BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes should soon become a $200 million man. The 30-year-old right-hander is the top pitcher on the free-agent market this offseason, and he’s going to get paid handsomely because of it.
Heading into the Winter Meetings — which begin Monday in Dallas — Burnes is among the free agents in a bit of a waiting period. The Hot Stove hasn’t fully heated up because premier outfielder Juan Soto remains on the market, leaving multiple teams’ future finances uncertain.
One club will be adding a Soto mega-contract to its payroll. Those who miss out can pivot and potentially up their offers to other top free agents, such as Burnes.
If Burnes’ agent, Scott Boras, wants to get his client the biggest possible deal, then it makes sense to wait until Soto (also represented by Boras) gets signed.
The situation could develop into a top-tier bidding war, which is not something the Orioles have participated in since Mike Elias became general manager in November 2018. The team needed to be rebuilt. The ownership group at the time proved to be reluctant to spend big.
This offseason, there’s plenty of external belief that Baltimore — among the American League’s top teams the past two seasons — could finally ink some bigger deals. The time feels right.
The O’s are firmly in a window of World Series contention. They have a new ownership group that took over shortly before the 2024 season, with private equity billionaire (and Baltimore native) David Rubenstein operating as the club’s control person.
The funds will be there for the Orioles to increase their Major League payroll, if they aim to do so. Elias has made that known. Agents have heard it for themselves — Boras included.
“Mike has told me that Baltimore is in a position to be highly competitive, and we’re going to meet on a number of players,” Boras said at the GM Meetings in San Antonio last month. “So I definitely think that they have an attitude to pursue levels of acquiring some great players.”
Some within the industry are unsure as to exactly what level the analytic-driven O’s will be willing to spend for certain players. The club’s baseball operations department holds its transaction-related thought processes close to the vest, though Elias recently said Baltimore has already engaged in conversations regarding “high-end free agent deals over many years.”
A source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand that the Orioles were “in” on left-hander Blake Snell before he signed a five-year, $182 million deal with the Dodgers. It is unclear how much Baltimore would have been willing to pay the two-time Cy Young Award winner.
It’s no secret, however, that the O’s would love to bring back Burnes to anchor their rotation. He came over in a Feb. 1 trade with the Brewers and was everything the Orioles thought he’d be, pitching to a 2.92 ERA in 32 starts and finishing fifth in AL Cy Young Award voting.
That’s why other teams are interested, too. The Dodgers, Red Sox and Mets have all been linked to Burnes this offseason. The Giants are believed to have “significant interest” in the Bakersfield, Calif., native, a source told Feinsand. The Yankees have spoken with Burnes on a Zoom call, according to a report by MLB Network insider Jon Heyman. The Blue Jays held an in-person meeting with the righty, per MLB Network’s Jon Paul Morosi.
Heyman named the Yankees, Blue Jays, Red Sox, Giants and Orioles as the “main players” for Burnes.
For now, the market for Burnes is simmering, waiting for the Soto-sized domino to fall before further heating up. But eventually, the time will come for the Orioles to decide whether they’re willing to outspend other suitors to sign Burnes, or if they’d be better off exploring other potential targets on the free-agent or trade markets.
The most telling look into Baltimore’s beliefs may have been a comment made by Elias last month, when he indicated his team isn’t “going to spend money indiscriminately this offseason, come hell or high water.”
“We’re going to seek good talent evaluation, good long-term investments for the team,” Elias said. “We’re trying to keep a healthy franchise for a really long time.”
