Baltimore Orioles Named Best Trade Fit For Superstar Pitcher To Fix Rotation

The Baltimore Orioles could make a blockbuster trade to acquire the best pitcher available and land themselves a new ace.

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The Baltimore Orioles are headed into the 2025 season looking to find playoff success with their consecutive streak of years without a single playoff victory extending to a decade.

In order to find the success they crave, it will begin with the starting rotation.

The Orioles' rotation is not horrible, but it certainly does not strike fear into any opponents heart after the loss of Corbin Burnes to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Seeing him depart was not exactly a shock given he was the most sought after free agent pitcher available, but now looking at their current situation, a new ace is needed.

Following the addition of NPB legend Tomoyuki Sugano on a one-year deal, along with numerous guys returning from injury, there is the framework of a good rotation there.

Sugano, however, is not seen as a bonafide No. 1 ace and the hope with signing him was always that he'd be the second biggest acquisition they make.

With most of the free agents off the board, Baltimore will have to turn to the trade market.

The team has been heavily linked to San Diego Padres star Dylan Cease, and Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report mocked up a deal which saw the Orioles land the righty in exchange for outfielder Heston Kjerstad and Enrique Bradfield Jr., the team's No. 4 prospect

"As Cease is ticketed for free agency after 2025, the Orioles would be running the same play they ran on Burnes if they were to trade for him. It could prove to be an upgrade," he wrote while naming Baltimore as the best fit. "Whereas Burnes is declining as a whiff artist, Cease was in the 92nd percentile for whiff rate this year. Though Baltimore's farm system is not what it used to be, the organization still has more hitters than it has room for."

Cease is the ideal candidate to replace Burnes at the top of Baltimore's rotation.

Having just turned 29 years old, he's starting to enter his prime.

Similar to Burnes, Cease is reliable as they come.

Making a full slate of starts in each of the last four years, he can be depended upon to give you both stability and durability at the top of the rotation.

With a bunch of good but not great names on the Orioles staff as of now, an alpha like Cease is needed to take control at the top and give Baltimore the ace they had in Burnes.

The downside is that Cease will be a free agent next offseason, so if a deal like this is going to be pulled off, making an extension a priority would be an absolute must.

But if the Orioles think they can get it done, they should go all in on making the move.