Making Moves

By Mike Rifkin

The city of Baltimore is jumping with joy right now. Most people would say the city should be sad after the Ravens lost in the AFC Championship game, but no, Baltimore should be ecstatic after what has occurred over the past few days. 

A few days ago, it was announced that the Baltimore Orioles would be sold to David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti for 1.725 Billion Dollars. The sale is yet to be official ( there should be a vote at the owners’ meeting next week), but the new ownership group didn’t take long to make an impact.

On Thursday night, it was announced that the Baltimore Orioles made a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, sending Pitcher DL Hall, Third Baseman Joey Ortiz, and the 34th pick in the MLB Draft for former CY Young Award winner Corbin Burnes. Acquiring Burnes is the move many people wanted the Orioles to make last season at the trade deadline as they went on to win 101 games and win the AL East for the first time since 2014. Adding Burnes to a very young core could make a team that won 101 games last year even more dangerous 

One thing to know is that Burnes is a Free Agent after the season, so once new ownership does take over, I would expect extension talks to be at Spring Training potentially. If new ownership does, would they follow the Atlanta Braves route of buying out arbitration years of their young core and signing them long-term? Taking care of Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Austin Hays, etc… could help Baltimore be a constant threat in the American League. But for now, Baltimore celebrates what new ownership has and can continue to bring to you.