The Baltimore Orioles made one of the best moves of the offseason last year.
Baltimore needed an upgrade for the starting rotation and responded by pulling off a blockbuster trade with the Milwaukee Brewers for 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes.
Burnes shined in 2024 for the Orioles and logged a 2.92 ERA across 32 starts. The 30-year-old was one of the best pitchers in the American League and had a 181-to-48 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 194 1/3 innings pitched.
The four-time All-Star is going to cash in this winter. He's arguably the second-best free agent available this winter just behind New York Yankees star Juan Soto. He's going to get a large deal and Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller predicted that he will land a $170 million deal to join the New York Mets.
"Contract Prediction: five years, $170 million to the New York Mets," Miller said. "Even though Corbin Burnes' strikeout rate dropped for the fourth consecutive year, the 2021 (National League) Cy Young winner posted a sub-3.00 ERA for the fourth time in the past half-decade—and ended his (only?) season with the Orioles with an eight-inning gem in the postseason...
"As mentioned with (Pete Alonso), the Mets' ability/willingness to get a deal done for Burnes hinges at least partially on whether they get Soto. They could get both, and it's infinitely more likely they get both Soto and Burnes than both Soto and Alonso, simply because they need to put in some work on their starting rotation this winter."
New York certainly isn't strapped for cash and could afford to sign anyone.
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