Report: Cubs Not Expected To Pursue Corbin Burnes

By: Jacob Zanolla

Scott Boras has been known to make witty comments about all of his top clients, and it’s finally time to hear his 2024 editions. His Burnes joke was, “Essentially, he continues to be a Corbin copy of his previous seasons.” Sure, it’s clever, but quite underwhelming compared to his other players that were mentioned beforehand.

Patrick Mooney and Sahadev Sharma of The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the Cubs are unlikely to do any business with the top tier of Boras clients (Jesse Rogers re-iterated this on ESPN radio later Wednesday afternoon). This confirms the assumption that neither Juan Soto or Corbin Burnes will be wearing pinstripes on the North Side this upcoming season. The Soto part isn’t surprising, but I was hoping the Cubs would be able to find themselves in the race for Burnes. He has connections to Craig Counsell, and the fact that the two are still friends led me to believe there was hope.

On the other hand, Burnes will be receiving a massive contract that is more than likely going to be an overpay. There is also a worry around the industry that he is on the decline, which is another reason the Cubs would not want to hand out that contract. Instead, Max Fried and Jack Flaherty are more realistic options, with Fried leading the pack of remaining starting pitchers. Don’t forget Roki Sasaki as well, who is expected to be posted this winter.

The Athletic projects that Burnes will receive a seven year contract worth $247 Million. This would be the third biggest contract for a pitcher in baseball history, only behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Gerrit Cole. If there’s one thing that we have learned from Tom Ricketts and the current front office, they do not want to give out any big contracts. Dansby Swanson’s $177 Million contract is their largest to date, and I doubt they spend $70 Million more for a pitcher.

As much as I want the Cubs to spend big this winter and really build a competitor, I’m totally fine with them passing on Burnes. Sure, he’s a really good pitcher that would win the team a lot of games. Using that money on someone like Max Fried and then a bat would be even more ideal.