DENVER – So what took so long for the Chase Burns and the Cincinnati Reds to make their $105 million contract agreement official once they reached terms?
“Just paperwork. It took forever,” Burns deadpanned. “Brad (Meador) spilled coffee on the first contract. It took some time to print a new one.”
Meador, the Reds general manager, disputes a detail or two, but few dispute there was some spilled coffee and an extra trip to the printer involved on the morning Burns officially signed his 7-year extension on Saturday morning in Colorado.
“No,” Burns said of the process question. Jokes aside, “it was easy. Both sides did a great job.”
If the new contract had an immediate impact on the Reds’ emerging young ace it might have been underscored by the casually delivered joke from the ultra-competitive man of often few words with the media.
“It’s more than an organization for me,” said a more relaxed, upbeat Burns, who was drafted second overall by the Reds in 2024 and made his big-league debut less than a year later. “It’s family.
“I want to win a championship here,” he added. “I can’t thank the city of Cincinnati enough. It was a very easy choice.”
For all the inherent risks involved with big investments in any pitcher, the long-term deal might have been an even easier concept for the Reds, given how successful Burns has been so quickly since debuting – including 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA and an All-Star selection in this first full season in the big leagues.
“Chase is an exciting young pitcher, an All-Star this year, and we think the sky’s the limit for him,” team president Nick Krall said. “We know he works his butt off. He’s trying to get better. He’s a young pitcher in the big leagues, so he’s still developing, and he’s been pretty successful developing at this level.”
The sides reached agreement on the terms of the deal late Wednesday night, Krall said, and the typical process of finalizing the insurance policy on the contract – which involves a separate physical – delayed the official signing and announcement until July 18.
The MLB record deal for a pitcher with less than four years service time includes a $2 million signing bonus and the following annual salaries:
There are no option years on the contract.
And the deal that ties the biggest total value for a pitcher in franchise history is actually of higher value by one measure than Homer Bailey’s extension in 2014, because unlike Bailey’s six-year deal, this one includes no deferrals.
“It doesn’t feel real yet. I’m sure here soon, next year and the year after, it’ll start hitting me,” Burns, 23, said. “God can get you an opportunity, and he can also take it away. The biggest thing is staying humble, staying hungry.”
Krall said there is “nothing in process” with other potential extension targets. That includes rookie All-Star Sal Stewart and rookie infielder Edwin Arroyo. Additionally, starting pitchers Andrew Abbott, a 2025 All-Star, and Rhett Lowder, the No. 7 overall pick in the 2023 draft, said they have not been approached by the club at any point.
But the message should be clear, Krall suggests.
“We love our core group, and we do think they’ve got a lot of talent,” he said. “We’ve tried to lock a few guys up over the years, and we were successful with Chase and Hunter (Greene). We think (Burns) is a really good building block to build on for the future.”
Said Arroyo: “It probably opens doors. We’re all different obviously. It’s not that if he gets it we’re gonna get it. But we’re all young. So I feel that it might open doors for us, too.”
The timing of Burns’ signing coincides with a 2026 trade deadline that seems sure to involve a significant selloff of veteran players who are pending free agents, including pitcher Brady Singer, catcher Tyler Stephenson, DH Eugenio Suárez and relievers Brock Burke, Caleb Ferguson and Pierce Johnson.
How deep the cuts – and how big an overhaul – the Reds choose to undertake appear the biggest decisions between now and the Aug. 3 deadline.
Asked whether the Burns signing could be considered to have the added value of insurance against trading a high-value, controlled older starter (such as Greene), Krall said there was no connection in the club’s thought processes.
“This is a separate deal,” he said. “We looked at Chase as a guy we wanted to lock up for as many years as we could, and this is how we were able to get it done.”
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Chase Burns says $105 million deal with Reds ‘doesn’t feel real yet’
Reporting by Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Gordon Wittenmyer, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
