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Archives for March 2018

East Notes: Rays, Wright, Goodwin, Orioles

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The Rays are preparing to utilize a four-man rotation for the entirety of the coming season, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times writes, with the expectation being that the club will load up the bullpen with multi-inning-capable arms. Topkin covers a wide range of possibilities for the relief corps and details the club’s thinking behind the unusual move. The plan is to utilize a string of relievers to work the fifth rotation spot, rather than designating a single pitcher to take that job. That approach seems designed both to take advantage of the organization’s options and to incorporate some analytical lessons on platoons and pitchers facing an order multiple times.

More from the east:

  • Joel Sherman of the New York Post checks in on Mets third baseman David Wright, who is still plugging away in a comeback effort that seems unlikely to succeed. He says he wants to give it everything he can so that his “head can hit the pillow and I know I made every effort to play.” But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for the 33-year-old to be a part of a team that’s likely never to put him back on the field. “The mental part of coming in and knowing you bring nothing to the table as far as helping the team get ready for the season and helping the team win, for me, is the hardest part,” says Wright, “as hard as physical part of the rehab process.” Wright’s devastating combination of injuries is well-documented, of course. Remarkably, he was still capable of productive hitting when he briefly appeared on the field in 2015 and 2016, but Wright was only able to suit up for three High-A contests last year.
  • The Nationals don’t have a particularly clear role for outfielder Brian Goodwin, but as Pete Kerzel of MASNsports.com writes, new skipper Davey Martinez intends to find ways to utilize Goodwin. The 27-year-old doesn’t exactly sound like he’s excited by the organization’s plans after he turned in a solid 2017 campaign. “I don’t think my role is defined, or ever has been since I’ve been in camp,” Goodwin said. “I come into camp and I feel like I’m trying to earn a spot, trying to find somewhere – a home, where I can play every day, start 162 games and play every day for somebody whether it’s here or anywhere.”
  • Speaking of lefty hitting outfielders, the Orioles came into the offseason badly needing one. The club erred in its approach to filling that need, Dan Connolly of BaltimoreBaseball.com argues. Baltimore ended up drawing Colby Rasmus back out of retirement with a deal that could actually exceed the one that Jon Jay just signed with the Royals. The issue, says Connolly, is that Jay suits the O’s needs much more than does Rasmus — and also was the desired target of team leaders Adam Jones and Manny Machado. It’s an interesting look at the team’s decisionmaking process.

Mariners Sign Ichiro Suzuki

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WEDNESDAY: Seattle has formally announced the signing.

Ichiro receives a $750K salary with incentives that could boost the deal’s total value to $2MM, per ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick (via Twitter). Ichiro can take home $200K apiece upon reaching 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 plate appearances, Jon Heyman of Fan Rag tweets. He’ll get $250K if he strides to the plate for a 400th time on the season.

TUESDAY: Ichiro has a jersey and a locker, MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets, which seems a good indication that the deal will soon be finalized.

MONDAY, 4:28pm: Ichiro tells Yahoo’s Jordan Schultz that he is taking his physical for the Mariners this afternoon and will sign a one-year deal once he passes (Twitter link).

1:06pm: The Mariners are closing in on a one-year, Major League deal that’ll bring franchise icon Ichiro Suzuki back to Seattle, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick adds that the deal could be finalized either today or tomorrow. Ichiro is a client of agent John Boggs.

The likely agreement with Ichiro comes just hours after the Mariners learned that they’ll be without projected everyday left fielder Ben Gamel for up to six weeks due to an oblique strain. With right fielder Mitch Haniger also nursing some tendinitis in his hand and reserve outfielder Guillermo Heredia easing back into game action following October shoulder surgery, the Mariners have an obvious need for some outfield depth.

Ichiro, of course, started his Hall of Fame career in North American ball with the 2001 Mariners in a superlative season that won him a Gold Glove, a Silver Slugger, AL Rookie of the Year and AL MVP honors. Ichiro led the league in total hits (242), batting average (.350) and stolen bases (56) that season, posting an overall batting line of .350/.381/.457 and being named to the first of 10 consecutive All-Star teams.

That, obviously, was 17 years ago however, and the now-44-year-old Ichiro is more of a role player than an everyday option in the outfield. In 215 plate appearances with the Marlins last season, he batted just .255/.318/.332 with three homers and one steal. That said, those 215 PAs were a career-low, and he’s just one season removed from a solid offensive campaign in a more regular role. In 2016, Ichiro tallied 365 plate appearances and hit .291/.354/.376 with a homer, 15 doubles five triples and 10 steals. He should be able to hold down the fort in left as Gamel recovers from his oblique injury, and he can slide into a bench role from that point forth.

