The Arizona Diamondbacks have landed the perfect beginning pitcher on the free-agent market. The D-backs and righty Corbin Burnes have agreed to a six-year contract value $210 million, stories the New York Put up. In keeping with Heyman, Burnes’ contract with Arizona contains 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 Sport; he is among the many league leaders in innings pitched for the reason that pandemic; and he is proved that his recreation works each contained in the American League and out of doors of Milwaukee, as if there was any doubt. But if you happen to look carefully sufficient at his profile, you will discover some hints of potential decline. For starters, Burnes’ strikeout charge deteriorated for a fourth yr 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 charge) till some late-season tinkering helped get it again heading in the right direction. His in-zone contact charge, 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 excellent, enabling him to manage high quality of contact the way in which few others can. Burnes himself has defined away his strikeout charge by saying he was prioritizing early outs. Perhaps so, however we suspect groups will suppose a bit of longer and a bit of more durable than they anticipated to earlier than handing him a long-term deal.
As famous, Burnes has seen his strikeout charge steadily 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 virtually completely league common 23.1% in 2024. Burnes stays wonderful, however that could be a noticeable decline. Burnes received the NL Cy Younger Award as a member of the Brewers in 2021, and he is now completed within the prime 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 probably sturdy rotation that additionally contains Zac Gallen, Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt. The Diamondbacks, who received the Nationwide League pennant in 2023, are coming off a 2024 season during which they went 89-73 and simply missed securing a wild-card spot within the postseason.
