Merry, slightly belated, Christmas!
Well, I did not see that coming. But in arguably the most stunning move in franchise history, the team nobody thought had a chance has signed one of the biggest free-agent pitchers on the market this winter.
Breaking: Corbin Burnes to Diamondbacks, $210M, 6 years. opt out after 2 years.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 28, 2024
The move instantly surpassed the largest previous free-agent contract signed by the D-backs. The previous record holder took place nine years ago – and come to think of it, equally came out of nowhere. For in December 2015, Zack Greinke signed a six-year, $206.5 million contract with the Diamondbacks. Let’s hope this one ends up working out a bit better for the team.
Burnes was ranked by MLB Trade Rumors as the #2 free-agent on the market this winter, behind only Juan Soto. Their original estimate for him was a seven year, $200 million contract, which this clearly exceeds, both in total value and (massively) in AAV. However, such has been the trend so far. Blake Snell also surpassed his expected contract significantly ($182 million vs. $160 million) and Max Fried, expected to get 6/$156m ended up signing for 8/$218m with the Yankees. Such is the price of top-tier starting pitching.
We’ll have considerably more thoughts on this tomorrow – fortunately, I had already booked the day off work! But for now, I’m happy to go to bed with the knowledge of this signing!