Orioles reportedly pivoting to Padres ace after Max Fried, Garrett Crochet deals

If the Orioles want to land an ace this winter, now is the time

Sep 18, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) celebrates during the eighth inning against the Houston Astros at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images
Sep 18, 2024; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Dylan Cease (84) celebrates during the eighth inning against the Houston Astros at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images | Orlando Ramirez-Imagn Images

This year's MLB Winter Meetings have absolutely flown by. Maybe that's just me and my busy work schedule, or maybe it's that it takes place over the course of just three days. More likely, it's that the rumors and deals were coming in hot and heavy all week. And unfortunately for the Orioles, the two biggest moves of the week just so happened to make the AL East a whole heck of a lot more difficult.

The star of the show was the Yankees going out and landing former Braves' All Star Max Fried. It's a bit cheesy, but Fried's 8-year, $218 million contract is the largest deal for a left handed starter in the history of the sport, just barely edging the deal the Red Sox gave to David Price back in 2016. It's still well short of the $325 million the Dodgers gave Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter, but Fried's deal is massive in its own right.

Then on Wednesday afternoon, it was reported that the Red Sox had acquired lefty Garrett Crochet from the White Sox in a deal that sent top prospects Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery, among others, back to Chicago. In the span of just a few days, two of the highest profile starting pitchers on this year's market wound up in the AL East, and unfortunately not in Baltimore.

That said, if the Orioles want to land an ace this winter, time is running out. Corbin Burnes is still out there but it seems at the moment that Baltimore isn't going to offer the type of money that Burnes is after. Since Burnes is the last free agent ace available, that just leaves the trade market.

If the Orioles are willing to part with the right prospects, they could potentially land Padres ace Dylan Cease

Thankfully, MLB's Jon Morosi has recently connected the Orioles as one of the handful of teams trying to land Padres star Dylan Cease. While Cease has yet to appear in an All Star game or win any awards, he has finished top-5 in the Cy Young voting in two of the last three years and he's put up 17.2 combined fWAR in the last four seasons.

Cease was traded from Chicago to San Diego last winter for a haul that included three of the Padres' top-10 prospects. The price for Cease will be a bit less this winter, as the righty has just one year left before hitting free agency. He's due an estimated $13 million in his final year of arbitration, so he's likely right in the Orioles' price range if they were to figure out a way to acquire him.

That said, Cease still won't be cheap. The Padres will be looking for at least one strong prospect in return. While the Orioles have graduated a number of top guys in recent years, the system isn't as strong as it was a couple years ago. That's inherently a good thing, as guys like Colton Cowser and Jordan Westburg excel in the majors. But if they want to make a trade for Cease happen, they'll have to go outside their comfort zone.

That's true of any deal that's left to be made. The O's reportedly have more budget space to work with this winter but have yet to put it to use. Nobody is calling for Mike Elias' job right now, but the entire fanbase does want to see the O's get aggressive on one of the handful of guys left. They need to find a way to replace Corbin Burnes. Whether that gets accomplished, or whether the O's ultimately fall short, we'll have to wait and see.

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