11:15:am: The Astros have announced the signing.
8:48am: The Astros have agreed to a two-year, $24MM contract with outfielder George Springer, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). Springer, a Super Two player who was in his second trip through the arbitration process, will earn $12MM in each year of the deal. Springer is represented by the Legacy Agency.
Springer and the Astros had yet to resolve their arbitration case and were scheduled to head to a hearing this month. He’d filed for a $10.5MM salary, while Houston had countered with a figure of $8.5MM (as shown in MLBTR’s 2018 Arbitration Tracker). Instead, the two-year pact will buy out Springer’s second and third years of arbitration eligibility, though he’ll have one remaining year of arbitration left upon completion of this deal given the aforementioned Super Two status.
The 28-year-old Springer is coming off the finest season of his big league career to date, having posted a sensational .283/.367/.522 batting line with 34 homers and 29 doubles through 629 plate appearances. Springer logged a career-high 643 innings in center field this past season and graded well there per both Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, although those two metrics, which are usually bullish on his corner-outfield work, didn’t regard his defense in right field very favorably in 2017. (With Josh Reddick, Derek Fisher and Marwin Gonzalez all in the mix for corner outfield time in 2018, Springer figures to once again spend more time in center field than in right field this coming season.)
Overall, Springer was a driving force not only behind the Astros’ romp of the American League West but the team’s first World Series championship in franchise history. Springer went 7-for-17 with a homer, two doubles and two walks in 19 ALDS plate appearances, and after an ice-cold ALCS showing against the Yankees, he laid waste to Dodgers pitching in the World Series en route to MVP honors. Springer belted five homers in seven games and hit .379/.471/1.000 through 34 PAs in the Fall Classic.
Now that Springer has agreed to a two-year deal and Ken Giles has won his arbitration hearing, the Astros’ lone remaining arbitration case if that of Collin McHugh. The right-hander filed for a $5MM salary for the upcoming season, while the Astros countered with a $4.55MM sum.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Generous. Good way to extend him later down the road.
Being generous now does not mean anything more when he goes FA. The market will decide where he signs and for how much at that point. If the Astros offer say $12M/year and another team offers say $15/year and for an extra year, the contract now will mean nothing for him signing back with the Astros. He will go to to the other team most likely at that point.
They are talking about an extension not FA. The Astros can buy out FA years with an extension. They still have (3) years left to negotiate with him now and have the good faith of offering him a pretty good deal to buy out (2) years of arb.
Again, if the the market is showing his agent that the market will pay more than the Astros’s are offering, no extension will be signed going into that last arb season. Especially if he plays the next 2 like the last one. Yes, it shows some good faith but will it mean they will keep him long term? Not as much as fans would like to think. The Astro’s still have the same 3 years to negotiate. I am not saying what the Astro’s did was a bad thing by any means. I just don’t think the agent and player read as much into the offer as what fans like to think they do. Agents do what they do for the player’s benefits. No beef with the agent/player side either. It is strictly business for both sides in sports.
I think all they’re saying is now that he is under contract for 2 seasons instead of having to deal with arbitration, it’s easier for both sides to work on an extension in the future.
At the end of this extension, Springer will be a free agent. The reasoning is sound. This extension means nothing when it comes to free agency for Springer. He was projected to make $9 million this year and $15 million next offseason in arbitration. That is exactly the same money as he got now.
When he reaches FA if another team offers substantially more money as in the example gozurman gave, Springer is likely to take the larger offer. If he repeats or improves on the 5.0 WAR he put up the past 2 seasons, Springer is in line for a 7/200 contract when he reaches FA at age 29.
If the Astros offer 6/150 and another team offers 7/200, which offer do you think he will take? The “goodwill” of giving him now exactly what he was projected to make in arbitration will not make him turn down $50 million more.
He still has one more year left before he becomes a FA. The team is just trying to say we want you here and now we have 2 years before we have to be enemies over salary again!
It’s extremely similar to Donaldson and the jays
Yeah… I make posts all the time without having my facts straight too. It gets the best of all of us.
He still has a year of arbitration after this contract.
You are so out in left field on virtually every post.
First, springer signed for 18-19. He is still an Astro for the 2020 season.
Second, how do YOU know the market in winter ’21? You’re the guy spouting off about collusion and jdm is worthy of $200,000,000 now, this winter and Boston should just pay him already.
I literally down vote any post you write because you are delusional.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Don’t bad mouth outinleftfield or he’ll bust out all of his alt accounts to downvote you into oblivion.
Outinleftfield think players should get paid for not performing.- at least that’s the way he comes across.
He sucks. A lot.
