Corbin Burnes leaves Blue Jays, Giants empty-handed with surprise D'Backs signing

The next big free-agent domino to fall — and perhaps the biggest remaining this offseason — was indubitably Corbin Burnes as the former NL Cy Young winner who spent last season in Baltimore remained looking for a new home. He found that home in, well, the Arizona resident's hometown teams, reportedly signing a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks in late hours of Friday in Phoenix.

Burnes ultimately signed with a proverbial sleeper in free agency as the Diamondbacks weren't a team that we'd seen seriously mentioned as a suitor for the free-agent right-hander on the open market. But he now joins the likes of Max Fried and Blake Snell as the biggest arms available this offseason to sign monster deals with their new teams.

So let's break down the Burnes contract details according to reports and also assess what it means for Arizona and the two most notable teams that missed out, the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants.

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Corbin Burnes contract grade, details for Diamondbacks

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, Burnes signed with the D'Backs on a six-year, $210 million contract. What's interesting is that the deal comes with an opt-out after the 2026 season, which could put him position to get another mega-deal, albeit shorter term, in just a couple of years down the road.

With Burnes taking this long to sign, though, it had felt like a surprise team could enter the fray and get a deal done with the free-agent righty. Arizona obviously took advantage of that with a deal that not only offers the aforementioned opt-out flexibility but also pays the former Brewer and Oriole an average annual value of $35 million.

For Arizona, though, this surely signals that they have more moves to make with their rotation this offseason but they should be able to come by that. Furthermore, just a few days since the Josh Naylor trade, it's abundantly clear that Arizona faltering after the 2023 World Series appearance didn't sit right. They're going for it in a big way and got a relatively good deal on a force multiplier for an already talented rotation.

Diamondbacks grade for Corbin Burnes: A-

Blue Jays, Giants left in the cold with surprise Corbin Burnes signing

The two teams most often connected to Burnes this offseason had been the Blue Jays and Giants, as mentioned. So for neither to come away from this offseason with arguably the top pitcher on the market is quite brutal.

San Francisco can take some solace in the fact that they've already taken part in the blockbuster tier of free agency by landing shortstop Willy Adames. However, putting Burnes with the likes of Logan Webb and a host of talented young arms could've given them, at least on paper, far more of a puncher's chance against the rival Dodgers in the NL West. Unfortunately, it's now another divisional foe that has that advantage coming to the mound.

Ross Atkins and the Blue Jays still might feel the sting of this more keenly. Toronto has basically been begging any big-name free agent to take their money on a lucrative contract but has absolutely nothing to show for it. More importantly, it has to feel even worse to see Burnes going to Arizona on the same day that a reunion with Teoscar Hernandez was also ruled out of the equation.

Both teams will surely remain active after the Burnes whiff but, unfortunately, most of the remaining free agents, especially in the pitching market, don't quite compare to what the right-hander will now bring to the table with the D'Backs.