The Baltimore Orioles used a few of their top prospects to acquire Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers last offseason.

After Burnes had an excellent season with Baltimore, he bolted in free agency and signed a massive contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Baltimore failed to bring him back on a contract extension, and it lost a few top 10 prospects in the process.

One year later, the Orioles will need to make the same kind of trade, this time for an expiring Dylan Cease, if they want a chance to compete in the 2025 season.

A trade with the San Diego Padres for Cease would be quite expensive for the Orioles to pull off, but they likely wouldn’t part ways with some of their top prospects.

Prospects like Coby Mayo and Samuel Basallo are likely off limits in a deal like this, so the Orioles would need to get creative with their package.

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This Padres-Orioles trade would bring Baltimore an ace before it’s too late

If the Orioles are going to be stingy on trading prospects like Mayo and Basallo, they’ll likely need to package three or four prospects to get a deal done.

Any deal to acquire Cease would likely begin with outfielder Heston Kjerstad. Kjerstad, a former top prospect of the Orioles, likely doesn’t have an avenue to consistent playing time with Baltimore this season.

Dealing him away for Cease would make the most sense to capitalize on his value while it’s still very high.

After Kjerstad, the Orioles could include another outfield prospect, Jud Fabian, along with pitching prospects Trace Bright and Alex Pham.

Fabian, 24, has all the tools to dominate, but has struggled over the last two professional seasons. A change of scenery with an organization like the Padres could help him quite a bit.

Bright, 24, has a dominant fastball and curveball combination. He’s been consistently under a 4.00 ERA during his professional career.

The righty is near big league ready, which could be a huge development for San Diego.

Pham, 25, has showed flashes of excellence due to his five-pitch mix. He struggles with command from time to time, but the starter is consistently one of the tougher Orioles prospects to get a hit off of.

This deal gives the Orioles the ace they need. Baltimore would need to re-sign him next winter in order for it to be worth while, though.

The Padres would reload their farm system with a deep return of prospects instead of letting Cease leave following the 2025 season.