Corbin Burnes to Reportedly Sign with Diamondbacks

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December 27, 2024

Corbin Burnes to Reportedly Sign with Diamondbacks

(Dec. 27, 11:21 pm MST) — The Arizona Diamondbacks, whose pitching woes saw them miss the playoffs in 2024 despite leading the majors in scoring, have landed the highest-profile free agent starter remaining, reportedly agreeing to terms with right-hander Corbin Burnes. According to Jon Heyman via X (formerly Twitter), the deal will be for six years and $210 million with an opt-out after two years. The team has not yet confirmed the deal.

Breaking: Corbin Burnes to Diamondbacks, $210M, 6 years. opt out after 2 years.

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 28, 2024

Resume of Corbin Burnes

Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner while with the Milwaukee Brewers, will join the Diamondbacks after six seasons with the Brewers and one with the Baltimore Orioles. He has been an All-Star each of the past four seasons. The 30-year-old native of Bakersfield, California won the NL ERA crown in 2021, when he went 11–5 with a 2.43 ERA (58 ERA-minus) in 28 starts. Across 167 innings that season, he struck out 234 (35.6 K%), walked 34 (5.2 BB%), and had a 0.940 WHIP. In addition to winning that year’s Cy Young, he also finished 15th in MVP voting. His strikeout totals, strikeout percentage, and WHIP were third, first, and second in the NL, respectively. Additionally, he surrendered seven homers to the 657 batters he faced for a league-best 1.1 HR%.

Between 2021 and 2024, Burnes has been among the best starting pitchers in the majors. His WAR of 16.5 is fourth-best over that span, trailing only Zack Wheeler (22.6), Logan Webb (17.9), and Gerrit Cole (17.7). For pitchers with at least 500 innings pitched over that span, Burnes is third in ERA behind Max Fried (2.87) and future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer (2.92). His 125 starts are sixth, and his 757 innings are fourth. He is also second in strikeouts (858) and third in WHIP (1.020), trailing only Dylan Cease in strikeouts (891) and Scherzer and Wheeler in WHIP (0.976 and 1.018, respectively).

A Damaged Relationship

The Brewers had him for the first three of those four seasons, trading him to the Orioles on February 1, 2024, for pitching prospect DL Hall, third baseman Joey Ortiz, and future considerations. During Spring Training 2023, Burnes lost his arbitration case against the Brewers. The process, including some comments the Brewers made to the arbitrator, hurt Burnes’ relationship with the team. Knowing they would likely not re-sign him, they traded him to get a return before his final season prior to free agency.

A Boost to the Diamondbacks Rotation

Burnes joins a pitching staff that struggled in 2024, partly due to injuries and partly due to simply being ineffective. The Diamondbacks’ 4.62 team ERA was the third-worst in the National League, besting only the lowly Miami Marlins (4.73) and Colorado Rockies (5.47), both of whom lost 100 games or more. Their 1.350 WHIP, well above the NL-average 1.288, was also third-worst in the league, again only better than the Marlins (1.382) and Rockies (1.519). Also of concern for the Diamondbacks was their strikeout percentage (21.2%), once again third-worst in the NL behind the Marlins (21.0%) and Rockies (17.7%). Opponents batted .262 against the Diamondbacks, second-highest in the NL behind the Rockies (.285), and slugged .434, also second-highest in the NL behind the Rockies (.468).

Payroll

The Diamondbacks had a total payroll of $172.8 million in 2024, according to Spotrac.com — the highest in team history. Year-by-year details of Burnes’ contract were not available at press time. However, his contract has a $35 million average annual value. Adding that average to Spotrac’s projected total payroll (after arbitration) would make the team’s 2025 payroll $192.585 million.