2:51pm: The contract includes a $1.5MM signing bonus, per Gelb, who also has the yearly breakdown. Kingery will earn $750K this year, $1.25MM in 2019, $1.5MM in 2020, $4MM in 2021, $6MM in 2022 and $8MM in 2023. Additionally, there’s a $1MM buyout for the first option, $500K for the second, and $250K for the third, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter).
2:14pm: The Phillies have signed second base prospect Scott Kingery to a six-year contract through the 2023 campaign, according to a team announcement. It’s worth $24MM in guarantees, Jon Heyman of FanRag tweets. The pact also features club options for the 2024, ’25 and ’26 seasons, meaning it could cancel out three of Kingery’s free-agent years. Those options are worth $13MM, $14MM and $15MM, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN reports. Kingery is a client of PSI Sports Management.
Kingery’s payday is a record-breaking amount for a player who has never appeared in the majors, easily beating out the five-year, $10MM guarantee the Astros gave first baseman Jon Singleton (an ex-Phillies prospect) back in 2014. Kingery and Singleton are the only two players to ever receive long-term deals before debuting in the majors. The Singleton contract hasn’t worked out at all for the Astros, but the Phillies weren’t going to let that deter them from wrapping up Kingery for the long haul.
The news of the 23-year-old Kingery’s accord comes on the heels of his first big league promotion, which was reported earlier Sunday. Service time looked to be a concern prior to the announcement of the deal, but that obviously won’t be an issue now for the Phillies, who expect Kingery to emerge as an important major leaguer this season.
Kingery, who joined the Phillies in Round 2 of the 2015 draft, saw his stock soar last year after slashing .313/.379/.608 (166 wRC+) with 18 home runs and 19 stolen bases in 317 Double-A plate appearances. The righty-swinger earned a promotion to Triple-A as a result of that production and also performed well at that level, where he batted .294/.337/.449 (117 wRC+) with eight homers and 10 steals in 286 PAs.
Thanks to his breakout 2017 showing, Kingery ranks as MLB.com’s 35th-best prospect. The outlet lauds his “advanced approach” at the plate and “plus speed,” noting that he has the upside of an everyday second baseman. The Phillies already have a quality second baseman in Cesar Hernandez, who accounted for 7.6 fWAR from 2016-17, so it’s unclear how often Kingery will play there in the near term.
Even if Hernandez continues to hold down the keystone for the time being, Kingery could factor in elsewhere. Although nearly all of Kingery’s minor league action came at second, manager Gabe Kapler suggested earlier this spring that the player could fill a super-utility role in the majors (via Matt Gelb of The Athletic; subscription required).
“He can play in the big leagues at many different positions,” Kapler said. “He can play second base, he can play shortstop, he can play centerfield. There’s no doubt in my mind that he can handle third base. He can handle both corners. In theory, that’s an exciting role for Scott.”
For the most part, the Phillies look well positioned in the infield (depth chart), where big-money first baseman Carlos Santana and touted shortstop prospect J.P. Crawford will join Hernandez in starting roles. Third baseman Maikel Franco has been a disappointment, however, and could cede his spot to Kingery if he continues to struggle this year. The Phillies are also talented in the outfield, where slugger Rhys Hoskins will play left and Odubel Herrera will continue to handle center. Right field’s less certain, although both Nick Williams and Aaron Altherr impressed last season.
Regardless of where Kingery lines up in 2018 and beyond, it’s obvious the Phillies regard him as an integral core piece and someone who can help them return to relevance. Philadelphia is mired in a six-year playoff drought and hasn’t finished .500 or better since 2012. The franchise looks to be on the upswing, though, in part because of Kingery’s potential.
Along with Kingery and the rest of the Phillies’ previously mentioned talent on the position player side, they made a bold strike in free agency in signing former Cubs ace Jake Arrieta to a three-year, $75MM contract. They also have budding star righty Aaron Nola under control through 2021. Plus, given that the Phillies have the capability to spend among the league’s top teams (as seen with the Santana and Arrieta signings), they should be in play for other established free agents in future offseasons.
Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia first reported the news. Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Oh hell yea
Wow
This could be either genius or absolutely horrible
Or somewhere in between.
Not really. The Phillies are way under budget and $24 million over 6 years isn’t a lot. If he goes the way of Jon Singleton it won’t be a lot of dead money.
With the payroll the Phillies have, 24 million is really nothing over 6 years. Even if he turns into Dom Brown, they’re only out 4 million against the luxury tax line.
I’m sorry, I posted this before the total was announced. I’m absolutely hype about this contract.
not really it could either be an incredible steal a very good long-term deal or very slight inconvenience
Wow
?¿ why
Elite prospect under control for 9 years. Why not?
Hmm. So this means service clock is a non issue with him now and he could be playing opening day. Great move imo
Best Deal Ever
2008. Longoria 17.5mm over 6 years with club options.
Right now Longo or Sal Perez’s original deal are the best ever but there could be a new king(ery) by the time this deal is finished
by the time the deal is finished, Sal Perez & Longo’s original deals will still be the best.
Altuve’s original deal?
I believe that this will end up being a great move.
Bold
Evan Longoria finally has company.
Remember Jon Singleton? Longo had him too.
Longoria’s was a few days after he debuted though, if I’m not mistaken. If you’re factoring in extensions shortly after debuting then you could throw Matt Moore and a few others in there too.
@ Michael. You are correct. It was April 19, 2008, so roughly 2.5 weeks of service time.
Sal Perez must be mentioned as well
Wow, did he short change himself. I know it’s protection against injury and such, but man.
People thought Singleton was shortchanging himself at the time and look what happened there. Accepting $24 million in guaranteed money is always a good decision if you’re a player like Kingery with no MLB experience.
How so? He could be a bust but now he will have 24 mil dollars and min promised to him
At min.
Agreed. Yes, he has $24mil to fall back on no matter what happens, which is great, but giving up 3 free agent years is too much IMO. If he would’ve given up 1 in order to get some guaranteed money (obviously less than $24mil), it would’ve been perfect for him but not for the Phillies. I think 2 free agent years is the magic number where it works out pretty well for both sides.
That’s being greedy for not having any service time, I think. It’s not like he’s giving up those 3 years, he’ll be making $42M in that time span. I think he just set himself and his family up for life and gave his team a home town discount if he becomes a superstar 2nd baseman. If he doesn’t, he’s still very well off.
24 mil unproven
He could suck but still could retire with that
Kid is set for life
Depends on how you look at it. It looks like he’s getting roughly $3 million above normal league minimum in his pre-arbitration years. For a guy his age, getting an extra $3 million that early and investing a good chunk of that wisely may more than compensate for anything he gives up in those later years.
Yesssssss good for him
Best of luck with the Phillies
This is such a good deal, assuming he pans out. Donaldson makes 23 million alone in his last year of arbitration, pretty much all of Kingery’s combined.
It’s different for 2B’s though. It tends to be much lower amounts.
altuve is laughing in the distance
Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles
2017 $3.5mm
2018 8.5mm
2019 arb #3
So when comparing it to Kingery, you can inflate the figures as you will.
Make no mistake; the Kingery extension is good, but it also carries tons of risk. It really depends on Kingery being
1. Healthy
2. An occasional All-Star.
Conversely, had Kingery not signed the deal, he would’ve began the season in the minors, and likely wouldn’t be called up till June. (to prevent him from being a super 2).
In that scenario, you’re looking at
2018: league min (prorated for June to Sept)
2019: league min
2020: league min
2021: league min (not super 2)
2022: arb #1
2023: arb #2
I’m willing to bet in this scenario, Kingery makes far less than $20mm.
Schoop had a 5.2 WAR season to jump from $3.5 to $8.5. If his season were 2-3, he probably would’ve gotten $5.5-$6.5. So if he were Schoop he’d make about $14 million over the next 6 years. He could make $13 million in arbitration in his 2024 option year, but again he’d need to be 5 WAR player to get there.
I think there’s no way he could’ve gotten more 2018-2024 if he hadn’t signed the deal. His 2025 at $14 million could be light but that’s the gamble.
Very rare does a contract have THREE club options.
