SF Giants beat writer adds fuel to rumor mill with latest report

While some national MLB writers have connected the SF Giants to four-time All-Star Corbin Burnes, those rumors do not always carry a lot of weight. However, it is different when a local beat writer makes the connection. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle adds more fuel to that rumor by reporting that the Giants have been in contact with Burnes.

SF Giants beat writer adds fuel to rumor mill with latest report

Slusser even speculates that Burnes would be an appealing option to Buster Posey given his "bulldog" reputation. This is likely in reference to Burnes' durability on the mound.

Pitchers do not make 30 or more starts or throw 200 innings on an annual basis anymore. Teams have looked to optimize workloads for pitchers. This often means short trips to the injured list or protecting a pitcher from the third turn in the lineup by pulling them out early.

This was not necessarily the case all that long ago. Perhaps, the 2012 Giants are an extreme example of this but all five of their starting pitchers made at least 30 starts that season. In fact, only two others even made one start apiece for that club. I am sure you can guess Yusmeiro Petit but Eric Hacker was the other. This means that five starters combined to make 160 starts during the regular season.

In a way, it is why Logan Webb is a bit of a throwback pitcher. He pitches every fifth day and expects to soak up a lot of innings with every start. In some ways, Burnes is in a similar boat.

The 2021 NL Cy Young winner has made at least 28 starts in each of the past four seasons. And, he has tallied at least 190 innings in three of those years. Since the start of 2021, Burnes is fourth in baseball with 757 innings pitched. Webb is second with 761.1 frames pitched, sitting right ahead of Zack Wheeler, who has 758.1 innings. Aaron Nola leads the group at 778.2 innings.

Burnes would give the Giants both quality and quantity in a rotation that is mostly inexperienced outside of Webb and Robbie Ray. It should be noted that Ray had generally handled a solid workload before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Can the Giants expect that from him over the next two years?

That is a fair question to ask of any pitcher who throws a lot of innings. They only have so many good innings in their arm.

Burnes is coming off of a strong 2024 campaign in which he posted a 2.92 ERA in 194.1 innings with the Baltimore Orioles. He just completed his age-29 season but he could be looking for a six-or-seven-year deal, especially with Blake Snell signing a five-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers last week. Snell is nearly two years older than Burnes.

Adding Burnes makes a lot of sense for the Giants as well as plenty of other teams. They have hinted that they are planning to shed payroll in 2025 but the veteran pitcher could be an exception to this approach.