PHOENIX -- The free-agent process features plenty of back-and-forth negotiation. Teams and players¡¯ agents trade salary figures and discuss contract lengths often from the time MLB¡¯s offseason begins in November and can continue them up until close to Spring Training at times.
Corbin Burnes got his first taste of free agency over the winter, when he eventually came to terms on a six-year, $210 million deal with the D-backs on Dec. 30. That decision ended his tenure with the Orioles after one season.
But Baltimore stayed in touch with Burnes and his agent, Scott Boras, during the winter months.
According to a source, the Orioles¡¯ final offer to Burnes was a four-year deal worth $180 million. However, the 30-year-old right-hander opted to instead sign with Arizona, which allows him to live year-round at his home in Scottsdale with his wife and three kids.
¡°I just don¡¯t think that we necessarily matched up on the years that it was going to take to kind of get to a dollar amount for me to stay there,¡± Burnes said of the O¡¯s offer prior to Tuesday¡¯s Orioles-Diamondbacks game at Chase Field. ¡°Now, I can¡¯t guarantee I would¡¯ve gone there had this offer not come around. Just kind of one of those things like the way it was lined up, us living here. If these guys [the D-backs] were going to be serious and have a fair offer, then this is where we were going to be. So it¡¯s tough to play the what-if game.
¡°But yeah, I mean, [the Orioles] were definitely interested. But this was by far, I think, the best offer that we had.¡±
Burnes added that Boras remained in negotiations with the Orioles until several days before he signed with the D-backs. Then, the talks with Arizona heated up and a contract came together quickly between the two parties during a 72-hour window.
However, Burnes was unsure why Baltimore did not offer a contract longer than four years.
¡°I¡¯m not sure. I don¡¯t know why that was,¡± Burnes said. ¡°Obviously, they¡¯ve got a young team over there that¡¯s going to be competitive for quite a long time. So yeah, that was kind of one of the things that we were scratching our heads at of where they kind of got the years from.
¡°Not to say they wouldn¡¯t have jumped up at the end if things got a little more serious. But just kind of even going back and forth a couple times with them, they were kind of set on those years.¡±
Although Burnes and the Orioles couldn¡¯t work out a return for the righty, there will forever be fond memories of his lone year in Baltimore.
After spending his first six MLB seasons with the Brewers, Burnes was traded to the O¡¯s ahead of the 2024 season. He went on to have one of the best seasons for a pitcher in Orioles history, recording a 2.92 ERA with 181 strikeouts in 194 1/3 innings over 32 starts. He earned his fourth career All-Star nod and finished fifth in American League Cy Young Award voting.
Burnes helped Baltimore go 91-71 -- finishing as the top AL Wild Card -- and then delivered a gem in Game 1 of the AL WIld Card Series vs. Kansas City. Although the O¡¯s lost, Burnes did his best to keep that from happening, tossing eight-plus innings of one-run ball in a 1-0 defeat.
¡°He¡¯s home [now] -- home for Spring Training, home for the season,¡± manager Brandon Hyde said. ¡°But yeah, we miss him. He was a bulldog for us last year, and we have a good relationship.¡±
Hyde and Burnes chatted on the field during batting practice on Tuesday. It was also an opportunity for Burnes to catch up with some of the Orioles players he shared a dugout with during a memorable season for both him and the team.
¡°The year we had last year with that group of guys, it was awesome,¡± Burnes said. ¡°They were a group that came up together, played together for a long time. I came in and it was like nothing else like that I'd been around my entire career. So it was great on them to incorporate me like that.
¡°Obviously, it still stings that we didn't go any further than we did in the postseason. But it's still a really good baseball team, as we saw [Monday] night. Just happy for those guys over there.¡±