Insider Says Yankees Never Made Offer To Former NL Cy Young Winner in Free Agency

The New York Yankees reportedly never made an offer to a former NL Cy Young winner this past offseason.

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Corbin Burnes against the Milwaukee Brewers in the first inning of a spring training game on Feb. 26, 2025, in Scottsdale at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick | Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Entering the offseason coming off a disappointing World Series defeat, the New York Yankees seemed determined to add starting pitching help.

They did exactly that, handing Max Fried a record-setting $218 million deal that is the most amount of money ever given to a left-handed pitcher.

That addition was supposed to give the Yankees a formidable one-two punch at the top of their rotation alongside Gerrit Cole, but with the established ace undergoing Tommy John surgery ahead of the season, the new front-end starter has now been thrust into that role.

With all the injuries that New York suffered during the spring, it's easy to look back and say the front office should have done more to create depth.

A name that was constantly thrown around as a potential target of the Yankees was Corbin Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner who spent the 2024 campaign with the Baltimore Orioles after they put together a strong trade package to land him.

It felt like New York was only going to add one starter to the mix, especially because Luis Gil was coming off his AL Rookie of the Year-winning campaign and Clarke Schmidt looked solid when he was available to pitch.

And when it was Fried who got the big money from the Yankees instead of Burnes, that seemed to end the possibility that the star right-hander would also be added to the mix.

However, it seems like it was never a possibility that Burnes was coming to the Bronx.

Per Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, the front office never made an offer to the star.

Since New York was already full of right-handed pitchers, the plan to add an elite lefty like Fried was not a poor one.

Still, it's surprising to hear the Yankees never even offered Burnes a contract, suggesting they really weren't interested in signing him this past winter despite the initial reach out.

With Cole out for the year, Gil on the shelf until the summer and Schmidt missing time to start the year, there's a chance they regret that decision.