With spring training underway for the Baltimore Orioles, the team is looking forward to what they hope will be an excellent 2025 campaign.

This winter, the Orioles were one of the most talked about teams due to their two star free agents.

Outfielder Anthony Santander and starter pitcher Corbin Burnes were two of the best players available this winter. Both ended up getting nice long-term deals, but neither returned to Baltimore.

Losing the leading home run hitter on the team and the ace of the pitching staff is a tough look for a franchise. Considering the Orioles started to spend money a bit this winter, losing two key players, and most importantly Burnes does sting.

The addition of Burnes last year sparked a lot of hope and optimism for Baltimore coming into last year. He lived up to the hype with a 15-9 record and a 2.92 ERA.

However, even though he pitched excellent in the American League Wild Card Round, the Orioles didn’t win a game in the postseason for the second straight year.

With the ace of the staff gone, Baltimore appears like they will be going into the campaign without a proven front-end starter to lead the staff.

This certainly feels risky for the franchise, but they could look to explore the trade market to improve.

Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the Orioles making sense as a trade partner with the Pittsburgh Pirates for second-year pitcher Jared Jones. He was classified under “young players whose names have come up.”

Even though it was Paul Skenes who received most of the attention for the Pirates in 2024, Jones also pitched well in his rookie season.

The former second-round pick totaled a 6-8 record and a 4.12 ERA in 121.2 innings pitched. While Jones isn’t currently a front-end starter, at just 23 years old he’s far from a finished product.

With a young core of talent in Baltimore, pursuing a young pitcher like Jones to grow with the lineup makes a lot of sense.

For the Pirates, they are desperate to improve a lineup that was one of the worst in baseball last year. The Orioles have a plethora of young hitters who could facilitate a deal that makes sense for both sides.

While Jones might not be an ace yet, he would give Baltimore more depth in the rotation, with the upside to get better.

The starting rotation for the Orioles is going to be under a microscope for much of the season until they prove themselves without an ace.

For a team that has big goals in October, they will likely need to upgrade their rotation at some point.

With Jones being under team control for many years, he makes sense not only for now but for the long-term plan as well.