It’s been a long winter for Ichiro, who has been known to have been holding out for an opportunity to continue his career in Major League Baseball despite interest from multiple clubs in Japan. It now appears that he’ll not only have the opportunity to do so but that he’ll be allowed to continue in a city where he ranks among the most legendary figures in franchise lore. Ichiro will undoubtedly receive a hero’s welcome when the Mariners host the Indians in their season opener on March 29, and his return to Seattle presents no shortage of marketing, merchandise and promotional opportunities for the Mariners organization.

Blue Jays Sign Tyler Clippard

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The Blue Jays have announced a minor-league deal with righty Tyler Clippard. It includes an invitation to MLB camp.

Clippard only just turned 33 and has a long history of outstanding bullpen production. While his fastball velocity has continued to dwindle, Clippard is coming off of a season in which he posted a healthy 14.0% swinging-strike rate that sits above his career average.

Of course, there are other areas of concern, too. Clippard worked in the zone just 40.6% of the time, a personal low, while doling out free passes at a rate (4.6 per nine) not seen since he was still establishing himself with the Nationals.

Then, there’s the fact that Clippard’s hidden weapon — the ability to induce infield flies — was no longer quite as potent. (He ended the year with a 10.3% infield fly rate, lowering his career rate to 16.0%.) A few more of those pops have been squared up and turned into long balls, perhaps owing in part to his reduced velocity, with an assist from the increasingly springy baseball that Clippard and others are throwing.

The end result wasn’t pretty, as Clippard finished with a 4.77 ERA, marking the first time he finished a full season having allowed more than four earned per nine. He bounced between three organizations and was not selected to participate on the Astros’ World Series roster despite landing in Houston late in the season.

Despite the struggles, it’s easy to justify giving Clippard another look. Entering the 2017 season, after all, he had compiled 587 2/3 innings of 2.77 ERA ball as a major-league reliever. Notably, too, he was still quite effective against lefties last year, holding them to a .213/.311/.366 slash. The change-up artist has long carried reverse platoon splits and dominated southpaw hitters.

As the Roster Resource Blue Jays depth chart shows, there ought to be a solid opportunity for Clippard to earn a job in Toronto, especially if the organization thinks it can use him in a somewhat more specialized manner against lefty hitters. That said, Clippard will have quite a lot of competition in camp, as the long list of non-roster pitchers in the above link shows.

Pitching Notes: Uehara, Lincecum, Senzatela, Hoffman, Kohn

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Reliever Koji Uehara says that he is open to considering offers from teams in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league, as the Japan Times recently reported. That’s something of a reversal from the 42-year-old reliever, who had indicated he did not intend to play again in his homeland. After preparing for the MLB season, but finding interest scant, Uehara now says he has changed his mind and would consider pitching once again in the NPB. It’s at least a bit surprising that Uehara has not generated more pursuers among major-league clubs. He continued to produce declining results in 43 innings last year, finishing with a 3.98 ERA, but still ended with 10.5 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9 and generated a strong 15.8% swinging-strike rate.

Here are a few more pitching notes from around the game:

  • While it’s clear the Rangers intend to utilize new pitching addition Tim Lincecum in the bullpen, just how he’ll be deployed isn’t yet clear. Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram posted a video of the former ace discussing his new club. It seems that Lincecum is intrigued by the possibility of closing but is largely open to fitting in wherever the team prefers. “They see that,” Lincecum says of working in the 9th. “I feel like I could do that. I’ve done that in the Cape and at the college level. It’s going to be, obviously, different, but I feel like I could tap into that mentality.”
  • The Rockies elected this offseason to make a number of bullpen additions but not to pursue outside acquisitions for the rotation. That decision was no doubt as much about the team’s assessment of its internal options as it was about a need to maximize resources. In a pair of articles, here and here, Nick Groke of the Denver Post reports on two key staff members. Antonio Senzatela is said to be hard at work on his secondary offerings, with a new change-up in the works alongside continuing work on a curve. Meanwhile, fellow young righty Jeff Hoffman dealing with a shoulder issue. There’s no indication its a serious injury, but Hoffman is still going to rest for at least a week or more before he resumes throwing. As things stand, the Rox may be lined up to utilize a five-man unit that does not include either of these hurlers, as the current Roster Resource depth chart projects, but both are important parts of the near-term and future picture in Colorado.
  • When the Twins brought in righty Michael Kohn last fall, the hope was that he could rebound from a rotator cuff problem and get his career back on track. Unfortunately, he’ll now require an absence of four to six months to recuperate from a “nerve issue,” per Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer-Press (via Twitter). The 31-year-old Kohn has a 3.52 ERA in 115 career innings in the majors, though that has come with a 111:79 K/BB ratio. It’s hard to read much into his results last year, as they were mostly accumulated in the low minors, but Kohn was able to make it through 13 solid innings late in 2017, over which he racked up 18 strikeouts against just four walks while permitting two earned runs on eight hits.

