No one knows Corbin Burnes better than the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers watched his homegrown talent develop into a Cy Young Award winner in 2021.
Unfortunately for the Brewers, who face his former teammate in Baltimore on Sunday, no one knows more than Barnes what Brewers management did to Barnes in his arbitration hearing before the start of his final season in Milwaukee. There is no one there.
He lost the case after the team fought him over just a few hundred thousand dollars. He received $10.01 million instead of the $10.75 million he had requested.
It was painful for Burns, who attended his own hearing and heard all the unpleasant things that are often said at such meetings.
And that likely led to the blockbuster trade that signed him with the Orioles in the offseason.
“There’s no denying that the relationship is definitely hurting.” [transpired] In recent weeks, Burns told reporters. “There’s really no way around it” after the arbitrator announces the decision in February 2023.
How will this incident, now more than a year in the rearview mirror, affect Sunday’s game against Milwaukee?
Is it a big deal? Is it a small transaction? Don’t trade at all?
Let’s take a closer look.
Brewers vs Orioles odds
| team | run line | money line | total |
|---|---|---|---|
| brewer | +1.5 (-122) | +154 | o8 (-110) |
| orioles | -1.5 (+102) | -185 | u8 (-110) |
Brewers vs. Orioles predictions
There are doubts that Barnes will carry that mindset into Sunday’s game against the highly-contested Brewers, who lead the National League Central Division with a 10-3 record and have averaged 9.7 points per game over their past six games. There is no room for that.
For Burns, this is much more than a typical “revenge” game.
We watched in Friday’s series opener as Joey Ortiz, acquired by the Brewers in the Barnes trade, dominated his former team with 3 hits and 2 RBIs in 5 at bats in an 11-1 win over Milwaukee. did. .
And on Saturday, left-handed DL Hall, another key player in the Burns deal, took the mound and struggled over three innings, but his teammates picked him up and led them to an 11-5 victory.
Barnes was left to salvage the series heading into Sunday’s game against Baltimore. His opponent is Colin Rea, a typical out-getter who doesn’t strike out many batters and walks even less.
Ray has started two games this season, pitching 11 innings and posting a 2-0 record with a 1.64 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. More than half of his pitches are sinkers and cutters, and he mixes in a four-seam fastball about 20% of the time.
Stylistically, he’s the antithesis of Barnes, and after three consecutive stellar starts, he’s the American League favorite at most sportsbooks, with odds ranging from +450 (FanDuel, BetMGM) to +650 (ESPN Bet). He is the top candidate for the Cy Young Award.
This season, Barnes has pitched 18 2/3 innings, giving up just 12 hits and four runs, with 20 strikeouts and two walks.
He relies on five pitches, throwing a nasty cutter over 50% of the time, and a combination of curveball and slider that makes up another 40% of his repertoire.
According to Statcast, he’s in the top 90% of nearly every meaningful advanced pitching statistic this season.
One potential problem for Baltimore on Sunday is how vulnerable Barnes is to hard contact in his first three starts for the Orioles.
Against Barnes this season, batters’ barrel percentage (6.3%), exit velocity (90.3), hard hit percentage (39.6), and launch angle (12.7) were higher than at any point since winning the Cy Young Award, and the Brewers This has been a concern ever since. He led the majors in home runs per game (1.6) after hitting five in his first two games with Baltimore and 10 in his final six.
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Brewers vs. Orioles nominations
It’s hard to imagine the Brewers shutting down completely on Sunday, considering they’ve scored seven or more points in six straight games and are one shy of a franchise record.
But there’s a reason the Orioles made the bold move to acquire Barnes in the offseason and paid such a high price for a player with only one year left on his contract.
He was a certified slumpbuster, helping the Brewers reach the playoffs in five of his six seasons with Milwaukee.
Add in some bad blood against his old team (or at least the team’s management), and Barnes, who started the first three games and pitched at least six innings, is poised for another dominant performance.
With Rhea expected to regress, we hope that Burns will be able to hold down this notable Brewers batting lineup and allow Baltimore to take an early lead.
