The Giants’ pursuit of right-hander Corbin Burnes is no secret. Especially not with Logan Webb and Willy Adames being vocal about their admiration for the former Cy Young Award winner.
Over the last three days, the Giants’ chances of signing the former Cy Young Award winner may have significantly increased thanks to another team’s activity.
The Boston Red Sox bolstered their starting rotation before Christmas, signing left-hander Patrick Sandoval to a two-year, $18.2 million deal and agreeing with right-hander Walker Buehler to a one-year, $21.05 million contract. Sandoval, who underwent Tommy John surgery last summer, will not be ready for Opening Day, but Buehler beefs up Boston’s five-man rotation.
These signings are not insignificant to the Giants. The Red Sox reportedly readied an offer for Burnes after left-hander Max Fried signed with the New York Yankees, according to Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam of MassLive. The Giants and Toronto Blue Jays were already the reported favorites to land Burnes; with the Red Sox signing Buehler and Sandoval, Boston might be out of the Burnes sweepstakes altogether.
Burnes will likely not sign a new deal until after Christmas, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and two faces of the Giants’ franchise have not been shy about advocating for Burnes to take his talents to San Francisco.
“You always want a guy like him,” Adames said at his introductory press conference. “You’re always going to have guys that are going to compete out there for you, and having a guy like that would be such an amazing addition.”
“If Corbin goes out there and throws, then I come and throw right after him the next day, it’s literally perfect,” Webb said on The Chris Rose Rotation. “We’re the complete opposite of pitchers, and I think that’s a good thing. You don’t want too many of the same guys. It’s almost like a perfect match.”
Similar to the first-base market, the list of available — and quality — starting pitchers is quickly dwindling. After Burnes, the best available free-agent starting pitcher is Jack Flaherty, whose market is a little tricky to read.
The right-hander turned in his best season since breaking out in 2019. Over 28 starts with the Tigers and Dodgers, the right-hander had a 3.17 ERA over 162 innings and won a World Series title with Los Angeles. Prior to that bounce back, Flaherty turned in a 4.42 ERA over 299 innings from 2020-23 as he dealt with injuries and diminished velocity.
Flaherty represents an uncertainty, and given the amount of existing uncertainty in San Francisco’s rotation, the Giants would be better off pursuing other options. At this juncture, though, there are not many other alluring options.
Many of the best free-agent starting pitchers have signed in recent weeks, a list that includes Buehler, Max Fried, Blake Snell, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea and Luis Severino. Aside from Burnes and Flaherty, the list of free-agent starting pitchers includes José Quintana, Kyle Gibson, Andrew Heaney Michael Lorenzen, 40-year-old Max Scherzer and 41-year-olds Justin Verlander and Charlie Morton.
There’s also the matter of Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who has reportedly met with several teams in recent days. Posey raved about Sasaki at the Winter Meetings, and while the Dodgers and Padres are the favorites to land the right-hander, the Giants could be making their own pitch.
“It would be a dream for us to get this guy. Just tremendous upside. Not too many arms in the world like his,” Posey said. “He’s a tremendous talent. He’s 23 years old. It’s fun to dream on. It’s fun to think about him at Oracle Park and him pitching deep into a game late in the year, the place rocking. We’d be over the moon to add a guy like that.”