Rangers Designate Brett Nicholas, Announce Signing Of Tim Lincecum

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The Rangers announced today that they have designated catcher Brett Nicholas for assignment. His roster spot was needed for the addition of righty Tim Lincecum, whose previously reported signing is now official.

With this move, the Rangers could be slated to utilize Juan Centeno as the backup to regular receiver Robinson Chirinos. With younger backstop Jose Trevino also on the 40-man and veterans Curt Casali and Michael Ohlman also in camp as non-roster players, there are a few other options on hand, too.

Of course, Nicholas may well end up back in Rangers camp himself if he clears waivers. The 29-year-old has only limited MLB time, with 110 plate appearances over the past two seasons. He has produced solid numbers with the bat at Triple-A of late, though, with consecutive .809 and .822 OPS campaigns.

Brewers Rumors: Broxton, Santana, Aguilar, Remaining Moves

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Much has been made of the Brewers’ outfield logjam since the signing of Lorenzo Cain and acquisition of Christian Yelich seemingly left the team with more big leaguers than spots to play them. While Domingo Santana has been an oft-speculated trade candidate, frequently connected to pitching targets, Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports that Keon Broxton has actually been garnering more attention on the trade market (Twitter links). Santana, of course, had a breakout 2017 season in which he slugged 30 homers and hit .278/.371/.505 in 607 plate appearances and is more than two years younger than Broxton. However, Broxton’s ability to play center field is leading to a greater volume of interest than the Brew Crew is receiving in Santana, per the report. Haudricourt also notes that because Broxton has a minor league option remaining, he could potentially spend enough time in Triple-A to miss Super Two status, which would mean he’s not arbitration-eligible until after the 2019 season. Even spending a month in the minors would put Broxton’s year-end service time at two years, 118 days, which would leave him shy of standard Super Two range.

A bit more on the Brewers…

  • There doesn’t appear to be space on the Brewers’ Opening Day roster for first baseman Jesus Aguilar, writes MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy in his latest Brewers Inbox column. And, because Aguilar is out of minor league options, that means he’d be exposed to waivers (and quite likely claimed) or traded to another organization. The Brewers plan to carry eight relievers, and with Cain, Yelich, Ryan Braun, Eric Thames and Santana all in a carousel in the outfield and (in the case of Braun and Thames) at first base, there’s no clear bench spot for Aguilar. The 27-year-old Aguilar hit .265/.331/.505 with 16 homers as a rookie last year, including a .302/.370/.531 line against lefties. (A trade or injury could open a door to keep Aguilar on the roster.) McCalvy notes that Aguilar is “off-the-charts good in the clubhouse,” so retaining him would likely be a popular move with his teammates.
  • McCalvy also notes in that column that he’s received “no indication” that the Brewers are having conversations with the agents for either Neil Walker or Jonathan Lucroy — two former Brewers who remain unsigned. That meshes with comments from GM David Stearns in a Monday interview with Gary Ellerson and Ramie Makhlouf of 105.7 FM The Fan in Milwaukee (h/t: MLB.com’s Alyson Footer). Stearns said that he doesn’t expect another “significant” addition via either free agency or the trade market, though he notes that he’s still doing his due diligence and monitoring both markets with a “never say never” mentality. Nonetheless, Steanrs plainly stated that he “[anticipates] that we go into the season with the current group we have.” The GM also indicated, without delving into specific names, that the Brewers’ rumored interest in some free agents was overstated this offseason, stating that there was a “higher percentage” than usual of rumors that made him “scratch [his] head a little bit and wonder where that came from.”

