The Cardinals have announced an extension with 25-year-old second baseman Kolten Wong. Wong, a client of PSI Sports Management, will reportedly be guaranteed $25.5MM over five years, beginning in 2016. The contract also includes a $12.5MM option (with a $1MM buyout) for another season, and doesn’t come with any no-trade protection.
Because it begins with the 2016 campaign, the deal will give St. Louis control over two free agent seasons — the latter via option — in addition to covering Wong’s entire arbitration eligibility. He’ll be under team control through his age-30 campaign. Wong had entered the spring with just over two years of MLB service under his belt and had yet to qualify for arbitration. Now, he’s set to earn $1.25MM in 2016, $2.5MM in 2017, $4MM in 2018, $6.5MM in 2019 and $10.25MM in 2020.
Last year was Wong’s first as a full-time regular, and he came out of the gates strong with an excellent first half. He ultimately faded down the stretch, struggling in particular against left-handed pitching. All told, his overall offensive output — a .262/.321/.386 batting line with 11 home runs and 15 stolen bases over 613 plate appearances — represented a fairly close match to his 2014 campaign.
With excellent baserunning and strong glovework added into the equation, Wong has played at about a 2-WAR rate to start his career. Surely, both he and the team will hope that he can build off of that as he matures. Even if he doesn’t develop into a sturdy everyday regular, he figures to represent a heavily-used and readily platoon-able option at second.
Indeed, the club already has a platoon mate on hand in the righty-swinging Jedd Gyorko, who is controllable through 2020 (the final season via option). He has fared much better against opposing southpaws over his first several seasons in the majors. The Cards added Gyorko earlier this winter from the Padres, taking over his prior extension (with about a fifth of the tab staying on San Diego’s books).
It remains to be seen precisely how playing time will be allocated — Gyorko could, at least in theory, also spend time at first with Matt Carpenter entrenched at third — but the club certainly now has infield options moving forward. By locking up Wong now, before he has a chance to boost his earning power and shorten his free agent timeline in the coming season, St. Louis will lock in a quality player at a reasonable rate of pay. For Wong, of course, the deal represents a chance to secure earnings now rather than rolling the dice year-to-year.
Ultimately, it’s not clear how much room for growth there is in Wong’s game. He walks and strikes out just a bit under the league average rates, with a career ISO that’s right at the mean for his position. Most of his other batted-ball results stand at or near that of a league-average player, and he never exactly set the world on fire in the minors. He’s certainly justified his former status as a first-round pick and top-100 prospect, but probably isn’t ticketed for stardom.
Of course, the Cards don’t need Wong to play at a superstar level to justify this commitment, and the Gyorko acquisition seems to suggest they don’t really expect it, either. There aren’t many direct comparables for the deal, but the most recent at the second base position is the four-year, $20MM extension reached by the Twins and Brian Dozier last winter. That contract only covered his arbitration eligibility, and represented the heightened arb earning ability in his power bat.
A better comp, though, might be found in another deal last winter: center fielder Adam Eaton’s five-year, $23.5MM pact with the White Sox, which came with two club options. That contract has long looked like a nice get for the team, and today’s deal only adds to that impression. Wong understandably fell shy of the six-year, $50MM+ guarantees landed by two other 2+ service-time players in recent years, Carpenter and Jason Kipnis, each of whom were coming off of much bigger seasons when they signed their deals.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported the agreement on Twitter. SB Nation’s Chris Cotillo reported financial terms (all links to Twitter), while ESPN.com’s Mark Saxon had the term of the deal and its lack of a no-trade clause (Twitter links).
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Cards always seem to take care of there own. The cubs on the other hand seem to keep their young guys in the minors maybe a week or two to control them.
They take care of their own by hacking in to their databases when they leave.
This is the dumbest comment I’ve ever seen on this site, you better be no older than 12 or else.
But is he wrong? I would never expect the Cards to do something like that.
Took care of Pujols? Praise Theo.
Not that I think the Cardinals take of their players any more than other teams…..but they did give Pujols a 7 year $100MM extension the first year he was arbitration eligible.
If by ‘take care’ you mean they signed him to an extension before he hit Arb, then yes. They took care of him.
Terrible move! This was a make or break year for Wong! He’s been terribly inconsistent and can’t hit lefhanded pitching to save his life! He has terrible plate discipline and is very inconsistent in the field. Why?? Why not wait another year or so to see?? He’s not been arb eligible! Ugh stupid move!
And if he has a great season, you don’t get him any where near this price as an arb 1 player. Smart gamble, I love the deal.
we have 4 more years of his control!! what is the hurry??? omg this is so compulsively stupid! Harper is probably best player in game along with Trout and Nats havent approached him yet! but ooooh we gotta sign a platoon player whos shown nothing! ughhhhhh
The Cards are betting on the come with Wong. He has the team’s best bat speed. So 20 HRs is in his future. Plus he has awesome range, quick hands, turns the DP exceptionally well, and projects as a 20+ per year in SBs.
