"Far more interest in Roki Sasaki than Corbin Burnes" - Cubs insider rules out Chicago destination for 4x All-Star Cy Young winner

Roki Sasaki and Corbin Burnes, two top starting aces of this off-season, are still available. MLB insider Patrick Mooney reckons the Chicago Cubs are far more keen on signing Sasaki than they are on Burnes.

"[For] these two pitchers, I don't see any sort of opportunistic value deals," Mooney said on the North Side Territory podcast on the Foul Territory Network.

"Obviously, Sasaki is a guy [who] will come on a nice, affordable minor league contract. The Cubs have shown far more interest in signing Sasaki than Burnes. I'd be really surprised to see them even give a token effort into signing Corbin Burnes. That seemed ruled out pretty early."

Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-hander, is set to join the MLB next year as an overseas free agent. He has been one of the dominant pitchers in the NPB league of Japan in recent years but will be available for a minor league contract as he has played less than six years of professional baseball.

Corbin Burnes remains expected to sign a $30 million AAV deal

Corbin posted an excellent 2024 campaign with the Orioles (Image Source: Imagn)

Corbin Burnes was traded to the Baltimore Orioles before the 2024 season. He finished the regular season 15-9 with a 2.92 ERA and 1.096 WHIP over 194.1 innings. In his only playoff start, he allowed just one earned run in eight innings as his team was eliminated by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Wild Card Series.

Burnes rejected $21.05 million qualifying offer from the Orioles at the end of the 2024 season to test free agency. According to Forbes, the 30-year-old is expected to sign a contract with an average annual salary of about $30 million.

So far, fellow free agents like Blake Snell and Max Fried have signed mammoth contracts while he awaits to sign a similar if not better deal.