In what is easily the most astonishing move of the winter so far — sorry, Luis Severino to Sacramento, you’ve been usurped — the Snakes of Arizona spent a staggering amount of cash ($210 million over six years) on free agent right-hander Corbin Burnes.

The best available starting pitcher on the market was reportedly aggressively pursued by San Francisco and Toronto. Instead, he chose a D-backs team that didn’t appear to be in dire need of a rotation reinforcement but still took advantage of the chance to add elite talent to its roster. Early reports suggested the Giants and Blue Jays were offering larger deals, but Arizona’s lower taxes helped bolster the Snakes’ offer. Additionally, Burnes and his wife Brooke welcomed twins earlier this year, and signing with the Snakes will mean he will have significantly more time at their home in Scottsdale.

While Burnes appears to have turned down larger player numbers for lower taxes and family comforts in the desert, let’s not act as if he signed a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training. No, he didn’t end up securing a particularly long eight or even nine-year contract – which many expected of him, especially after Max Fried signed an eight-year deal – but Burnes’ average annual value of $35 million was on par with Stephen Strasburg sixth place. highest ever for a starting pitcher. And with an opt-out reportedly scheduled after two years, Burnes could re-enter the market after 2026 at age 32 – the age Blake Snell is now – and start making money elsewhere if he continues performs excellently and decides to forego the rest. Take care of the snakes. It’s clear that this contract offers Burnes a combination of immense financial security and personal comfort while adding an ace to a contending roster.

There’s also an element of this deal that lessens the shock factor considerably: There’s a certain déjà vú at play. It’s been nearly a decade since the same franchise came out of nowhere in December and signed star right-hander Zack Greinke to a six-year, $206.5 million deal after Greinke opted out of the three-year deal with 71 years remaining on his Dodgers contract had millions of dollars left over. Back then, Greinke was two years older than Burnes is today, but he was also in the middle of his prime and had an even better season than Burnes in 2024, having led the NL in ERA and WHIP and finishing second in NL Cy Young voting . The Dodgers were serious about keeping Greinke, but weren’t willing to make the same effort as Arizona.

While the contract size and stature of the pitcher the Snakes surprisingly signed feel similar, there are also some noticeable differences between these two gargantuan signings. Greinke joined a D-Backs team that hadn’t had a winning season since 2011. He was a veteran ace brought in to anchor a young group of talented but unproven forces like Robbie Ray, Patrick Corbin, Archie Bradley and Shelby Miller. The trend in Arizona seemed to be headed in the right direction — finally reaching October 2017 after a disastrous 93-loss season in Greinke’s first season in the desert — but he wasn’t exactly joining a proven winner.

Conversely, Burnes joins a hungry D-Backs team that is just a year removed from an NL pennant and just shy of another postseason appearance in 2024. Additionally, he becomes the star attraction on a pitching staff full of veterans, including two just signed big deals last winter in Eduardo Rodriguez and Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery’s horrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad 2024 seems to leave him out as the odd man out – the D-backs would certainly be happy to give up his contract via trade – but a healthy E-Rod should welcome Burnes alongside right-handers Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly lead an extremely successful rotation. Add in 26-year-old Brandon Pfaadt, who looks to be one of the better No. 5 starters in the world, and Arizona appears to have built one of the deeper starting lineups in the National League.

This big commitment to Burnes also represents something of a forward-looking move, as both Gallen and Kelly are slated to hit free agency next winter. The D-Backs have decent pitching depth in the upper echelons of their farm system, but nothing resembles a future ace who could step in if Gallen and Kelly depart. Burnes is now filling this potential gap in a big way – at least for 2026 (don’t forget the opt-out!).

After a terribly quiet first month of the offseason, Arizona has made two aggressive moves in recent weeks to restore its prominence in the National League hierarchy: first, signing first baseman Josh Naylor from Cleveland to replace Christian Walker replace, and now this gigantic agreement with one of the best starting pitchers on the market. With key offensive players Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk no longer in tow, some questions remain about the depth of the lineup, and the bullpen – a clear weakness – also has holes.

But Burnes was one of the few players on the market who could significantly increase a roster’s floor and ceiling, even if he didn’t seem to fill an obvious need in Arizona. This is a big win for the D-backs, who are looking to keep their window open, and a big blow to the runners-up for Burnes’ services – San Francisco and Toronto – who once again fell short in their search for a superstar.