Corbin Burnes is the Diamondbacks’ $210 million reminder that they see themselves as NL contenders

In what is easily the most astonishing move of the winter – sorry, Luis Severino to Sacramento, you’ve been usurped – the Snakes of Arizona spent a staggering bucket of cash ($210 million over six years) on the free-agent right. Donor Corbin Burnes.

The best available starting pitcher on the market was reportedly aggressively pursued by San Francisco and Toronto. Instead, he chose a D-backs team that didn’t appear to be in dire need of a rotation reinforcement, but still took advantage of the opportunity to add elite talent to its roster. Early reports suggested the Giants and Blue Jays offered larger deals, but Arizona’s lower taxes helped relatively increase the Snakes’ offer. Additionally, Burnes and his wife Brooke welcomed twins earlier this year, and signing with the Snakes will mean he will have significantly more time at their home in Scottsdale.

While Burnes may have spurned larger player numbers for lower taxes and family comforts in the desert, let’s not pretend he signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. No, he ultimately didn’t secure a particularly long eight or even nine-year contract that many expected from him, especially after Max Fried signed an eight-year deal. But with an AAV of $35 million, Stephen Strasburg achieved the sixth-highest amount ever for a starting pitcher. And with an opt-out in his contract after two years, Burnes could re-enter the market after 2026 at age 32 – the same age Blake Snell is now – and start making money elsewhere if he continues to excel and commit to it decides to forgo the rest of his deal with the Snakes. This contract clearly offers Burnes a combination of immense financial security and personal comfort while adding him to a competitive roster.

There’s also an element of this deal that lessens the shock factor considerably: There’s a certain déjà vú at play. It’s been nearly a decade since the same franchise came out of nowhere in December and signed star right-hander Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5 million deal after Greinke opted out of the three-year, $71 million deal remained on his Dodgers contract. Greinke was then two years older than Burnes is today, but was also in the middle of his prime and had an even better season than Burnes in 2024, having led the NL in ERA and WHIP and finishing second in NL Cy Young votes. The Dodgers were serious about keeping Greinke, but weren’t willing to make the same effort as Arizona.

While the contract size and stature of the pitcher the Snakes surprisingly signed feel similar, there are also some noticeable differences between these two gargantuan signings. Greinke joined a D-Backs team that hadn’t had a winning season since 2011. He was a veteran ace brought in to anchor a young group of talented but unproven forces like Robbie Ray, Patrick Corbin, Archie Bradley and Shelby Miller. The trend in Arizona seemed to be headed in the right direction — finally reaching October 2017 after a disastrous 93-loss season in Greinke’s first season in the desert — but he wasn’t exactly joining a proven winner.

Conversely, Burnes now joins a hungry D-Backs team that is just a year removed from an NL pennant and just shy of another postseason appearance in 2024. Additionally, he becomes the star attraction on a pitching staff full of veterans, including two who signed big deals last winter in Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery’s horrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad 2024 seems to leave him out as the odd man out – the D-backs would certainly be happy to move his contract elsewhere via trade – but a healthy E-Rod should have Burnes next right welcome – Hands Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly at the helm of a highly successful rotation. Add in 26-year-old Brandon Pfaadt, who looks to be one of the better No. 5 starters around, and Arizona appears to have built one of the deeper starting staffs in the National League. This big commitment to Burnes also represents something of a forward-looking move, as both Gallen and Kelly are slated to hit free agency next winter. The D-Backs have decent pitching depth in the upper echelons of their farm system, but nothing resembles a future ace who could step in if Gallen and Kelly depart. Burnes is now filling this potential gap in a big way – at least for 2026 (don’t forget the opt-out!).

After a terribly quiet first month, Arizona has made two aggressive moves in recent weeks to reassert its importance in the National League hierarchy: first, acquiring first baseman Josh Naylor from Cleveland to replace Christian Walker and now this gigantic deal with one of the best starting pitchers on the market. With key offensive players Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk no longer in tow, some questions remain about the depth of the lineup, and the bullpen – a clear weakness – also has holes. But Burnes is one of the few players on the market who can significantly increase a roster’s floor and ceiling, even if he doesn’t seem to fill an obvious need. This is a big win for the D-backs, who are looking to keep their window open, and a big blow to the runners-up for Burnes’ services – San Francisco and Toronto – who once again fell short in their search for a superstar.