Reds lock up Chase Burns after coffee spill delays $105M deal
Cincinnati signed 23-year-old All-Star Chase Burns to a seven-year contract through 2033 after a messy paperwork hiccup.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Chase Burns’ $105 million Reds payday hit one very human snag: someone spilled coffee on the contract.
The Cincinnati right-hander said Saturday in Denver that the signing of his seven-year deal was briefly held up after Reds general manager Brad Meador appeared to knock over a cup while the final paperwork was being handled, according to the Associated Press.
The fix was straightforward. Cincinnati printed a clean copy, Burns signed, and the Reds secured one of baseball’s quickest-rising young arms through the 2033 season.
“That took some time to print a new one out,” Burns said before the Reds played the Rockies, according to the AP. “That was easy.”
A record deal for a young pitcher
Burns’ contract is the largest guaranteed deal in Major League Baseball history for a pitcher with fewer than four years of service time, the AP reported. For pitchers with at least one year of service time, it beats the previous high by 40%.
The 23-year-old is coming off his first All-Star Game selection and has put up an 11-1 record with a 2.54 ERA this season, according to the AP.
Cincinnati took Burns with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 amateur draft out of Wake Forest. He has already joined rare club territory in Reds history: Burns is the second Cincinnati player to become an All-Star within two years of being drafted, alongside Scott Williamson, who was drafted in 1997 and made the All-Star team in 1999, according to the AP.
Cincinnati keeps betting early
The Burns extension continues a growing MLB pattern of teams moving fast to secure young talent before arbitration and free agency loom. The AP noted that the Reds’ NL Central rival, the St. Louis Cardinals, recently gave rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt an eight-year, $112.5 million deal.
Cincinnati has already done this with another arm. The Reds agreed to a six-year, $53 million contract with right-hander Hunter Greene in 2023, according to the AP.
The AP reported that Burns’ deal could point to similar talks with other young Reds players, including infielders Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz, though no agreements were reported.
Burns framed the deal as part of something bigger in Cincinnati.
“We're going to build something great here. I think we have a great set of guys,” Burns said, according to the AP. “I think we're going to keep getting better every year and that's the end goal, to win a championship.”
Reds see a building block
Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said the club believed it was the right moment to finish the agreement with Burns.
“We think the sky's the limit for him,” Krall said, according to the AP. “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 in developing at this level.”
Krall also pointed to the club’s broader young core, saying the Reds have tried to extend several players and have now succeeded with Burns and Greene.
“We think this is a really good building block to build on for the future,” Krall said, according to the AP.
This story draws on original reporting from ESPN.com.