Mike Hazen and Corbin Burnes were joined by Ken Kendrick and Scott Boras
“It’s a great day to be a D-back”
That was how Ken Kendrick opened the press conference this afternoon, and I think that’s a sentiment that all Diamondbacks fans can get behind with this official announcement of the signing of ace pitcher, Corbin Burnes, to a six year, $210 million deal, helping further solidify the top of Arizona’s rotation. This was a move that took the baseball world by surprise. There were no rumors of it in the press, even of a mystery team for Burnes’ services. Despite that, Burnes found himself today in a press conference introducing himself to his hometown team.
For Burnes it represented a chance to be in an organization that wanted him, as well as being in a team poised to win, “When we heard that this could be an opportunity, I think we got really excited. This is something we’ve dreamed about. What happens if the Diamondbacks call, then we’re going to have to take it.” Later expanding, “For us the family aspect of it, living here, Scott (Boras) touched on it a little bit, being able to be at home year-round. Just kind of where we are at in our life with the twins being born in June and my son getting ready to turn three… Being able to spend the most amount of time with them is crucial”
On the baseball side of the equation, “When I realized in ‘23 that this team was something special. This is a team that is built to win baseball games and to win in the postseason. They showed that in ‘23… This is a really good, young baseball and they have many years of winning ahead of them… I want to come in and I want to win the entire time I’m here. Mike mentioned that we are going to continue to build and we’re going to win a lot of baseball games.”
Going into the offseason, Ken Kendrick says that they weren’t anticipating anything until they heard there was interest on the other side “We began to talk and realized there was probably a model that we could make work. We moved pretty aggressively through several days to get to the goal line, but when the offseason started it was not part of the business model. They helped it be part of the business model by reaching out.”
What does this mean for the team going forward? Mike Hazen wouldn’t say much about what the rotation will look like, wanting to focus on the pitcher of the hour, instead of the team at large. Bigger picture, though, Ken Kendrick hopes that this signing sends a message to the fans that the team is in it to win it, “When you bring a talent like Corbin to the table, I think it underscores that desire on the part of our leadership. We’re in a very competitive division, but I think our fans need to understand that we are very committed to being successful.”
Towards the sustainability of this drive to win, Kendrick was later asked to compare the current situation to how the team seemed to be handcuffed following the Greinke deal, “The economics are roughly the same, but our circumstances are different…Revenues have increased and we anticipate them continuing to increase, so the percentage of the our total that one player is a lower percentage of the total and we’re in a better position to invest than we were.”
In the league at large, Scott Boras adds that “Arizona is a real subject of concerns. Teams are worried about that hope to have playoff aspirations.” Now of course, everything an agent says should be taken with a grain of salt, as their job is to make their players (Boras also named dropped Gallen as a top shelf player that was already on the Diamondbacks) look as significant as possible, but that said, he also has to have his pulse on the entire league. If there is even a grain of truth to that, I think it speaks to the team that Kendrick and Hazen have worked to put on the table.
It’s all talk for now, but Spring Training is soon, with a just a little less than a month until pitchers and catchers report. All three members of the Diamondbacks team on the podium referenced the fact that that you never know what is going to happen, but there’s a lot of exciting potential represented in this signing, as well as what we’ve seen over the past two years from this team.
It’s a great day to be a D-back, indeed.