Corbin Burnes Reportedly Offered $45M AAV Contract by Orioles, Picked D-Backs' $35M

Corbin Burnes signed a six-year, $210 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks this offseason that includes a player opt-out clause after the 2026 season. That deal is worth $35 million per year in average annual salary, but he reportedly could have gotten an even bigger deal in AAV from the Baltimore Orioles.

Roch Kubatko of MASN reported that the Orioles offered him a four-year, $180 million contract with a $45 million AAV that would have set an MLB record for pitchers (excluding Shohei Ohtani).

On Tuesday, Burnes verified that the Orioles offered him less years than Arizona.

"The dollars [in Arizona] were more than what they were [in Baltimore]," he told reporters. "I just don't think we matched up on the years it was going to take to get to a dollar amount for me to stay there. Now, I can't guarantee I would have gone there had those offers come around just because the way it was lined up, with us living here, if [the Diamondbacks] were going to be serious and have a fair offer, then this is where we were going to be. It's tough to play the 'what-if' game."

A $10 million difference in AAV is no small chunk of change, though Arizona offered more long-term security with the years and total money on the table, alongside the possibility for an AAV increase in free agency if he decides to opt out after two seasons. In both regards, it's easy to see how the Arizona offer was preferable.

Either way, he was going to get paid, an deservedly so. The 30-year-old Burnes is a four-time All-Star and a former NL Cy Young Award winner. He was excellent for the Orioles last season, finishing 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 194.1 innings.

He's gotten off to a rockier start this season, going 0-1 in two appearances with a 5.79 ERA and 1.92 WHIP, only lasting 9.1 innings. The Diamondbacks paid him serious money on the assumption that such rocky stretches would be relatively short-lived. Time will tell if they'll regret not taking Baltimore's approach of offering a massive AAV but less years.