Friday, March 16, 2018

Extension Day

The Reds signed Eugenio Suarez to a major contract extension.

Tommy Stokke of lockedonmlb.com reports that the deal guarantees Suarez $66 million with the 2025 option worth $15 million with a $2 million buyout. That means Suarez will average only about $9.5 million per season through the prime years of his career. Given the steady rise in prices for free agents (this past offseason notwithstanding), I think that is an amazing steal of a deal for the Reds. It’s a good bit of financial security for Suarez too, of course. Perhaps he saw the weirdness of the free agent market and decided he never wanted anything to do with it.

Or, like so many players, he took the money now in case something happens to him in the future.

Neither the Reds nor Suarez will see the inside of an arbitration hearing, so the player (and his agent) saves all the money preparing for those hearings. Suarez gets some stability in knowing he’ll be in Cincinnati for a while. The Reds get a very team friendly contract, one that can easily be traded if they feel the right deal is in place.

Meanwhile, the Astros lock up Jose Altuve:

A person familiar with the negotiations says AL MVP Jose Altuve and the World Series champion Houston Astros have agreed to a contract that guarantees him an additional $151 million over five seasons from 2020-24.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Friday because the agreement had not been announced.

The Astros had control of Altuve through the 2019 season. A $30 million a year extension when Altuve has no leverage is rather amazing.

Note what the Astros did here. The slow free agent off-season might have lowered the possible salary levels for the excellent crop of free agents believed to be available next season. The Astros, in one fell swoop, made, Harper, Machaco, and Kershaw much more expensive.



from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2pfe0JS
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)