Reds’ Chase Burns on $105 million extension: ‘A very, very easy decision’

DENVER — Sitting in the visitors clubhouse at Coors Field on Saturday morning, Cincinnati Reds reliever Sam Moll looked over the contract his teammate, right-hander Chase Burns, had just signed.

It was an impressive document for sure. Ten pages long, with the key terms on the eighth page — seven years, $105 million, including a $2 million signing bonus. Still, Moll had notes.

“He was giving me a hard time,” Burns said. “He just wanted to pick at me. It was funny.”

Everyone has an opinion on a contract after it’s signed, whether it’s too much, too little or too big of a risk. But whatever the consensus take on any deal is, the only views that matter are those of the entity that guarantees payment and the one that receives it.

In this case, both sides — the 23-year-old Burns and the Reds organization, represented by president of baseball operations Nick Krall — were happy about the deal that was first reported Thursday and finalized Saturday morning.

“I think it’s more than an organization for me,” Burns said. “It’s family. I want to win a championship here. I can’t thank the city of Cincinnati enough. It was a very, very easy choice.”

The extension kicks in next season and buys out all of Burns’ arbitration years and his first two years of free agency.

“We think the sky’s the limit for him, and we’re excited to have him under control for the next seven years,” Krall said.

Burns said he and the Reds began negotiating about a month ago when the team visited New York to play the Yankees, and they came to terms during the All-Star break. Both sides agreed to the deal Wednesday night, and it took until Saturday to finalize the details.

The extension comes exactly two years to the day that Burns signed with the team for a then-record $9.25 million signing bonus. In addition to a $2 million signing bonus, Burns’ new contract pays him $2.5 million next season. He’ll make $8 million in 2028, $12.5 million in 2029, $15 million in 2030, $17 million in 2031, $23 million in 2032 and $25 million in the final year of the deal.

Chase Burns extended‼️#Reds RHP Chase Burns has signed a 7-year contract extension through the 2033 season. pic.twitter.com/ugn136VhaU

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) July 18, 2026

The No. 2 pick in the 2024 draft, Burns flew through the Reds’ minor-league system and made his big-league debut last June. He had an up-and-down rookie year, striking out the first five batters he faced, a group that included three players who have won an MVP award, and then didn’t make it out of the first inning in his next start.

Burns’ sophomore season has been nothing short of spectacular. He’s 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA, made the National League All-Star team and is among the favorites for the National League Cy Young Award.

Reds manager Terry Francona said he had a good feeling about Burns coming out of spring training, when Burns earned a spot in the team’s rotation. Originally, the Reds were going to begin the season with three young pitchers — Burns, Rhett Lowder and Brandon Williamson — to fill two spots in the five-man rotation, but an injury to lefty Nick Lodolo cut that plan short before it could come to fruition.

“(The idea was) to try to slow guys down and help them develop,” Francona said. “I don’t think he needed the help. He started developing on his own, and it got exciting in a hurry.”

As energetic and aggressive as Burns and his 100 mph fastball can appear on the field, he’s laid back when he’s not on the mound. The laughs he got from Moll and the teasing from his teammates after he signed the deal induced the biggest smiles of the day. As he talked to the assembled media in the team’s dugout before Saturday’s 10-3 loss to the Colorado Rockies, he sounded more like someone who won $10 on a scratch-off lottery ticket than a guy who signed a nine-figure contract.

“It doesn’t feel real yet, so I’m sure here soon, next year and the year after, it’ll start hitting me,” Burns said. “But at the same time, I’m not really worried about all that. I don’t play the game for money. I play the game for the opportunity.”

For Burns, the contract provides security. He knows he’ll be in Cincinnati for a long time and that he now has generational wealth.

Reds third baseman Eugenio Suárez remembered the relief he felt when he signed his seven-year, $66 million contract with the Reds in March 2018.

“I could just focus on doing my best for the team now that I already knew my future was taken care of,” Suárez said Saturday. “I told myself that I have to do everything I can for the team that gave me the opportunity.”

What Burns is doing now is plenty, Francona said.

“It doesn’t change much, in my opinion,” Francona said. “I’m sure it does for the car he’s going to buy. … He’s ours.”

Burns said he has no plans yet for his big payday — not even a car for him or his mom.

“Mom has a new car already,” he said. “Signing for $9 million (after being drafted) also helped, too. So, I am pretty set. I am good. I am going to be smart with it.”

That grounded nature is a big reason the Reds felt confident giving him the extension. Well, that and the talent.

“His family clearly did a really good job raising him,” Reds closer Emilio Pagán said. “He’s just a respectful, super-hardworking, extremely talented player. He cares about his teammates. He’s got a simple life. He’s an easy guy to want to invest in, for sure.”