PHOENIX — Inside of the third base dugout at his new home ballpark, right-hander Corbin Burnes said the issue with the Orioles’ pursuit of his services in free agency fell to how many years were offered rather than the dollar value.

Two sources said the Orioles offered Burnes a four-year, $180 million contract, as MASN first reported. The average annual value of that contract ($45 million) surpasses the $210-million, six-year deal ($35 million) Burnes agreed to with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In terms of average annual value, Burnes would have been the highest-paid pitcher in baseball had he signed with Baltimore. But the two additional years are a major reason why Burnes wound up in Arizona. Another potential factor in the decision was the opt-out after two years, which Burnes could trigger after earning slightly more than $30 million for two seasons. Additionally, the income tax rate in Arizona is lower than Maryland, and his family lives in Scottsdale.

Even with the average annual value higher in Baltimore, the four-year duration of the deal was a hold-up.

“That was kind one of the things that we were scratching our head at where they kind of got the years from,” Burnes said. “Not to say they wouldn’t have jumped up at the end if things got a little more serious. But just kind of even going back and forth a couple times with them, they were kind of set on those years. But yeah, I’m not sure why.”

Burnes added that the Orioles “maybe” would have stretched their offer to five years to get the deal done, “but we were kind of scratching our head for that one.”

Burnes said the issue wasn’t with the dollar amount.

“I just don’t think we necessarily matched up in the years it was going to take to kind of get to a dollar amount to stay there,” Burnes said. “Now, I can’t guarantee I would’ve gone there [Baltimore] had this offer not come around. Just kind of one of those things, the way it lined up, us living here, these guys were going to be serious and have a fair offer, this is where we were going to be. So, it’s tough to play the what-if game. But yeah, they [Orioles] were definitely interested. But this was by far the best offer that we had.”

Burnes, whose son recently turned 3 and his twin daughters are almost a year old, said the opportunity to be home more frequently was a strong incentive. Last season, while pitching to a 2.92 ERA and earned Cy Young votes, Burnes occasionally flew to Arizona to spend time with his family when it wasn’t his day to pitch.

“Just the magnitude of time I get to be around them, be someone who helps my wife raise my daughters and my son a little bit more than years past, is for me — I can’t take that for granted," Burnes said. “It’s one of those things that, waking up at 6:30 in the morning, everyone is like, ‘What are you doing waking up at 6:30?’ I get to wake up and see my kids and change a diaper and play with them for six hours and then come to the field and do it all over again every day. So, that was something I definitely missed last year. Just getting to be here, sleep in my own bed year-round, is pretty special.”

The Orioles were a player in the chase for Burnes up until the end, Burnes said. The 30-year-old said agent “Scott [Boras] was still in negotiations with them up until a couple days prior of us signing here.” The deal with Arizona came together within 72 hours. “It was quick,” Burnes said.

Missing out on Burnes prompted the Orioles to shift their focus elsewhere, and general manager Mike Elias signed right-handers Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano to flesh out the staff’s depth. Near the end of camp, he also brought on veteran Kyle Gibson.

Burnes said he’ll look back fondly on his lone season in Baltimore. He finished it with a gem, pitching eight innings of one-run ball in a wild-card round loss to the Kansas City Royals.

“It still stings that we didn’t go any further than we did in the postseason, but it’s still a really, really good baseball team,” Burnes said. “Just happy for those guys over there.”