The former Brewer and Oriole has been remarkably consistent in his career.
With three departing free agent starters, the Mets will be in the market for multiple pitchers this offseason. Due to his past success, as well as where he started his big league career, Corbin Burnes is a name that will be linked to Queens until he signs a new contract.
In 2016, one year after David Stearns became the general manager for the Milwaukee Brewers, and after pitching three seasons for St. Mary’s College of California, Burnes was drafted by the Brewers in round four of the MLB Draft. Burnes moved quickly through the ranks of the Brewers system, making his MLB debut in June of 2018. After appearing primarily as a relief pitcher in his first two and a half seasons, partly spent starting in the minors, once he joined the team for good in the summer of 2020, Burnes made 134 starts for the Brewers.
And what starts they were. In his three full seasons starting for Milwaukee, Burnes never made fewer than 28 starts a year, with an ERA between 2.43 and 3.39, and never notching fewer than 200 strikeouts in a season. In each season, Burnes was an All-Star and received Cy Young votes, winning the award in 2021. After being traded to the Orioles ahead of the 2024 season, Burnes continued his dominance, putting up his second lowest ERA as a full-time player, even if his strikeouts dipped slightly.
Over those four seasons, Burnes threw the fourth most innings in baseball (757.2), has the ninth lowest ERA (2.94), and was second in fWAR (19.2). In short, aside from former Met Zack Wheeler, no pitcher has been more effective since 2021.
As for the Mets, aside from Kodai Senga and David Peterson, there are three question marks in the rotation. Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn, and José Buttó all may compete for the fifth spot in the rotation, but all signs indicate that the Mets look to sign at least two starters.
The Mets are not just going after starters this offseason. They have been linked to both Willy Adames and Juan Soto already this winter, not to mention publicly discussing reunions with Pete Alonso and Sean Manaea. And so the question around Burnes isn’t if the Mets are interested – the most certainly are – but the question will more likely be is there room in the Mets’ budget.
And while Burnes had his issues in Milwaukee with the front office and a dispute over less than a million dollars in arbitration, this was after Stearns was replaced as general manager, so the relationship between the two should be reasonably intact.
While, yes, the Mets have a budget that they never had under the Wilpon ownership, Stearns has mentioned not wanting to handcuff the team in future years by being too aggressive for any one roster. So the question is whether or not Stearns and Steve Cohen are prioritizing a frontline starter – often times a bad investment – or whether Stearns is going to push for offensive help and fill the rotation with reclamation projects and, perhaps, a reunion with Manaea, last year’s successful roll of the dice.