MLB: Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates
Charles LeClaire / USA TODAY Sports

This MLB offseason has been weirdly stagnant so far, especially for teams not named the Dodgers. But things have been starting to heat up with a few weeks to go until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training, and we got a massive, unexpected jolt Thursday night when the Orioles and Brewers agreed on a deal sending Corbin Burnes to the upstart AL East contenders.

It's a massive move for a ton of different reasons, not least of which because it comes just a few days after a new ownership group agreed to purchase the Orioles. The Orioles have seemed primed for a big move after their rebuild came together quicker than expected in 2023, and now they've acquired one of baseball's best starters, a Cy Young winner and three-time All-Star for … Joey Ortiz, DL Hall, and compensatory draft pick?

Wait, really? That's all it took?  

Ortiz is a decent prospect, but one who was completely blocked in Baltimore and doesn't exactly seem like a future star. Similarly, Hall is a talented pitcher, albeit one whose continued struggles throwing strikes have him looking more like a multi-inning reliever than a starter. As for the pick? It'll be No. 34 in the draft, where Mark Gubicza and Todd Frazier are the best players ever selected. Both Hall and Ortiz enter the late-round sleeper conversation for Fantasy, but both feel like long shots to turn into must-start players. 

Again, that's all? For Corbin Burnes? Yep, the Orioles just got the ace they need, and given the success they've found with the likes of Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells in recent years, you've gotta be pretty excited about what this means for Burnes' value. He's already one of the best starters in Fantasy, and now he's getting a pretty significant park upgrade. Camden Yards has become one of the best pitchers parks in baseball in recent years; their pitchers have a 3.77 ERA at home since they moved the fences back, compared to a 4.11 mark on the road. 

Burnes will find himself pitching in a tougher division, but I think he still comes out as a clear winner in this deal thanks to the park shift. Burnes was already a top-five starter in Fantasy for me before this deal, but I'm moving him up to No. 3 in both H2H points and Roto scoring formats – still in the tier behind Spencer Strider and Gerrit Cole, but the gap is starting to shrink, that's for sure. 

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Scott White wrote about the Burnes trade Thursday night, so head here to get his perspective, and that's not the only recent move you need to know about. Scott has been keeping track of the moves that have gone down in our offseason tracker column, with Justin Turner's signing with the Blue Jays, Jorge Polanco's trade to the Mariners, and Rhys Hoskins' signing with the Brewers the latest news to digest. Make sure you check that out here for the latest, and head here to see my thoughts on what Corey Seager's hernia surgery means for his value – shorter version: I moved him down about two rounds in my rankings as a result of this news.