Burnes, D-backs agree on six-year, $210 million deal (source)

Corbin Burnes and the D-backs agreed on a six-year, $210 million deal, a source told MLB.com's Mark Feinsand on Saturday. The deal includes an opt-out clause after 2026. The D-backs have not confirmed a deal.

Burnes was the headliner of this year's pitching free-agent market. The 30-year-old right-hander is a perennial Cy Young contender and was one of the best pitchers in the American League in his first season with the Orioles in 2024.

Burnes went 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA and 181 strikeouts in 194 1/3 innings over his 32 starts and was an All-Star for a fourth consecutive season. He ranked fourth in the AL in ERA -- behind only Triple Crown winner Tarik Skubal and Astros duo Ronel Blanco and Framber Valdez -- third in innings pitched, tied for fifth in wins and tied for 10th in strikeouts.

The National League Cy Young Award winner with the Brewers in 2021, Burnes arrived in Baltimore in a blockbuster trade between the Brewers and Orioles last February. Acquired to be the ace of a playoff contender, Burnes lived up to that billing with the O's.

Just as good in the AL as he was in the NL, Burnes led the Orioles back to the playoffs as the AL's top Wild Card team. Although the O's were eliminated in the Wild Card Series by the Royals, Burnes was brilliant in his lone postseason start, throwing eight innings of one-run baseball against Kansas City in Game 1.

Since he first became a starting pitcher during the 2020 season, Burnes has turned into one of the most dominant aces in baseball.

In his four full seasons as a starter, 2021-24, Burnes has a 2.94 ERA and has averaged 214 strikeouts a year. He won the Major League ERA title in his Cy Young season with a 2.43 mark, and he won the NL strikeout crown with a career-best 243 K's in 2022, his second of three consecutive 200-strikeout seasons.

Since 2021, Burnes ranks second in MLB with 858 strikeouts, behind only Dylan Cease (891). Among pitchers who have made at least 100 starts over that time, Burnes' 2.94 ERA is tied with Zack Wheeler for the second-lowest, behind only Max Fried (2.87). Burnes also has the fourth-most innings pitched (757) of any starting pitcher since 2021, with only Aaron Nola (778 2/3), Logan Webb (761 1/3) and Wheeler (758 1/3) having thrown more.

While in Milwaukee, Burnes helped lead the Brewers to the postseason multiple times, before doing the same for the Orioles last season. As a starter, he helped the Brewers make the playoffs as a Wild Card team in 2020 and as the NL Central champion in 2021 and 2023. He was also a key member of the Milwaukee bullpen during the team's run to the NLCS as a rookie in 2018.

Burnes was a free agent for the first time after seven big league seasons. A fourth-round Draft pick by the Brewers in 2016, Burnes is 60-36 with a 3.19 ERA and 1,051 strikeouts in 903 2/3 innings (10.5 K/9) over 199 career games, 138 of them starts.