Morning Rundown: Brewers trade Corbin Burnes to Orioles, Pirates interested in Gary Sanchez?

A big trade in the NL Central, and the Pirates are interested in a free agent catcher?

Just when you thought it would be a slow news day in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers and Baltimore Orioles got together for a significant trade.

The Brewers sent over Corbin Burnes to the Orioles in exchange for Joey Ortiz, DL Hall, and the 34th overall pick in the 2024 draft.

Burnes, 29, had a bit of a ‘down’ year by his standards, posting a 3.39 ERA (3.80 xFIP) and 200 strikeouts across 193.2 innings pitched while also picking up 10 wins.

He heads over to Baltimore, where he will be a rental, as he is a free agent after the season.

Heading to Milwaukee is a pair of top 100 prospects (on Baseball America) in Hall and Ortiz, who have already made their major league debuts.

Hall has electric stuff but has struggled with control. He was settling into a reliever role with Baltimore, posting a 3.26 ERA in 18 relief appearances last year, striking out 28.4% of the batters he faced. The control improved in a relief role, with the walk rate dropping to just 6.2%.

Ortiz was the odd man out in a very crowded Orioles infield that doesn’t even account for former first-overall pick and the top prospect in the game, Jackson Holliday.

He put up some solid numbers in AAA, including his contact (89.7% in-zone contact rate) and exit velocity (107.5 mph, 95th percentile) numbers. His debut wasn’t overly impressive, but it was only 34 plate appearances.

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According to Fansided Insider Robert Murray, the Pirates may be interested in free-agent catcher Gary Sanchez.

He mentions he ‘doesn’t believe anything is close, but he is someone that they do like.”

The clip begins around the 33-minute mark of the video linked here.

Playing for the San Diego Padres last year, Sanchez hit 19 home runs in 75 games. He’s also hit 58 home runs in the past three years combined, playing for the Padres, Twins, and Yankees.

He’s also posted some positive defensive metrics when it comes to pop time (86th percentile) and throwing runners out (77th percentile CS above average).

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I forgot to mention this here, but I was a guest on the 412 Double Play Podcast earlier in the week. We discussed the Hall of Fame voting process, the Aroldis Chapman signing, and MLB Pipeline’s top 100 list.

Also, they are releasing their own top 30 prospects list for the Pirates, with the episode going through 30-21, so I gave some input on the players they had there.

Have a watch/listen, Michael is a good friend of mine, and I enjoy their show. Having access to a better internet to do these again has been awesome.