PHOENIX -- The Brewers may have won their arbitration hearing against right-hander Corbin Burnes, but his frank comments on Thursday suggested that something may have been lost along the way.

Burnes, the All-Star right-hander and one of only three pitchers in franchise history to win a Cy Young Award, said his relationship with the Brewers had been damaged in the runup to Wednesday’s ruling, a win for the club that set Burnes’ 2023 salary at $10.01 million -- $740,000 less than he’d had asked for.

“You kind of find out your true value,” Burnes said. “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. Obviously, it's tough to hear, tough to take, but they're trying to do what they can to win a hearing.

“I think there were other ways that they could have gone about it and probably been a little more respectful with the way they went about it. At the end of day, here we are. They won it. But when it came down to winning or losing the hearing, it was more than that for me.”

• Why quibble with a star? Explaining Burnes’ arbitration case

Brewers GM Matt Arnold said the club respected Burnes’ position that he deserved more than the club believed was fair, and because of the way MLB’s salary arbitration system works, it’s not uncommon for teams and star players to go to a hearing over a relatively modest slice of a larger salary. The Braves, for example, have gone to a hearing with ace left-hander Max Fried in each of the past two offseasons after Fried helped Atlanta win the World Series in 2021.

But the hazard of a hearing is that bad feelings emerge, as happened when the Brewers beat closer Josh Hader in his hearing back in 2020. Burnes happens to share the same agency, CAA Sports, and happens to count Hader among his best friends.

Burnes listened to oral arguments in person in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Tuesday, as is customary for a player whose case goes all the way to a hearing. He called the experience “very eye-opening.”

“When some of the things that are said -- for instance, they basically put me in the forefront of the reason why we didn't make the postseason last year,” Burnes said. “That's something that probably doesn't need to be said.”

Later Thursday, Arnold released a statement through the team that read, “The arbitration process always presents uncomfortable situations for both the club and player involved. It is never easy to present a case against a member of the Brewers family. 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.”

Based on their similar statistics, Burnes’ case had parallels to another former Cy Young Award winner, Cleveland’s Shane Bieber. Bieber earned $6 million last season in his first arbitration year and went 13-8 with a 2.88 ERA and a 132 ERA+ in 200 innings. That earned him a $4.01 million raise to $10.01 million earlier this offseason.

Burnes, meanwhile, earned $6.55 million last season in his first arbitration year and went 12-8 with a 2.94 ERA and a 134 ERA+ in 202 innings. The way the arbitration system works, Burnes could make a case that he deserved a similar increase in salary to Bieber, which would have pushed him to $10.56 million.

Had the Brewers offered that, a source said, it would have been accepted.

Indeed, the sides were very close to an agreement in January, Burnes said. But those talks fell apart right at the deadline for teams and players to formally exchange figures, and each side retreated into its corner. The Brewers filed at $10.01 million. Burnes filed at $10.75 million.

According to Burnes, there were little negotiations after that -- partly because that’s part of a strategy adopted by teams who tend to go to a hearing after the exchange of figures. The exception is usually for a multi-year deal, and the Brewers indeed came to Burnes a day or two before the scheduled hearing with offers that included either a club option or a mutual option for 2024. But, according to a source, Burnes and his camp considered both years of those offers to be undervalued. The offers were rejected.

The Brewers never made a long-term offer, Burnes said. He has one more year of arbitration eligibility next year before reaching free agency in the 2024-25 offseason.

That’s a problem for another day. On Thursday, Burnes and the rest of the Brewers’ pitchers and catchers took part in the team’s first organized workout. Burnes is the overwhelming favorite to start Opening Day against the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

“I think Corbin should talk about it and talk about how he feels and then I think we move on to baseball. At least from my perspective,” Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Corbin is too good to let it linger.”

Said Burnes: “Through this process, the relationship is definitely different than what it was. It's definitely a little bit worse than it was. … You know, this is one of those things that it kind of just adds another chip on the shoulder and drives you in your offseason prep and your day-to-day prep as you're going into starts. Knowing that, ‘Hey, whenever I can, put a little extra work in to prove to these guys what I'm really worth.’”