Orioles rumors: Latest on Corbin Burnes, Anthony Santander, Teoscar Hernandez, Garrett Crochet

MLB's Winter Meetings have been busy, with a number of high-profile free agent signings and even an interesting trade going down over the past couple days. In addition to that, we know the 2025 MLB Draft order, with the Nationals lucking into the top spot where they'll likely nab Ethan Holliday, younger brother of Orioles' star prospect Jackson Holliday.

The one major free agent starting pitcher left without a deal is former Orioles' righty Corbin Burnes. It's been rumored that Burnes is expecting a deal well north of $200 million and with the news that Max Fried just for 8 years and $218 million from the New York Yankees, it's tough to see Burnes winding up with less than that.

Over the weekend, it was mentioned by USA Today reporter Bob Nightengale that Burnes' west coast background had led to him wanting to play for the Dodgers. Now that Los Angeles has brought in Blake Snell on a long-term contract, it more or less takes them out of the running for Burnes.

It's possible, though unikely, that one of San Diego or the Angels could offer Burnes a big contract. The more interesting landing spot would be San Francisco, where he'd benefit from the park factors and go to a team that's clearly willing to spend to upgrade the roster given the Willy Adames deal.

Latest Orioles rumors: Corbin Burnes could land on the West coast, while Anthony Santander could stay in the AL East

Another former Orioles' star, Anthony Santander, is still out there as well. Santander has been rumored to land with multiple teams in the AL East, with Boston and Toronto seeming like the biggest players. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com recently mentioned that it looks like the Red Sox apparently prefer Teoscar Hernandez to Santander, likely due to the difference in the expected length of contract.

Santander will command a long-term deal, and rightly so. Hernandez is in his mid-30's and almost certainly won't get more than three years. Feinsand mentioned that Toronto prefers Santander over Hernandez so if the two sides can get close enough on a deal, Santander might wind up back in the AL East after all.

Lastly, it appears that the Orioles might be out on Garrett Crochet entirely. It was reported by Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic that the Mets and Yankees have been the two most aggressive teams in the Crochet sweepstakes, though with the Yankees signing Max Fried that could change. The Red Sox and Phillies were listed as the only other teams seriously in the mix for Crochet's services.

So for now, it looks like the Orioles will find a different path to filling the void at the top of the rotation. It's possible they'll just wait for Kyle Bradish to return, but that's probably going to be around the All Star break. It's a risky move to wait that long, but we'll see how the rest of the winter plays out.