Anyone have any other examples?
Pitcher or positional player. Rangers’ Martin Perez, and Adam Lind (2014-2016 club options, all exercised) on the Blue Jays, come to mind
It is, but players usually have 2-3 years experience when they get the deal. The Phillies signed Herrera to years 3-6 with 2 options. Kingery gets 2 extra years guaranteed. It makes sense they’d get another option.
Salvador Perez’s original deal was the first one that came to my mind.
Salvador Perez signed a five year, $7 million deal with 3 club options when he had only 39 major league games under his belt
Sign him for six years. Option him for another three. Then, collude against him when he’s a free agent at 32. Nice job!
Show me on this doll where the owners hurt you
great move. way more of a complete player than jon singleton ever was.
Kingery left a ton of money on the table here but, hey, good move for the team. I feel like Kingery risked more than the Phils, but of course this may be a model going forward. Players will get their money – 24 million dollars is life-changing cash – and if they break or bust they’ll have that. money banked. I mean, think about it this way: Grady Sizemore, who was basically Mike Trout before there was Mike Trout, made a total of 30 million dollars in his career. That’s not much more than this contract, and Sizemore put up four straight 6 -WAR seasons. Kingery probably won’t do that, because most players won’t do that, but he also might never even play a game in the majors. It’s a win in that respect for both him and the team.
He may not have. The pay he’s getting for the first six years is fairly good, although it may $2-$4 million lower than he would’ve gotten in arbitration if he’d gone that way. His option years are $13 million, $14 million, and $15 million. If he’s Jose Altuve then he’ll be underpaid. If he’s good, but not great, those salaries could actually be high.
@Coast
Had Kingery not signed the deal, what prevents the the Phillies from stashing him in the minors till late-May or early-June 2018?
In that scenario, Kingery likely is not a super 2 candidate (for 2020) and hence won’t be arbitration eligible till after the 2021 season. So 2022 is arbitration #1 and 2023 and arbitration #2.
Comparatively, Johnathan Schoop has a career earnings of ~$14mm (which covers his pre-arb earnings, arb #1, and arb #2).
I agree with your assessment, if Kingery is good but not-great, then it’s actually an overpay by the Phillies.
“Kingery left a ton of money on the table here . . . “
Not necessarily, Mr. coonce. In order to get to the table with the ton of money on it, the player would have had to undertake substantial risk. Risk of a career ending or talent diminishing injury. Risk that he just isn’t a very good major leaguer and doesn’t maintain a ML job. Risk that ML salaries do not continue to rise. Risk that he does something dumb in his personal life which negatively impacts his career earnings.
If the player both survived to free agency and demonstrated major league ability he may well have ended up getting more money. But the risk he would have assumed prior to free agency was almost prohibitive. He wasn’t looking at the difference between a $150M contract vs. a contract for “only” $80M or $100M, he was looking at the difference between $24M and (essentially) nothing. That’s a heckuva risk to expect anyone to take.
Look at it this way. If the player wanted to preserve his FA options but also guarantee himself at least the $24M offered he could have taken out a policy which would make up any deficiency between his career earnings and the $24M. The cost of said insurance—and it would have been substantial—should be added to the $24M when calculating player benefits. Getting guaranteed money rather than speculative money really is that important.
“24 million dollars is life-changing cash.”
Exactly. The first couple million will have a dramatic impact on his lifestyle. The next 20-200 million much less so.
“It’s a win in that respect for both him and the team.”
Very much so. There’s a lot to like about this deal for both sides. Kid hasn’t yet played an MLB game and he’s set for life. How can anyone criticize him for taking it.
Wow. Phillies fans are definitely either going to love this, hate this; or think it’s just okay.
Is there another option for Phillies fans that I’m not aware of?
It seems like the game was trending this way.
Probably will see more of these in the coming years.
We saw Paul Dejong get locked up after less than a year, now this kid.
As a Cubs fan,
It seems we’re the only team that doesn’t or can’t lock up any of their young talent.
That is because they are all too good. lol. KB will wait it out and so he should. Right now the Cubs have time. There is no rush, They will probably start looking at contracts after 2019 season.