At times he makes unforced errors, common among young guys, and has trouble against left handed pitching. The Cards are betting with maturity he will cut down on the errors, and learn to hit lefites, and his power develops. The acquisition of Gyorko gives him some protection, and rest.
$5MM a year is a pretty cheap gamble on a guy who has shown he’s capable of being an above average 2b, even though the consistency clearly isn’t there.
Good deal, but Wong was pretty awful in the 2nd half of last season. Everyone talks about Joc’s struggles, but Wong was just as bad.
He was playing tired in the 2nd half since Matheny didn’t have any better alternative, hence the Gyorko trade this off season. He is inconsistent (errors translate to 0 for 4 offensive days), but he’s aware of this and hopefully will continue to get better.
If not, then at least the deal is somewhat team-friendly.
Wong hit .264/.328/.401 in the second half
Pederson hit .178/.317/.300 in the second half
These are not the ‘same’
Wong’s 2nd half numbers in 2015 were .238/.292/.322
Is this guy a platoon player redbird fans?
Strong side, and late inning replacement. So he gets 85% of the time there.
Possible. But as Theo said, there’s still plenty of value in him if he’s a true talent ~70 WRC+ guy versus lefties.
I’d like to see him get AB’s against lefties and see what we have. But with Gyorko on the roster, it probably makes sense to sit Wong against a lefty.
.552 OPS vs left handers last year,
.607 OPS vs left handers in his career
The league lefties vs lefties had a .668 OPS last year.
He doesn’t need to improve much against lefties to justify playing them. But they got Gyroko for the next several years in case it’s an issue.
Both the Perez and Wong extensions were pretty bad moves by the KC & STL franchises. Must be something in the water around that area right now. Both were unnecessary, especially the Wong one, after when Gyorko was just acquired. Wong is just a meh player, a 2 WAR guy. There’s a lot of those around.
2 WAR is worth more than $5m/year. This deal looks pretty good unless Wong completely implodes, which is unlikely given his age. If he produces 2 WAR per year for 5 years this deal will be solid, and if he improves to a 2.5 or 3 WAR player it is golden.
Completely different from the Perez situation, who they had locked up at an extremely reasonable price and who is on the decline (based on his numbers). Catcher is also a pretty tough position physically, which suggests Salvy may crash earlier than Wong.
My only issue with the Perez deal is that I always hear this “family” discussion about KC…and I cannot heat the excuse coming already from David Glass why they don’t have a couple of extra million to sign a needed arm.
Why should anyone care about their “family”? We’re the ones paying big money for tickets.
The Cards see more in Wong in the near future. He is only 25, with high upside. I think he is due to break out especially in the power department.
Wong was super 2 eligible and is all but promised to blow past these dollar figures throughout arbitration.
They possibly saved money in arb, get cost certainty, a year of free agency for a relative bargain price, and if there is any upside, a second year at a good price.
I don’t see how this is a negative for the organization.
I’m a little unclear on the guaranteed money. Does the guaranteed money 12.5M or 25M?
$25.5MM guaranteed, $12.5MM option. Is there something about the post that is making this unclear that I’m missing?
He’s a young player hopefully he figures out lefties.
Wong’s numbers in the next 5 yrs will be comparable to Heyward’s. Cubs won’t be able to afford him when he becomes a FA, as they will be rebuilding after selling off their expensive pieces due to bankruptcy.
…WTF?
Quite a vivid imagination you have there sir.
Yes and Purple is the new 7 NASA OPS Too you Friday Free.
Bizarro world?
I’d say that’s a reasonable expectation. Plus the Cards won’t be paying 200 mil for 12 homers and 65 rbi’s. Dodged a bullet with that one. Saber metrics have made a lot of undeserving players rich. No way he Heyward deserves a future hall of fame level salary.
He still hasn’t hit his expected ceiling yet, so it remains to be seen if he lives up to the contract. I like him, but he still has to prove he can handle the everyday position. And I don’t see him as a leadoff hitter just yet
Cub fans are so jealous here. No World Series appearances in over 70 years. Clearly the laughing stock of baseball.
Ah the piss poor trash talking of this rivalry is awesome.
A rivalry usually means that two teams usually have a history of winning championships that’s not the case of the Cards and cubs. Cards with a long history of success while the Cubs have a long history of nothingness. Not really a rivalry.
Your comments would lead me to believe you’re pretty threatened by the Cubs. They’re good, it’s not a big deal, man. Just enjoy baseball instead of worrying that the Cubs might win a World Series. Hate to break it to you, but it’s going to happen.
That has to be the best comment I’ve heard in a very long time
Cubs will continue their World Series dominance if Maddon realizes that there is no rule against batting the pitcher seventh, or even sixth!
The term “nice get” needs to be allowed to become a free agent