Its pretty much a wash moneywise (just for 18-19) if Springer’s 18′ is similar to 17′. If he had gotten $10.5M this year then he could’ve potentially received $15M+ in 19′. The $12M he’ll make it 19′ will actually bring his 20′ arb value down as well.
This will not affect his 2020 arb because they take the total into effect, not the annual. He was projected to earn $9 million this year and $15 million next year. For Super Two players like Springer, 3rd year arbitration has averaged a 60-70% increase over 2nd-year earnings.
If his production continues at his current rate, his 2020 will be based on that number, not $12 million.
Good for him. Getting 24 Million guaranteed is better than fighting it out for maybe an extra 6 Million. Plus he’s still got one year of arbitration left so his performance could still get him a major payday
Lol this is the biggest news since Brewers Day a couple weeks ago.
Um… Bartolo Colon?
Thats the biggest news of the offseason
No. He’s an Astro the next two/three years whether this deal is done or not. It is pretty much not news at all.
Literally, the BIGGEST news. I saw what you did there.
Bartolo was seen at a Hometown Buffet
Great job by the Astros FO.
sensational .283/.367/.522 batting line? good, but not sensational. want sensational? .330/.475/.640
Go home
i am home
stay home
im coning to see you
The orderlies won’t let you leave.
trolls can do anything
Except get laid
johnson too big
Maybe your standards are higher than mine but I would consider a guy who finishes in the top 25 in all of baseball in OPS to be a pretty sensational year.
ops wasn’t even in those stats, joe
If you add the last 2 of those stats together you get OPS. So yeah, it was.
no, it wasn’t. only implied
Math is hard for some people.
Sensational FOR HIM.
By that logic nobody in baseball had a sensational season last year, because no one came close to that batting line.
That batting line is nearly impossible to achieve with that OBP. Getting on 50% of the time?
Yep, standards have continually dropped.
No, competition has increasingly improved and the modern bullpen has really shut down those kind of Ted Williams or Ruth seasons. Also you know now people from all over the world play not just white Americans. The quality of play in baseball now is far better than probably at any time in the game’s history.
Nancy Pelosi? Is that you?
I have literally no idea what this means. I mean everything else in modern athletics is better now, why wouldn’t baseball be better? Literally, the times that won the 100-yeard dash in the 1932 Olympics wouldn’t even place in a high school running competition today. Players are bigger and stronger and faster and, yes, there is a much larger and much more diverse group of players to choose from. Babe Ruth dominated the game in a way no other player ever has, but he was a short stocky guy compared to today’s players. He certainly never faced 100 mph in a game or a string of nasty relievers. The bestplayers in the world aren’t all white Americans. If you ever want to laugh look at the hitting stats of the average catcher, third baseman or shortstop in the 20s. Even against the pitchers of that era those guys couldn’t hit. The pitchers pitched a ton of innings and never struck anyone out; that might tell something about the quality of the pitching. And when you throw 400 innings a year, you obviously pitch many innings fatigued.
if that was sensational, what was barry bonds in 2004?
Cheating
still have to hit the ball. can’t cheat on that.
and the cheating let’s you hit it harder and farther and recover quicker from workouts, which starts the whole cycle over. If it didnt, they wouldn’t do it
It wouldn’t be cheating if everyone did it
Players can choose between slightly lighter or heavier bats right? Is it cheating if some players choose a bat that could make a ball slightly go farther because of their bat? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe there are slightly lighter and heavier bats
Most of the people who “cheated” didn’t do anything. Jason Grimsley? Neifi Perez? Remember those stellar careers. Check out the names in the Mitchell report for a laugh sometimes. The effects of steroids in baseball are vastly overrated. And that whole “if it didn’t work they wouldn’t do it” line is silly. Athletes are inherently superstitious. Remember Wade Boggs and his bucket of fried chicken before each game? Did that make him great. Or a few years ago when every pitcher was wearing those dumb beads?
If you are that clueless, you really shouldn’t be commenting on this. Of course there are different weights, lengths, profiles, etc. There is give and take. Lighter bats have a high bat speed but don’t drive the ball as well, heavier bats have a slower bat speed but resist the force of the ball. There are generalizations, but convery the image.
he led the league in walks, which is an all time record, can’t cheat on that
astros, as a team were, 282/.346/.478, so springer was a little better than team average. sensational, no
Right, 21 points higher on the OBP and 44 on the slugging is a “little”. How many more games do they win if the team had his stats?
Name the last team that had that stat line! It will take you a while!
Name the last player to post that stat line…Will wait…Take your time
bonds exceeded thise stats in 2002, 2003, and 2004. not sure if he was the last.
His World Series run was certainly sensational.
What happens if a player is traded 2 days before their arbitration case? Does the new team go to court in 2 days to bash their newly acquired player and bash him to lower his salary?