You mean like Baez ? LoL
Maybe Schwarber ?
They’re probably taking a safer approach. Guys like Kingery could bust or Dejong could be another one year wonder who falls off a cliff.
Its good to take gambles sometimes, but Chicago prints money, so they can afford to pay their players the big bucks when the time comes.
So does Philly?
Not entirely true about the Cubs. Epstein signed Rizzo to a 7-year/$41M deal, plus team options ($14.5M each) for 2020-21. Rizzo had 168 days of service at that point and has posted 22.1 WAR (Fangraphs) over the first 5 years of his contract.
The Cards have done several of these deals
and they have worked out fairly well !
Well, I mean it would be absurd for Bryant to sign an early extension – that guy is going to make a fortune in free agency and I’m sure he’s still a bit annoyed at the service-time manipulation the Cubs pulled when he was a rookie. Rizzo is locked up. Baez might be the guy to target, but that plate discipline – 15 walks and 144 Ks! – is troubling.
His agent should be fired why would he agree to adeal like that lol.
$24MM is life changing money, and nothing is guaranteed in this game (See Jon Singleton)
Because $24 million is life changing money and it secures his financial future. What if he screwed up his leg tomorrow and never played baseball again? You never know. If he were 2 years into his career and he was raking at the plate, then this deal would be a headscratcher, but for a player with no big league experience, this is a good move.
Because he could get into a freak accident and never play again? Now his children’s children are set for life.
Dumbest post ever, David G.
A deal like this worked out great for Singleton.
It’s basically 3 years 7.5 million a year for the 3 arb years so it will probably be more than he would have got through arbitration.
The Phillies seem set on the idea he’ll be an expensive star player though.
Factor in that he’ll probably be getting more than the league minimum in his first 3 years too, so that’s even more money that he wouldn’t get otherwise
Get ready to see this happen a lot more. Prospects aren’t going to turn away this kind of money. Organizations would rather take risk with these kind of contracts with young guys.
Braves calling up Acuna right now with a 6-year, 35-40 million dollar guarantee right now?
It seems like things are starting to gear up for philly and theres excitement about the team. As a Braves fan it feels like we started our tear down just before them and have little excitement or gearing up happening. But hey Acuna amirite?
If the Braves can get some pitching prospects to pan out they’ll have a good team for awhile. Just wait for next offseason, Braves moved money forward to this year so they can start spending again. Phillies had very little money on the books
The Braves arguable didn’t extract maximum value for their top trade chips, they don’t spend as much money as the phillies, and during a rebuild, a new GM is usually brought in at the beginning, not towards the tail end after having 13 prospects stripped from the organization
How well would he have had to perform to earn 24M during the entire pre-arb and arbitration years?
He’d have to be good enough in the first 3 pre-arb years to stick in MLB, first of all. You add on the extra amount he’d make in each of those years compared to pre-arb salary (roughly 3.45M) to what would’ve been arbitration years, and its around 7.45M. So he’d have to be an notably above league average bat to earn that kind of money. I believe DJ LeMahieu finally got up to that range in his final year now. Realmuto is still well below that mark.
Great deal for Scott and his agency. Only downside for him is possibly the option years, if those are at 4M, the contract might look like one of the biggest bargin’s in baseball by then. I like this move by the Phillies considering salaries look like they’re going to start increasing considerably in a year or two after a new deal with reach’s with the player’s union.
UPDATE: I absolutely love this deal! Kudos to Klentak and McPhail on locking up a potential cornerstone player exceptionally inexpensively.
BIG TIME MOVE
This is why the Phillies are a real team and the A’s aren’t: explain why they did this with a guy with 0 AB but the A’s couldn’t do the same thing with Olson and Chapman, two guys who absolutely dominated in a half season last year? Pathetic.
That said: really interesting to hear how his position might not be 2B in MLB.
