Orioles’ Projected $288 Million Ace Reveals Desires for Upcoming Free Agency

Getty Orioles ace Corbin Burnes is set to cash in this winter during free agency. What else could he be looking for in his next contract?

The Baltimore Orioles are primed to reach the postseason for the second straight year. Starting pitcher Corbin Burnes is playing a major role after being acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in February.

Burnes is earning $15.6 million this season, his final campaign before entering free agency. Could the Scott Boras client stay in Baltimore for the long haul? If so, what will it take to make that happen?

The 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner spoke with The Athletic’s Will Sammon about his upcoming free agency during Baltimore’s recent trip to Citi Field to face the New York Mets. Burnes revealed two things he’ll want to know more about any team pursuing him this winter. One is whether the squad is set up to be a consistent winner. The other is an organization’s reputation for how a player’s family is treated (he’s married and has three young kids).

“I am going to have to do a lot of research this offseason of farm systems, young guys coming up, groups of core guys that are on a team,” Burnes said. “Where does it look like teams are going to be competitive? Where are teams just looking to spend some money to make the fan base happy? Whatever it might be.”

Corbin Burnes Is Preparing to Cash in as a Free Agent

Burnes’ recent performance has set him up nicely for his first trip into the open market. The right-hander has been one of the game’s best hurlers since 2020. He’s posted a 49-28 record with a 2.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 911 strikeouts in 781.2 innings. This has included four All-Star Game selections and four top-10 finishes in Cy Young Award voting, per Baseball-Reference.

The 29-year-old has had an excellent platform season in 2024 with Baltimore. He’s 12-6 with a 3.28 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 146 strikeouts in 159.1 innings pitched. Burnes is also on his way to starting at least 28 games for the fourth straight year. There have been several contract projections for him as he approaches free agency. While they’ve differed slightly, they’re all quite lucrative.

On March 4, Tim Britton of The Athletic projected an eight-year, $260 million deal for the hurler. Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report boldly predicted on July 18 that Burnes would sign a seven-year, $255.5 million extension with Baltimore.

With the regular season almost over, the hurler will likely test free agency. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer predicted on August 1 that Burnes would sign an eight-year, $288 million deal with the Boston Red Sox.

Corbin Burnes Has Been Ready to ‘Test the Market’

While Burnes didn’t get dealt until spring training was already underway, his name popped up in the trade rumor mill consistently throughout this past offseason. Fellow starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow was in a similar contract situation to Burnes before getting traded and then signing a contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

When asked about that last December during an appearance on the Foul Territory TV show, he made his desire to test the free-agent market quite apparent.

“Being in my shoes, being a year away from [free agency], I think if a trade-and-extension type of deal came up — obviously, every guy that gets this close to free agency wants to test the market to see what your true dollar amount is, see what teams really are in on you,” he said. “It would have to be something that would just absolutely blow you away to get you away from testing the free agent market and being able to choose where you want to go. I think that’s one thing every player in their career wants to get to. Once you get that six years of service time — which for a lot of guys takes seven, eight, sometimes nine years to get to — you get that chance to test the market and see what your top dollar is.”