Arguably one of the best three or four starting pitchers in all of baseball right now, Corbin Burnes is heading into the second-to-last year of team control with the Milwaukee Brewers. The sides could not come to terms on a deal to avoid arbitration, so this week, they had a hearing.
Burnes, who’d requested $10.75 million, lost to the Brewers. He’ll be paid $10.01 million instead.
The arbitration process, in which the sides argue for their requested salary using stats and player comparisons and a little bit of narrative, can be an ugly one. Sometimes, it can seem like the team is having to put down their own star player. It is best to be avoided if possible.
Fortunately for the Brewers, GM Matt Arnold said it was all going to be fine this week, telling Brewers.com: “He means a ton to our team and regardless of the outcome, we want to treat our players exceptionally well. Corbin has been a leader for our franchise. He has been a pillar for the community. He has done everything you could possibly ask and beyond. We respect the process. And Corbin is a pro. We know he is going to take the ball every day and dominate every fifth day like he has for years, whatever the outcome is today.”
And, now that the hearing has taken place and he’s lost, Burnes feels the same way, right? No hard feelings?
Well …
It doesn’t sound like Burnes is just upset that he lost the hearing – it’s more about how it all went down.
Burnes says he thought there were more respectful ways that the Brewers could’ve handled the hearing process, and said some things that didn’t need to be said. For example, he feels like they argued he was the reason the Brewers didn’t make the postseason (which would obviously be bonkers, given that he posted a 2.94 ERA over 202.0 innings, worth 4.6 WAR). He was clearly NOT happy with this process.
He also added that the Brewers’ efforts to avoid arbitration were not adequate:
Burnes, 28, was maybe always unlikely to sign a long-term deal with the Brewers at this point, now just two seasons away from free agency and into a price tier that the Brewers wouldn’t be willing to go for a pitcher. But now, it seems all the more unlikely – or at least, Burnes certainly doesn’t sound eager to give them a huge discount.