The Arizona Diamondbacks have landed one of the best beginning pitcher on the free agent market. The D-backs and righty Corbin Burnes have agreed to a six-year contract price $210 million, reviews Jon Heyman. The workforce has not but confirmed the signing. In response to Heyman, Burnes’ contract with Arizona consists of an opt-out after the 2026 season.
Burnes, 30, joined the Baltimore Orioles in a three-player commerce with the Milwaukee Brewers final offseason. He had a terrific season with the O’s, throwing 194 ⅓ innings with a 2.92 ERA and 181 strikeouts. That earned him a fifth-place end within the AL Cy Younger voting. Burnes allowed one run in eight innings in his solely begin this postseason.
Our R.J. Anderson ranked Burnes the second-best free agent obtainable this offseason, behind solely Juan Soto. Here is his write-up:
At first blush, Burnes is clearly this free-agent class’ greatest and most dependable beginning pitcher. He is earned 4 consecutive journeys to the All-Star Recreation; he is among the many league leaders in innings pitched for the reason that pandemic; and he is proved that his sport works each contained in the American League and out of doors of Milwaukee, as if there was any doubt. But when you look intently sufficient at his profile, you may discover some hints of potential decline. For starters, Burnes’ strikeout fee deteriorated for a fourth 12 months in a row, dipping beneath a batter per inning for the primary time in his profession. His trademark cutter, the first pitch in his bag, returned its worst outcomes (highest common and lowest whiff fee) till some late-season tinkering helped get it again on track. His in-zone contact fee, in the meantime, put him in the identical neighborhood occupied by Kyle Gibson, Chris Flexen, and Carson Fulmer, amongst others. Thoughts you, not one of the above prevented Burnes from notching one other high-quality season. His command stays very good, enabling him to regulate high quality of contact the way in which few others can. Burnes himself has defined away his strikeout fee by saying he was prioritizing early outs. Possibly so, however we suspect groups will assume a bit longer and a bit tougher than they anticipated to earlier than handing him a long-term deal.
As famous, Burnes has seen his strikeout fee step by step slip since turning into a full-time member of the rotation in 2021. He struck out 35.6% of the batters he confronted in 2021, a top-of-the-line quantity for a starter. That dipped to 30.5% in 2022, 25.5% in 2023, and an nearly completely league common 23.1% in 2024. Burnes stays wonderful, however that may be a noticeable decline. Burnes gained the NL Cy Younger Award as a member of the Brewers in 2021, and he is now completed within the high 10 of the Cy Younger balloting for 5 straight years. Burnes enters the 2025 season with a profession ERA+ of 129 and a profession WAR of 17.1 throughout elements of seven major-league seasons.
With Arizona, Burnes joins a doubtlessly sturdy rotation that additionally consists of Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt. The Diamondbacks, who gained the Nationwide League pennant in 2023, are coming off a 2024 season by which they went 89-73 and simply missed securing a wild-card spot within the postseason.
