San Francisco Giants Target Corbin Burnes Prefers Return to West Coast: Report

The San Francisco Giants could have the upper hand in the pursuit of Corbin Burnes as it sounds like he prefers to land with a West Coast team.

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The San Francisco Giants could have the edge in their pursuit of Baltimore Orioles superstar ace Corbin Burnes according to a new report.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic says that throughout the Winter Meetings, he has heard that Burnes' preference is to return to his native West Coast, which could leave San Francisco as the heavy favorite as other suitors seem to drop out by the day by acquiring other pitchers.

"The thing I've heard in recent days is that he would prefer to return to the West Coast," Rosenthal said during an appearance on Foul Territory. "He has a home in Arizona. He's from Bakersfield, California. He attended Saint Mary's in the Bay Area. West Coast guy. The Giants are the obvious favorites here. It is all lining up for them. The question is, do they want to pay him?"

As a Bakersfield native — about two hours north of Los Angeles — it's not unreasonable to think that prior to the way free agency has played out and at the beginning of all the chaos that Burnes' preferred destination would have been the Dodgers.

But the defending World Series champs made a big statement early when they stole Blake Snell away from the Giants on a five-year deal worth $182 million as one of the first big dominoes of free agency.

Handing over a big contract to Snell likely took Los Angeles out of the running for any of the big name free agent pitchers not named Roki Sasaki which was a major hurdle for San Francisco to clear. No longer bidding against the Dodgers, the path to Burnes became clearer by the day in Dallas as Max Fried landed on an eight-year, $218 million contract with the Yankees and the Red Sox traded for White Sox ace Garrett Crochet.

The move for Crochet did not necessarily take Boston completely out of the sweepstakes, but certainly reduced their urgency to hand over a mega deal to Burnes. While a return to Baltimore has not been completely ruled out either, it seems the biggest threat to the Giants in the pursuit of the 2021 National League Cy Young is the Toronto Blue Jays.

After making a serious run and ultimately missing out on Juan Soto, Toronto still wants to make a big splash and appears to have turned their attention towards Burnes.

But if Rosenthal's report is accurate and Burnes wants to play on the West Coast, there's no reason for the Giants to not get this done.