Brewers did serious damage in Corbin Burnes’ arbitration

The relationship between All-Star pitcher Corbin Burnes and the Milwaukee Brewers appears permanently damaged.

Burnes lost his salary arbitration case against the Brewers — he’ll make $10.01 million this season instead of the $10.75 million he was aiming for — and in the process, the righty felt disrespected by the Brewers.

“Obviously, it’s tough to hear,” Burnes said of the franchise’s argument on Thursday. “It’s tough to take. They’re trying to do what they can to win a hearing. There’s no denying that the relationship is definitely hurt … There’s really no way of getting around that.”

He had a 12-8 record last season and led the National League in strikeouts with 243, though the team missed the postseason, finishing one game back of Philadelphia for the final wild card spot.

“You kind of find out your true value,” he said. “You think you work hard for seven years in the organization, and five years with the big league team, and you get in there and basically they value you much different than what you thought you’d contributed to the organization.

“They won it. But when it came down to winning or losing the hearing, it was more than that for me.”

Burnes, the 2021 NL Cy Young winner felt the organization laid blame on him for the team not making the postseason, which he didn’t appreciate.

“That’s something that probably doesn’t need to be said,” he said. “We can go about a hearing without having to do that.”

Brewers president of operations Matt Arnold tried to patch things up a little in hopes of making sure Burnes still felt appreciated in a statement released by the team.

“The arbitration process always presents uncomfortable situations for both the club and player involved,” Arnold explained. “I’d like to reiterate that we view Corbin as one of the leaders of our franchise and value him as an elite talent in the game. Corbin is a major contributor to the organization both on and off the field, and we look forward to another outstanding season from him in 2023.”

It might be too late to heal the wound as Burnes will be a free agent in 2024.

“There was no attacking of character or the person who I was,” he said. “But just some of the stuff that was said, that definitely didn’t need to be said, is something that I think kind of disappointed everyone.”