Chase Burns' extension with Reds gives Blue Jays a blueprint for Trey Yesavage

The Cincinnati Reds have locked down their future rotation ace. The club agreed to a deal with Chase Burns on Thursday (Jul. 16) giving the 23-year-old right-hander a $105-million seven-year contract. Burns was chosen second overall in the 2024 draft and signed to a $9.25-million signing bonus by the NL Central club.

Burns made his MLB debut on Jun. 24, 2025 and held onto a rotation spot until the end of the season. He also made the team out of spring training to begin the 2026 campaign and has logged 102.2 innings with 118 strikeouts, a 2.54 ERA and a 3.40 FIP. He was named to the All-Star team this year.

This is the largest contract handed out to a pitcher with less than four years of MLB service time. It also ties Home Bailey for the largest guaranteed contract handed out by the Reds to a pitcher.

Another pitcher, who was taken 18 picks after Burns, has to be looking at that deal and thinking he's got some money coming his way. That guy is Trey Yesavage, whom the Toronto Blue Jays selected with the 20th overall pick of the draft.

Just like Burns, Yesavage won't be arbitration eligible until 2029, and won't reach free agency until 2032. The Blue Jays landed Yesavage with a $4.17-million signing bonus and that seems to have already paid off given how crucial Yesavage was down the stretch and into the 2025 postseason for Toronto.

Burns' deal now buys out two of his first years of free agency and he won't hit the market until his age-31 season in 2034. If the Blue Jays follow a similar path with Yesavage, keeping him locked in until he reaches 30 seems like a no-brainer right now.

Yesavage has posted very comparable stats to Burns with a 3.64 ERA and 3.84 FIP in 89 innings pitched with 85 strikeouts. He's also proven to be a big game winner having come through looking more impressive the more the pressure heightened around him.

While he's shown a bit of everything this season, bouncing between dominant performances, to not being able to find the zone, he's shown enough at 22-years-old that he looks like a guy that is worth investing in long-term.

Have the Blue Jays learned from their mistakes with Vladdy and Bo?

It is very rare that this team has handed out long-term extensions to players. As GM Ross Atkins has had one major extension written up and that was the $500 million he handed Vladimir Guerrero Jr., essentially choosing to keep him over shortstop Bo Bichette.

Outside of that, Atkins has done most of his team building through trades and free agency, and a lot of the guys he has drafted have either moved on to other teams once their contract comes up for renewal, or he's dealt them before free agency arrives.

He's also still looking to really develop a long-term staple in the rotation. Yesavage could and should be that guy. Burns' deal gets him $15-million a season and that's basically what you're paying for a decent mid-rotation starter on the open market and you're definitely not getting an ace for that price.

Had Atkins given that kind of money to Bo and Vladdy when they were in their 20's, nobody would have batted an eyelash. Heck, Atkins could have bumped that up to about $25 million over seven years and it would've still looked like a pair of team friendly contracts by the time it was all said and done.

Granted, pitchers are much more fickle in the health department than position players, and a seven-year deal could blow up in flames. But if Blue Jays' fans have learned anything in watching this era of the team, it's that signing younger players earlier in their career's saves a lot of headaches down the road.

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