AL Central Notes: Lynn, Twins, Hahn, Jay, Indians

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The Twins’ recently reported two-year offer to Lance Lynn was for a total of $20MM, reports Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Lynn’s camp considered that offer a “non-starter,” however, according to Berardino. Minnesota remains open to adding a starter on an affordable and relatively short-term pact, Berardino continues, noting that outside of the team’s $100MM+ offer to Yu Darvish, all of their offseason free-agent dealings have been at one- or two-year terms. He adds that the Twins aren’t aggressively pursuing Alex Cobb, and given Lynn’s apparent unwillingness to consider a two-year term, it seems unlikely that Minnesota will ultimately be a landing spot for any of the top three remaining starters. There are still a few intriguing names on the market who could sign shorter-term deals, including John Lackey and Trevor Cahill, though the Twins haven’t been strongly tied to any of them.

More from the division…

  • The UCL sprain that landed Jesse Hahn on the 60-day disabled list may not wind up requiring surgery, reports MLB.com’s Jeffrey Flanagan. Hahn, acquired by the Royals in the trade that sent Brandon Moss and Ryan Buchter to Oakland, felt a “twinge” in his arm during his last Cactus League outing and will be shut down for “several” weeks. Rather, Hahn will be re-evaluated after his shutdown and could then begin a throwing program. Hahn says he’s actually encountered a similar issue in the past but tried to pitch through it for five to six starts and wound up missing significant time. This time around, he raised the issue immediately.
  • Newly signed Royals outfielder Jon Jay spoke with reporters following the announcement of his one-year deal, voicing a willingness to play all over the outfield and, a bit more surprisingly, in the infield as well (link via Maria Torres and Pete Grahoff of the Kansas City Star). “I’m prepared to play all three outfield spots,” said Jay. “And you can sprinkle me in at first base if you need to. For me it’s simple: I’ll be ready to work.” Jay has exactly four innings of professional experience at first base and hasn’t played there since a two-inning appearance with the Cardinals’ Triple-A club back in 2010. With Lucas Duda on board, Jay certainly wouldn’t be viewed as any kind of regular option there, but his willingness to do so is at least of mild interest. Torres and Grahoff note that Jay could log some occasional innings at DH as well to get Jorge Soler and Jorge Bonifacio additional reps in the outfield.
  • Indians right-hander Julian Merryweather is also dealing with a sprained UCL in his pitching elbow, reports MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (via Twitter). He’s been shut down from throwing for the time being and is getting a second opinion from renowned surgeon Dr. Keith Meister. Merryweather, 26, made 16 starts and totaled 78 innings for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus last season, though he struggled to an ERA north of 6.00 (thanks in large part to a near-.400 BABIP). That rocky performance notwithstanding, he ranks 16th among Indians prospects, per MLB.com. Merryweather is on the 40-man roster, so if he’s expected to miss significant time, he could eventually land on the 60-day DL and free up a 40-man spot in Cleveland.

Twins Have Not Approached Brian Dozier About Extension

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Brian Dozier has emerged as one of the faces of the Twins’ franchises in recent years, but he’s now on the precipice of free agency and has not been approached by the team about a contract he tells Jim Souhan of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com. Dozier is earning $9MM this season in the final season of a four-year, $20MM contract which bought out all of his arbitration seasons. A new contract, though, does not look to be in the cards at this time, according to the infielder himself.

“I don’t want to touch too much on this, it’s the thing that gets asked all the time, but at the same time, I will be a free agent this fall,” Dozier said to Souhan. “That’s the bottom line. You can only say you want to be here so much, and nothing gets done.”

Dozier has, as he implied, stated on multiple occasions that he hopes to remain in the Twin Cities for the long haul. The lack of a spring extension certainly doesn’t preclude that from happening, though in-season negotiations are rarer, and his quality track record would figure to generate interest from multiple clubs next winter. While many Twins fans may hope for some late-developing negotiations, Dozier’s comments don’t lend much reason for optimism.

“I’ve said I wanted to stay here since forever, but I’ve really vocalized it the last couple years,” said Dozier (via Bollinger). “But I just don’t think it’s in their future, from what I’ve been told. … It’s pretty much black and white from what I’ve been hearing, which is upsetting, but you turn the page and play to win.”

A former eighth-round pick out of Southern Mississippi, Dozier debuted as a largely unheralded prospect and solidified himself as a quality regular before breaking out in recent years as one of the game’s most powerful second basemen. Over the past two seasons, the 30-year-old has slashed .269/.349/.522 with 76 homers, and he’s hit a total of 104 long balls over the past three seasons. He’s been a durable source of production in Minnesota as well, averaging 153 games and 686 plate appearances per year since his first full season back in 2013.