I don’t think any team would trade for a player who is 2 days away from an arbitration hearing, but yeah I would assume they would still have to go through the arbitration process.
Unless this changed in the last CBA update (don’t think it did), they go through the arbitration process using the number that the previous team set, which I imagine could be pretty awkward.
They would have two days to come to an agreement BEFORE arbitration.
Nice way to tie up one of their largest cogs in their line-up.
He was tied up through the Arb process anyway….
Tied up yes, but not necessarily happy about it. This cleans up two years of potentially messy arbitration. This Astros fan will take it.
Yes, I agree that will make him happy that he has 2 years guaranteed the same that the Astros are happy that they have 2 years guaranteed. I just do not believe that after the 2 years, it will make it any easier for them to extend him longer. It won’t hurt but it won’t necessarily make him want to give the Astros any kind of discount if they need one to lock him up on a long term extension.
I agree with you there. Keeping him happy doesn’t hurt though. Nobody really knows where his head is on it, but Biggio and Bagwell are proof of the fact that Happy players on franchises that take care of them will sometimes stick around for less money.
Only 2 years and 24mil total. ? He he’s the world series mvp
Somebody’s a new fan to the business of baseball
How does make me a new fan of the business side? He earned for than he got thats all I’m saying. I figured he would have gotten 4 or 5 year extension worth 80 to 90mil.
They gave him about what he was projected to get in arbitration over the next 2 years. He would only get the money you are suggesting if he were a free agent, which he isn’t for 3 more years.
Good cost-control move for the team. If they had lost the hearing and you assume $5m raises each time through arb, they would have paid him $46.5m through arb. Now they will only end up paying him $41m, and if you assume $6m raises they will pay him $42m rather than $49.5.
Now that i see those numbers actually looks pretty fair for both sides since the savings are decent but not huge, considering he gets more upfront and gets the second year guaranteed earlier.
Smart move by both sides. Gives them both certainty. If he continues to play near this level, he can shoot the lights out his last year of arbitration and in FA. In the meantime, you avoid two potentially messy arb hearings.
What was the point of even taking this as far as they have then? He asked for $10.5 mil. They countered @ $8.5 mil and then they agree to $12 mil per? Maybe they feel that Springer would remember the;r generosity? Would suck if they fail to extend him once he’s set for free agency.
Because next year he’d be looking for 15 or 16. They likely save a bit overall and he gets paid now. It’s a win/win.
Then why not agree to the $10 mil he asked for and just offer him $12 the next year? Offer him 2/$22 mil? Just seems odd that they offered him $8.5 mil and then ended up giving him more than what he asked for.
more likely they were already talking contract numbers and the arb numbers just didn’t matter while they finished up the contract.
He might not have taken a deal for 12 million in 2019 if not for getting 12 in 2018. Since the raise is based on the previous years salary, if he got only 10 million for 2018 and plays well, it’s possible he could ask for 15 million in 2019, which makes 2020 even more expensive. So this saves them money in the last year as well
Wait, GS gets more this season than he asked for? Collusion.
Arbitration isn’t free agency. No player likes to go through the process so locking him up at a guaranteed price before he hits FA is a smart move for both sides. If Springer was a FA he’d be getting twice as much.
What’s your point?
The thing I like about this as an Astros fan is that the team does not have to go to arbitration and talk about all his “bad” points to an arbitrator for this season and next season. Springer’s attitude is excellent and infectious and I want it to continue to be that way.
Great deal for the stros buying out 2 arbitration years !
For all the talk of these arb guys are being underpaid and I agree to an extent these people who are so far pro player aren’t making any sense.
Is springer underpaid yes. Is he making 12 mil? Yes. Nobody should be crying foul for him. Why should the owners give up control years of players? Players bargained this cba, when the owners were getting killed and signed a bad deal they didn’t want out of the CBA. Stfu and play, and remember even in your arb years everyone is still making generation wealth!
Are the owners making bank? Yep. Ok so you have a problem with capitalism, move to Sweden if you don’t like it or better yet, gtfo your house right now and go door to door and start campaigning for Bernie Sanders because you don’t have time to be commenting on a baseball forum.
If you are pro player you should be arguing for no draft. Letting players sign with whom they want to. BUT that’s not good for baseball is it. That wouldn’t be good for your favourite small market team. People need to get out of the fantasy land where salary caps solve all these issues. The Patriots win yet another Super Bowl had it not been for if not 2 but certainly 1 blown call. Salary caps just ensure great teams get broke up more easily which is bad for baseball. sports are better watching great teams play great teams
Good deal, no need for arbitration next winter.
The Astros first window is the next two seasons and then they need to make hard choices, since unless Crane wants to spend like the Yankees and Dodgers, they won’t be able to keep all of the core.