A pair of major contracts handed out before the season haven’t paid off for the Chicago Cubs.
The team re-signed Cody Bellinger to a three-year, $80 million deal and gave manager Craig Counsell $40 million, but now sit on the brink of playoff elimination. However, that doesn’t mean the team will stop pursuing major deals for the best talent.
Reflecting on the offseason decisions facing Cubs’ president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, FanSided’s Robert Murray named Corbin Burnes, likely to be the most expensive pitcher on the market, as the team’s number-one priority.
“Burnes, however, should be the Cubs’ top target this offseason,” Murray wrote. “The right-hander has emerged as one of the best pitchers in baseball and would give Chicago a dominant ace atop the rotation alongside Shota Imanaga, among others.”
While the Cubs have had a disappointing season, their rotation does seem to be just a piece or two away from being one of Major League Baseball’s best. The team ranks in the top-10 for ERA and opposing batting average.
Burnes would immediately give the team a fearsome staff alongside Imanaga and Justin Steele. In seven big-league seasons, he’s maintained a 3.22 ERA with four All-Star nods and a Cy Young Award. This season, he’s pitched for a 3.06 ERA in 30 starts.
But adding him won’t be cheap.
“Like (Juan) Soto, Burnes will be expensive in free agency and it’s entirely possible the bidding exceeds $200 million,” Murray added. “After all, it isn’t often that a pitcher as dominant as Burnes … becomes a free agent.”
Burnes is sure to see his fair share of bidders. But here could be one factor that gives the Cubs an edge: Burnes pitched for Counsell during his entire six-year span with the Milwaukee Brewers. Hoyer, as well as the pitcher and manager, could be hoping to recapture some of that success next year with the Cubs.
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