If the Twins are prepared to stick with internal options, they’ll have no shortage of intriguing up-the-middle players to turn to in the coming years. Jorge Polanco put together a huge two-month finish to the 2017 season and will open the ’18 campaign as Minnesota’s primary shortstop, though scouting reports have suggested that second base is his best position. Former top 10 pick Nick Gordon is on the cusp of MLB readiness and could occupy one of the two middle-infield slots in the near future. Royce Lewis, the top pick in the 2017 draft and Wander Javier, who received a $4MM bonus on the international market from the Twins, are further down the line but are viewed as potential key infield pieces in the long term.

Of course, going that route would likely weaken the Twins’ chances in 2019 when the team further hopes its young core has come into its own in an AL Central that’ll still have at least two rebuilding clubs (Royals, Tigers). That’ll all be factored into the ultimate decision of chief baseball officer Derek Falvey and GM Thad Levine, to be sure. One element that seems clear is that a lack of commitment to Dozier wouldn’t stem from payroll limitations; the Twins have just four players under contract for the 2019 season and somewhat remarkably don’t have a single dollar on the books in 2020 and beyond.

Dozier will turn 31 in May, meaning any new contract — be it an extension or a free-agent deal — would begin with his age-32 season. Dozier, Daniel Murphy and DJ LeMahieu will headline next year’s crop of free-agent second basemen, where they’ll be joined by a quality utility option also capable of playing second base in the form of Marwin Gonzalez.

Royals Sign Jon Jay, Place Jesse Hahn On 60-Day DL

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5:49pm: Jay’s incentives kick in with a $100K bonus for reaching 250 plate appearances, tweets Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. From there, he’ll receive an additional $100K bonus for every 25 PAs up through 600. Jay hasn’t reached 600 PAs in a season since 2013, so it’s perhaps unlikely that he’ll earn the full $1.5MM of incentives, but he should be able to unlock a decent share of his bonuses if he remains healthy

2:33pm: The Royals have signed outfielder Jon Jay to a one-year deal, per a club announcement. It’s a $3MM guarantee with as much as $1.5MM in incentives, per Rustin Dodd of The Athletic (via Twitter).

Jon Jay | Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The bonuses are based upon plate appearances and can begin to be earned at Jay’s 250th trip to the dish, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter), who adds that the CAA Sports client is expected to be given a shot at an everyday job. In a corresponding move, the team placed recently acquired righty Jesse Hahn on the 60-day DL due to a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

[RELATED: Updated Royals Depth Chart]

In an offseason of change, the Kansas City organization has now acted to fill the shoes left by departing stars Eric Hosmer and Lorenzo Cain. The former will turn his job over to Lucas Duda. And the latter will now be replaced, at least in part, by Jay.

It seems the Royals have made another interesting value play here. After landing Duda for just a single-season, $3.5MM commitment, the club has added another quality veteran player without constricting future financial flexibility.

Of course, the club won’t get quite the anticipated productivity that walked away in the form of Hosmer and Cain, as is reflected in the purchase prices. The departing stars, each of whom profile as first-division regulars, commanded a total combined guarantee of $224MM — not a minimal premium over the $6.5MM total that Kansas City has promised to Duda and Jay.

It’s far from clear that these moves will spur a winning product in 2018, but it’s certainly fascinating to see the Royals making such investments when the organization could instead have embarked upon a more dramatic rebuilding effort. The ensuing signings put something of a different spin on the earlier salary-cutting trades that allowed the club to move some of the obligations owed to Brandon Moss and Joakim Soria.

Jay, who’ll soon turn 33, is fresh off of another solid season. He has not been as productive of late as he was earlier in his career with the Cardinals, but gave the Cubs 433 plate appearances of .296/.374/.375 hitting in 2017. A quality baserunner who is at least a near-average center fielder, Jay would optimally function as a fourth outfielder at this stage of his career.

Even if he’s a bit extended as a regular, Jay seems a good bet to perform up to and beyond his new salary. He has traditionally carried minimal platoon splits, so the left-handed hitter ought to be a flexible asset for the Royals to utilize. With plenty of uncertainty in the remaining mix of outfielders, among other areas of the roster, the signing will help stabilize the unit.

