Can the Orioles find the pitcher they're looking for by reversing some trades typical of their rebuilding years?

The Orioles were happy to move veteran starters to teams that wanted them early in the rebuild. Is there a willing trade partner for that kind of move now?

Every pitcher that comes off the board in free agency this month removes an opportunity for the Orioles to upgrade their starting rotation, and thereby flips the focus to other avenues they’ll have in the coming months to add the top-half starter Mike Elias seeks.

The overwhelming thought, which to this point in the hot stove season hasn’t exactly been validated by the Orioles’ brass, is that they’ll use their prospect base to trade for such a pitcher. Elias himself told reporters at the Winter Meetings that the Orioles in his estimation “have the capital to trade for basically anyone who’s on the market,” which certainly opens up some attractive possibilities at the top of any lost of controllable starting pitchers with more than a year left before free agency.

Corbin Burnes and Shane Bieber, step right up. Only knowing that the Mariners had to trade four top prospects to the Reds for Luis Castillo, that would probably be Milwaukee and Cleveland’s respective starting point for such a trade, and there’s little indication the Orioles would want to move that size prospect package.

So, with admittedly little knowledge of who teams are reasonable trying to trade out of their rotations and not a small dose of expectation-lowering sentiment as to the stratosphere of where the Orioles are aiming, there might be another trade route for the club to take to solidify their rotation — one they’re imminently familiar with from the other side.