With Corbin Burnes suprisingly taking his talents to the Desert, the Baltimore Orioles may need to turn back to one of its former right handers.

A dominant 2.92 ERA. Fifth place in AL Cy Young voting. 194.1 masterful innings across 32 starts. Corbin Burnes’ brilliance in Baltimore proved to be just a brief chapter in Orioles history.

Burnes, who was dealt to the Orioles last February soon after the franchise experienced ownership turnover, shocked the baseball by recently agreeing to a six-year, $210 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. The move will keep him closer to home — Scottsdale, Arizona — where he and his wife live with their three children.

While this makes Arizona’s rotation unquestionably one of the best across not only the National League but all of baseball, Baltimore is now forced to find ways to supplement the production of a consistent Cy Young contender at the top of its pitching staff.

One way could be obtaining the services of a former Oriole coming off the high of a World Series victory: Jack Flaherty.

It’d be a reunion that the entire Orioles fanbase would likely approach with hesitation. The California native was brought on board to help boost a ball club that was leading the American League at the time of a deadline exchange.

He simply didn’t produce at the kind of level Baltimore expected when he came in via a trade deadline deal with the St. Louis Cardinals on the first of August in 2023.

Jack Flaherty was far from impressive last time out in an Orioles uniform

In 34.2 innings pitched for the O’s, Flaherty compiled a disappointing 6.75 ERA in nine regular-season appearances on the mound. Most notably, in September and October, the time you’d view as the most important within a baseball season, batters were hitting for a .362 average against Flaherty to go along with an OPS of .980.

Arguably the only positive from his time in Maryland was an exceptional debut in Toronto in which he punched out eight and allowed just one run in six innings pitched.

The question must be asked: should the O’s give Flaherty a second chance? Looking at the rotation as it stands which includes the likes of Cade Povich, Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Dean Kremer and newcomer Tomoyuki Sugano, it makes a whole lot of sense. The organization may need to look beyond the 29-year-old’s production toward the tail end of 2023. Flaherty managed to bounce back in 2024 after the Orioles let him walk to the Motor City.

2024 was nearly his best campaign on the mound as a professional. The right-hander finished with a much improved 3.17 ERA in addition to a 3.47 FIP across 162 innings with two ball clubs — the Dodgers and the Detroit Tigers.

Despite his regular season success, Flaherty struggled to find consistency in the playoffs. Outside of a strong Game 1 showing against the Mets in the NLCS, his postseason performance failed to match his earlier dominance.

Beyond a potential Flaherty reunion, Baltimore has several avenues in which it could entertain to bolster its rotation through both free agency and trades. Free agent options include Nick Pivetta and Charlie Morton, while trade possibilities could see the Orioles pursue Dylan Cease or even Luis Castillo.

There’s no sugarcoating the hole Burnes leaves atop the Orioles’ rotation. Though Flaherty presents one potential solution, finding a pitcher who can deliver Burnes’ level of start-to-start reliability is very much a rare commodity.