After Max Fried’s signing with the New York Yankees, Corbin Burnes is the undisputed top pitcher on the MLB free agency market, which very well may create a bidding war. And the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants are reportedly willing to pay a hefty price to sign Burnes.
But while Toronto and San Francisco are in on the chase for Burnes, they’re going to have some stiff competition.
“The Giants and Blue Jays are among a half-dozen teams showing significant interest in star right-hander Corbin Burnes, and new Giants baseball president Buster Posey met late Tuesday with Burnes’ agent, Scott Boras,” according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman. “Both these teams put in outstanding efforts to sign big-time players, and while both have experienced some struggles in that area, it’s possible the Giants could hold an allure for Burnes, a California native who’s spent his career in Milwaukee and Baltimore.
“The Jays, at many times the dollar leader in the Juan Soto sweepstakes, also are in the mix.”
Heyman also wrote that the Baltimore Orioles, to whom Burnes was traded by the Milwaukee Brewers before the 2024 season, are also interested in bringing back Burnes. In his lone season with Baltimore, Burnes earned All-Star and All-MLB First Team honors after a year in which he posted a 2.92 ERA, 181 strikeouts, 3.55 FIP, and 1.096 WHIP.
The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, both of whom were reportedly interested in Burnes and Fried, “presumably” have “diminished” interest in Burnes now, according to Heyman. After missing out on the Juan Soto sweepstakes, New York managed to sign Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal, while Boston executed a trade with the Chicago White Sox to acquire Garrett Crochet in exchange for several top prospects.
Corbin Burnes signing would be huge coup for Giants, Blue Jays
While the Giants were reportedly expected to take a step back in terms of spending this offseason, they already landed Willy Adames with a $182 million deal. Not nabbing Burnes for Toronto, though, would feel like another big loss.
Toronto was among the top teams in pursuing Shohei Ohtani a year ago but swung and missed on the two-way superstar, with matters being made worse by a flight-tracking saga that got Jays fans’ hopes up. The Blue Jays, as Heyman mentioned, were also bidding to sign Soto this offseason. But they again were denied a superstar; Soto eventually agreed to a 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets.
Last season, Jose Berrios (3.60 ERA, 2.2 WAR) and Bowden Francis (3.30 ERA, 1.6 WAR) anchored Toronto’s starting rotation, while the Giants heavily relied on Logan Webb (3.47 ERA, 3.7 WAR) and Blake Snell (3.12 ERA, 2.1 WAR), the latter of whom signed this offseason with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
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