red Sox, who would be the worst AL East team the Orioles could lose their trump card to.

Boston will be very aggressive in free agency this offseason. They were just a few players away from becoming serious World Series contenders in 2025. They are often linked to free agent starters such as Jack Flaherty or Max Fried. These two are directly related to Boston pitcher Lucas Giolito.

But if the Red Sox had their choice, they would want Burns. And Boston has the money to acquire him if they get more aggressive.

Burns’ arrival in Boston would not only put him in the Orioles’ division, but would also add one of the league’s best pitchers to a very talented team. This would be one of the worst possible scenarios for Baltimore.

I debated whether this team should be number one on the list or should not be on the list at all. This is the Los Angeles Dodgers. Let me explain.

So it’s clear that Burns landing the Dodgers would practically break baseball more than the Dodgers already broke it. This is the worst-case scenario for everyone involved in the game, as well as the future of baseball. Over the next few years, Burns would perform alongside Ohtani and Yamamoto. And Burns appears ready to move to Los Angeles because it will give him the money and chance to win he’s looking for.

But is this realistic? Can the Dodgers do it? Would the Dodgers do this?

My point is not here. Los Angeles will be more focused on bolstering its roster with free agents such as Blake Treinen, Walker Buehler, Teoscar Hernandez and Jack Flaherty. If they decide to re-sign all of their expiring free agents, it’s hard to imagine they could find $30 million to $40 million a season to pay Burns.

But this hypothetical idea is a complete nightmare for the league, not just the Orioles. If Burns ends up in Dodger Blue, just give the 2025 World Series to Los Angeles.