Excellent signing by the Phillies. The $24m is obviously a risk, but those 3(!) options years could prove to be significant bargains if the kid is what most think. I don’t blame the kid for taking the money (Jon Singleton). As confident as these young guys are, and as much as they believe they’re going to be studs, there are no guarantees. $24m at age 23 means you’re set for life financially (so long as your not a moron with your money). Further, the financial stability can help a kid forget about the finances at risk, and concentrate on developing as a player. Still tho, 3 option years is a lot. He’ll be 32 should the 6 + 3 play out, and six years from now the money in the sport could/should appreciate. But hey, all in all it’s at worst (or best) a 9 year deal for $65 million or so. No one will starve.
A simple math lesson for the naysayers…
If you had a VERY good, everyday, job earning on average $200K per year for even an impressive 50 years, you’ve made $10M lifetime. Kingery has more than doubled what you made.
We’ll just overlook what the options, endorsement deals, or potential FA contract could net him as well.
Want to have some fun?
Who’s older, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado or Scott Kingery?
Machado is the oldest, Kingery the youngest.
Yeah that was real fun and not surprising.
Machado is the oldest, Kingery the youngest.
If the contract is as reported, that’s pretty team friendly. However, if there are escalator clauses that will raise the salaries depending on production, then not a bad deal.
Excellent extension and he made the roster!
love this signing and he definitely deserves to be on the roster but it doesn’t make a ton of sense. he needs to play everyday but at whose expense? who are you taking at bats away from? Crawford? can’t. he needs to play everyday too. Hernandez? definitely not. so that leaves Franco. I’m more than fine with moving on from him for a couple lower level, higher ceiling guys. just leads me to think there has to be something else in the works before next week.
ehhh….does he really NEED to play every day though? A few days ago, yea we could actually say that about Kingery as we say it about Quinn and others who should be getting constant at bats to prove their worth. This contract basically says, “you’ve made the team; you’ve proven your worth and don’t necessarily need to play every day because we’ve already committed to you for the next SIX possibly NINE years.” A big trade coming, something else “in the works” before next week? I could see it happening but I think the Phils are content to have incredible infield depth to begin the season rather than selling low on Franco and letting Kingery be the starting 3B.
does he really need to? i say yes only because why make this deal now when it wasn’t absolutely necessary? maximize his service time and roll the dice on Franco at least until the break. by doing this now it only makes sense to play him everyday seeing he’s on the roster taking up a spot and creating a logjam in the infield. it also clearly shows that they value him enough to do it now so why platoon with everyone when there wasn’t a strong need? and don’t get me wrong i love this problem if you want to call it that but i just don’t get it.
Great move as Kingery has had a great minor league career and I hope that continues in the MLB. Mikael Franco and Cesar Hernandez better step it up or one of them will be on the bench. He has many Chase Utley qualities so the Phillie fans will love him if continues his great play.
Phillies had a nice draft run from 2013-2016 which may have set them up pretty good for the future:
2013: Crawford/Knapp/Leiter jr
2014: Nola/Hoskins
2015: Kingery
2016: Romero
Obviously I hope for more to work out but that’s a decent chunk of the developing core right there.
omg, the ‘grandkids are set for life’ comment again..
——————————–
I like this deal a lot for the Phillies. Kingery looks like he’s going to at least be a very well rounded player.
No need to keep him in the minors to start the season either.
If I ran a major league club I would offer a similar deal to every highly rated prospect. It has to be awfully difficult for a young player with no experience to turn down a guarantee of this type. The old cliche “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” is the right answer. It makes even more sense to the clubs because of the dramatic escalation of arbitration awards to star players. Of course there is risk but 6 for $24 million and 9 years for $66 million is a great deal and could save the Phillies $100+ million or more if Kingery becomes the next Utley..
As I recall, Jose Tabata 3 option years for Pirates
Contract backfired, just answering the question
Great memory. Tabata’s six-year extension gave him, $14.75M guaranteed money, with 2017-19 club options that would max out deal at $37.25M. He was DFA by PIT after hitting .289/.341/.289 traded to LAD for Michael Morse, eventually getting released, bought out all options for $750K
In case anyone wants to know what happened to him…
Today, Tabata, 29, is looking to get back to Major Leagues, after he joined York Revolution, last month. Tabata played 509 games with PIT hitting .275 with 17 HR’s and 126 RBI.
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