Corbin Burnes surprises baseball world, signs six year, $210MM pact with Arizona (reports)
Corbin Burnes will not be coming to the Toronto Blue Jays.
While many Jays fans were skeptical that General Manager Ross Atkins would actually be successful in landing the coveted right-hander, most analysts had pegged the San Francisco Giants as the favourites to land Burnes, who was born and raised in California.
The one-time Cy Young winner and 4X All-Star will still be on the west coast however, signing a six year, $210MM deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks, a team not previously thought to be in the Burnes sweepstakes.
MLB Insider and NY Post Jon Heyman reported that the deal comes with an opt-out after year two.
It turns out that the biggest difference in Burnes heading to the desert was taxes.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale posted on X that both the Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants offered Burnes more money, but Arizona won out due to its significantly lower tax rate.
Burnes, originally drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, won the 2021 National League Cy Young Award, before spending last season with the Baltimore Orioles.
He finished 5th in Cy Young voting after going 15-9 with a 2.92 and striking out 181 batters in 194.1 innings.
The Burnes signing, coupled with Teoscar Hernandez re-upping with the Dodgers earlier on Friday, were two of the last big names available and will no doubt raise questions on Toronto's ability to lure superstars with Vladimir Guerrero Jr still unsigned.
Barring something big, the Blue Jays will head into 2025 with a rotation of Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis, and either Yariel Rodriguez or Jake Bloss.
