Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) is relived against the Kansas City Royals in the ninth inning in game one of the Wild Card round for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Oct 1. Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

Baltimore Orioles Pending Free Agent Predicted to Get $200 Million on Open Market

Originally posted on Fastball on SI | By Brady Farkas | Last updated Nov 5, 2024 9:50 AM ET

On Monday, MLBTradeRumors put out their annual list of the 50 best free agents in baseball this season. Juan Soto heads the list, as he's coming off an incredible season with the New York Yankees. He also hits the market at just 26 years old, an extreme rarity in today's game.

Sitting at No. 2 on that list? Right-handed pitcher Corbin Burnes, who just came off his own great year with the Baltimore Orioles. Now, there are four personalities that make up the MLBTR team and two of them predicted that Burnes would sign with the Boston Red Sox. The other two predicted that he would sign with the New York Mets. The speculation is all well and good, and both of those teams could use a front-line starter, but what we're most interested in is the contract prediction for Burnes.

MLBTradeRumors is generally spot on with their arbitration numbers, so the contract predictions can certainly be counted on to be in the ballpark, especially for the top free agents.

The prediction on Burnes? Seven years and $200 million.

All the team predictions, all the analysis, all the contract projections....

....it's the MLBTR Top 50 Free Agents listhttps://t.co/6IxZxdWN2X pic.twitter.com/UHSeJ4ZbKz
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) November 5, 2024

That seems like a relative drop in the bucket for the Mets, who are the biggest spenders in the sport. Furthermore, they will also see a lot of money drop off the books in the offseason in the form of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. They need starters as Jose Quintana is a free agent. Sean Manaea and Luis Severino are as well, though both were issued qualifying offers.

As for the Red Sox, that is certainly affordable for them, but nearly $30 million committed to one player hasn't been their way of doing business lately. Since winning the World Series in 2018, the team has drastically reduced spending. They did pay Rafael Devers but they traded away Mookie Betts and let Xander Bogaerts go in recent offseasons. They haven't spent at the top of the market on outside players in years.