Corbin Burnes places blame squarely on Brewers for lack of extension talks

The Milwaukee Brewers have yet to make much of an effort to extend star pitcher Corbin Burnes, and he wants to make it clear that’s not on him.

As the Brew Crew fight for a playoff spot, Burnes has one eye towards the future.

Milwaukee is far from a. guarantee to make the postseason. The one-time NL Central leaders have succumbed to the Cardinals, and fallen behind the Padres, Phillies and Braves in the NL Wild Card as well. They are barometer for most teams as it pertains to magic number, which is not a good place to be.

Should they not make the playoffs, someone will have to answer for those struggles. It’s unlikely to be Burnes, who is having another excellent season. The 2021 NL Cy Young winner has a 2.93 ERA and .977 WHIP in 28 games starter this season.

Brewers must make offseason progress on Corbin Burnes contract

Burnes is under contract until 2024, so there isn’t any major rush. But the notoriously-mid market Brewers are always up against the clock. Heck, Josh Hader was on the block for two whole seasons before he was finally dealt to the Padres. Surely Milwaukee doesn’t hope to do the same with Burnes.

“You would think,” said Burnes, per MLB.com. “You would think maybe there would have been some initial talks last offseason, but nothing.”

Burnes, for one, wants to stay in Milwaukee. Yet, even he isn’t averse to the franchise trend of entering arbitration, only to eventually be dealt away.

"“For anyone who isn’t on a long-term deal, once you get into your later years of arbitration, anything can happen,” Burnes said. “We saw it with Hader. We might see it this offseason. I don’t know what route the front office is going to take. It’s one of those things you start looking at. You hope you’re here for the long-term — two more years, seven more years, eight more years, 10 more years, whatever it may be — you hope to be in one jersey your entire career. But there’s other things that go into that."

If the Brewers are smart, they’ll get a long-term deal done sooner, rather than later. Burnes price tag will only rise from here.