The Baltimore Orioles stunned the baseball world on Thursday, acquiring Corbines Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers for DL Hall, Joey Ortiz, and the 34th pick in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Rumors all offseason indicated that if the Orioles felt they could better their team, they were going to do that. Everything pointed to them trading for Dylan Cease but with the Chicago White Sox asking price being too high, Baltimore knew they had to find another deal.

Another deal would be putting it lightly when it comes to a pitcher of Burnes caliber as he has an argument to be a top-five pitcher in baseball when he is at his best. The 29-year-old won the Cy Young Award in 2021 and has finished in the top eight in each of his last four seasons.

The Orioles won 101 games in 2023 before losing to the Texas Rangers in the ALCS. It was a disappointing finish to an incredible season, one that did not seem likely heading into the season.

With a championship window earlier than expected, the time is right now for Baltimore. General manager Mike Elias understands that and compared this situation to the one of the Houston Astros.

lias was a major factor in the Astros turning their franchise around, serving as the team’s assistant general manager and in other roles before joining the Orioles.

He had the following to say about the deal, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.

“We are at a time when moves like this make sense,” Elias said by phone. “It did occur to me that Jeff [Luhnow, former Astros GM] and [team owner] Jim Crane were with [Justin] Verlander and Gerrit Cole [trades] able to exploit the depth of the farm system to bring in those impact arms at kind of the exact right moment.”

Elias is saying and doing all of the right things. If he keeps this up, Baltimore will continue to find themselves in a great position moving forward.