As for Hahn, the injury is the latest in a long line of health troubles for the 28-year-old righty. Acquired from the A’s alongside prospect Heath Fillmyer in exchange for reliever Ryan Buchter and Brandon Moss (who was included more for financial purposes), Hahn entered camp with the hope of vying for a rotation spot or, at least, a bullpen gig with his new organization.

The former sixth-round pick (Rays, 2010) displayed plenty of promise with a 3.23 ERA, 7.1 K/9 and 3.0 BB/9 through his first 170 MLB innings between the Padres and the A’s. However, injuries have hit him hard since that time, and Hahn has struggled to a 5.59 ERA in 116 innings over the past two seasons while battling triceps and forearm injuries. He’s out of minor league options but will be able to work a minor league rehab assignment to get up to speed later this season if he is deemed healthy enough to take the ball once again.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Cardinals Extend Paul DeJong

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TODAY: Bob Nightengale of USA Today has tweeted the full breakdown. DeJong will receive a $1MM signing bonus and $1MM salary this year. Thereafter, he’ll receive $1.5MM (2019 and 2020), $4MM (2021), $6MM (2022), and $9MM (2023). The first option comes with a $2MM buyout, the second a $1MM buyout.

YESTERDAY: The Cardinals have announced an extension with shortstop Paul DeJong, as Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch first reported. DeJong is represented by the C.L. Rocks Corporation.

DeJong will be guaranteed $26MM over a six-year term, FanRag’s Jon Heyman reports (Twitter links). That includes $2MM in buyouts for a pair of club options that, per Goold, are valued at $12.5MM and $15MM, respectively. The $26MM guarantee on the extension breaks Tim Anderson’s record (six years, $25MM) for the largest sum ever guaranteed to a player with less than one full year of Major League service time. (Related: MLBTR Extension Tracker; Pre-Arb Extension Records).

Paul DeJong

The 24-year-old DeJong debuted with little fanfare last summer but quickly thrust himself into the national spotlight with a terrific .285/.325/.532 slash line and 25 homers through just 443 plate appearances in 108 games.

DeJong spent a bit of time at second base but spent most of his rookie season at shortstop, where Defensive Runs Saved pegged him as an average defender and Ultimate Zone Rating graded him slightly above. In all, he was worth 2.7 rWAR and 3.0 fWAR in his debut season — a strong enough performance to land him second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting behind Cody Bellinger.

That strong rookie season wasn’t without its red flags, though, and DeJong will have some notable areas on which to focus for improvement in 2018 and beyond. Most significantly, the young slugger’s 28 percent strikeout rate and 4.7 percent walk rate each cast doubt on his ability to repeat his OBP and batting average, both of which were propped up to some extent by a .349 BABIP that looks poised for some regression. To his credit, DeJong did scale back his strikeouts and boost his walk rate over the season’s final five to six weeks, perhaps signaling that he’s already begun to make some adjustments. However, he’ll need to do so over the course of a full year to prove that this level of production is at least somewhat sustainable.

DeJong isn’t on track for Super Two status, so the Cardinals have bought out three pre-arbitration seasons and three arbitration years with today’s deal in exchange for control over his first two free-agent years. In doing so, they’ve bet a fair amount on DeJong remaining a productive cog in their infield for the foreseeable future. If he rewards that faith, however, the Cardinals will effectively control DeJong for the entirety of his prime without needing to pay for much, if any, of his decline phase. The guaranteed portion of the contract runs through DeJong’s age-29 campaign, while the two option years cover his age-30 and age-31 seasons.

From DeJong’s vantage point, he’ll now obtain his first baseball fortune three years ahead of schedule. The former fourth-round pick received a $200K signing bonus out of Illinois State in the 2015 draft but wouldn’t have been eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 season. He’ll sacrifice some earning power down the line as a would-be 30-year-old free agent, though that’s the trade-off that virtually all young players make when locking in this type of financial security well in advance.

Early extensions of this nature have become a hallmark of the Cardinals’ front office, though the success rate on such long-term deals probably hasn’t been as high as president of baseball operations John Mozeliak and GM Mike Girsch would like. The Cards have done well thus far in long-term arrangements with Carlos Martinez and Matt Carpenter. However, last year’s extension with Stephen Piscotty didn’t pay dividends as the team hoped — he’s since been traded to Oakland — nor did Allen Craig’s five-year deal (although the Cards were able to trade him before thatdeal imploded). The jury is still out on Kolten Wong’s five-year, $25.5MM deal, though Wong rebuilt his value last season after a poor 2016 campaign.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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