The story surrounding Corbin Burnes’ arbitration process and lack of contract negotiations has taken another turn. To set the table, let’s recap what information has been made public regarding contract offers and salary numbers from both Burnes and the Brewers.
According to sources, both sides were close to an agreement in January before being formally required to exchange salary numbers. The figures exchanged included the Brewers filing at $10.01 million and Burnes $10.75 million.
After this information was made public, Burnes says the Brewers didn’t approach him with another offer until a few days prior to the hearing. This is when he received a “multi year offer” that included a club or mutual option for 2024. Burnes’ side did not think highly of this offer and they rejected.
From there, the ugliness of an arbitration hearing occurred in which Milwaukee put Burnes on the forefront of reasons why the team missed the post season in 2022. The Brewers ended up winning the hearing and saving $740,000 based on the numbers exchanged. In return, they have damaged their relationship with their Cy Young award winning pitcher.
This entire process could have been avoided if the two sides agreed on a salary before the hearing. What is interesting is that a source has said that Burnes would have accepted a $10.56 million salary for the 2023 season, but the Brewers never offered it.
Corbin Burnes would have accepted a $10.56 million salary for the 2023 season, but that offer was never made.
$10.56 million is not just a random number in between both what the Brewers and Burnes filed at. It is $190,000 less than Burnes’ original asking price and $550,000 more than what the Brewers filed at, but the number stems from another similar case that happened to Cleveland’s Shane Bieber.
Bieber earned $6 million during his first year of arbitration in 2022. His solid season last year earned him a $4.01 million raise this offseason. On the other hand, Burnes made $6.55 million last year in which he also was in his first year of arbitration. A matching $4.01 million raise would have put him at $10.56 million.
Unfortunately, the Brewers never offered Burnes $10.56 million and we are now left with another Milwaukee player whose relationship with the organization has been tarnished.
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