The Cincinnati Reds signed right-hander Chase Burns to an eight-year, $215 million extension three weeks after his All-Star selection, the club confirmed Tuesday morning. The deal includes a full no-trade clause through 2028 and a $30 million club option for 2033. Burns threw 94 innings this season with a 2.68 ERA before the break.
The contract structure is unusual for Cincinnati's modern front office. Burns entered 2025 with zero years of service time, meaning the Reds could have controlled him through 2030 arbitration at roughly $60-75 million in total salary. Instead, they guaranteed $215 million to secure his age-27, -28, and -29 seasons outright. The AAV of $26.9 million ranks fourth among active right-handers behind only Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, and Jacob deGrom. The signing bonus—$40 million paid across two installments in January 2026 and 2027—is the largest ever for a pitcher with fewer than 200 career innings.
This is a franchise that entered the offseason with $89 million in 2025 payroll commitments, ninth-lowest in baseball. Owner Bob Castellini spent the prior three winters shedding contracts and trading Sonny Gray, Tyler Mahle, and Luis Castillo before their free agencies. The Burns deal reverses that pattern entirely. Cincinnati's projected 2026 payroll, including Burns and catcher Tyler Stephenson's $52 million extension from April, now sits near $165 million, higher than the club's Opening Day figure in any season since 2014. That implies either new revenue—the Reds are finalizing a $60-70 million annual streaming deal with Diamond Sports Group's restructured platform, expected to close by September—or a sale process that required a marquee retention. Castellini met twice in July with RedBird Capital and a separate consortium led by former Reds executive Walt Jocketty. Both groups requested visibility into long-term player commitments before proceeding.
The extension also eliminates uncertainty around Burns's 2026 arbitration case, which projection models pegged at $12-14 million for a single year. The Reds' baseball operations staff, led by president of baseball operations Nick Krall, historically avoids arbitration hearings—the club hasn't taken a player to a hearing since 2018. Locking Burns now means they sidestep three hearings and the risk of a Scott Boras-led negotiation in 2029 free agency. Boras represents Burns and negotiated deGrom's $185 million Texas deal at age 34. The $40 million bonus also front-loads cash obligations, a structure Castellini prefers for estate-planning purposes; he turned 82 in June.
Watch for Cincinnati to accelerate its infield rebuild this winter. The club has $58 million coming off the books after 2025, and general manager Brad Meador told a Louisville booster group in June the team would "be active" for a corner infielder. The Reds rank 28th in wRC+ from first and third base combined. Burns's extension pushes their competitive window forward by two years—they're no longer stockpiling for 2027-28, they're buying for 2026. Expect moves before Thanksgiving.
The deal also creates a comparable for Atlanta's negotiations with Spencer Schwellenbach, Houston's with Hunter Brown, and Detroit's with Jackson Jobe. All three pitchers have similar service clocks and All-Star résumés. None will sign for less than $200 million now.