Right-hander Corbin Burnes will not take the opt-out chance in his contract with the Diamondbacks, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. He will make $35MM annually through the 2030 season, though $11MM is deferred annually.
There wasn’t any suspense with this decision. Burnes and the Snakes agreed to a six-year, $210MM deal in December of 2024. His agent Scott Boras would later suggest that he turned down larger offers from other clubs because his family has a home in Scottsdale.
The first two years of the agreement have mostly been wasted. Burnes made 11 starts in 2025 before requiring Tommy John surgery. He was hoping to make it back around the 2026 All-Star break but suffered a teres major strain in June, delaying his timeline. He came off the injured list in September but made just three starts, with a 7.84 earned run average, before shoulder inflammation put him back on the shelf.
Burnes is very talented and has a Cy Young trophy on his mantel but it would have been unwise to turn down $140MM with that kind of platform. The family/geography considerations made it even less likely.
He will return to the Arizona rotation in 2027 and hope for better results going forward. It’s possible he may face workload restrictions after missing most of the past two years. Time will tell on that. On paper, he’s in the rotation next to Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt, Merrill Kelly and Ryne Nelson. The Snakes and Michael Soroka have mutual interest in a reunion. Even if Soroka doesn’t come back, they will likely bring in someone else to bolster the group.
Photo courtesy of Arianna Grainey, Imagn Images