The Twins have already extended a pair of young players this winter, inking both Max Kepler (five years, $35MM) and Jorge Polanco (five years, $25.75MM) to long-term deals, and they at least made an attempt to hammer out a long-term arrangement with Jose Berrios as well. The young righty tells Phil Miller of the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he and his representatives at Wasserman turned away an extension offer this winter.
Berrios, however, didn’t rule out signing a contract that would extend his stay in Minnesota — perhaps even before Opening Day 2019. “I have to manage my business, too,” said the 24-year-old. “…We’re waiting for the best for both sides. If it doesn’t happen this year, maybe next year.”
Miller lists the recent extensions signed by Aaron Nola (four years, $45MM) and Luis Severino (four years, $40MM) as data points, though it’s not clear that Berrios’ camp is seeking that type of guarantee. Furthermore, Severino was a Super Two player when he signed that deal, and Nola was had already reached three years of MLB service. Both players were already eligible for arbitration and were in line for salaries of at least $4.4MM for the coming season, whereas Berrios has two years, 44 days of MLB service and won’t be eligible for arbitration until next winter. As such, signing a comparable contract to either Nola or Severino would set a new precedent for the two-to-three service class.
As MLBTR’s Tim Dierkes explored when looking at a potential extension for the Rockies’ Kyle Freeland, Berrios finds himself among a group of quality players with two-plus years of service who still seem likely to fall shy of record-setting money. Corey Kluber’s $38.5MM extension, signed on the heels of a Cy Young season, is the largest ever for a non-Super-Two pitcher with between two and three years of MLB service. Berrios’ case, clearly, isn’t as strong; historically speaking, he’s more in line with a large group of starters who signed in the realm of $30MM over five years (though many of those contracts are close to a decade old). It’s worth emphasizing, of course, that Berrios’ asking price and the parameters put forth by the Twins earlier this winter aren’t known.
Berrios had an awful rookie campaign as a 22-year-old but has since settled in as very solid big league starter — one whose raw stuff and former prospect pedigree create optimism that there’s still a fair bit of improvement left in the tank. Dating back to 2017, the Puerto Rican-born righty has worked to a 3.86 ERA with 9.1 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, 1.06 HR/9 and a 40 percent ground-ball rate in 338 innings. He’ll take the hill for Minnesota in his first career Opening Day start this season as the Twins hope the long touted right-hander can take another step forward and keep them in competition for a division title in the AL Central.
If Berrios is able to do that, he’ll vault himself into another tier of earning potential. At that point, he’d line up more comparably with Nola’s $45MM guarantee or the $51MM guarantee attained by the Cardinals’ Carlos Martinez, the latter of which stands out as the largest deal ever promised to a pitcher with between three and four years of MLB service (as can be seen in MLBTR’s Extension Tracker). For the time being, Miller’s colleague La Velle E. Neal III reports (via Twitter) that Berrios agreed to a one-year contract worth $620K for the upcoming season — his final pre-arbitration salary before at least entering the arb process next winter. Minnesota controls Berrios through the 2022 campaign.
SMDH there’s always one
After one full season it was a good idea. He is counting on the potential that he, the Twins, and everyone else sees. Hes going to be a CY Young candidate in a few years if not this year. He will definitely be an allstar. Comparisons with Severino and Nola right now seem a bit unfair though.
Berrios isn’t as good as Nola or Severino so if he’s holding out for more than them, good luck to him.
Thank you Johnny Superscout
so are you SMDH or just SMH???
Huh?
this might be a good move for Berrios. Assuming Nola and Severino have their options exersized, that makes two less potential competitors for FA deals come 2023.
He’ll learn the hard way… Better stay consistent!
this was a fool move…
You call it a fool move when the actual amount of $ involved isn’t mentioned.Quite a few players have opted for contracts that will take them to FA in their 1st availalble year.
Apparently we’ve reached a point that if a player doesn’t sign a pre-arb deal of undetermined value then they are a fool.
Yep!
smh
anyone that turns down $25 million us a damn fool especially when their value is decreasing every day not increasing. better to have 25 million than nothing
No where does it say how much the offer was from the Twins. Maybe they low balled an offer…
Clearly, MLBTR writers love to use the word “clearly”.
Why are the MLBTR writer’s word choices in their articles so fascinating to readers all of sudden?? “Clearly”, “legendary”, “maddening”…give it a rest!
Its not fascinating, its obnoxious.
It’s KF’s “thing”
Literally, has something like this to say on EVERY article.
My gut says if your a pitcher, take the extension and money early on. Ur young enough where you can bank on yourself in the future and more money will come. But because you are a pitcher, injuries are high and you never know what could happen. So take the money when you can.
Hitters I say u can hold out
HE GONE
No way. Twins won’t let him hit free agency.
If the Twins don’t win, the Twins may not have a choice.
He’ll be traded long before he has the chance to become a FA.
I think Berrios wants to play for a team committed to winning. His work ethic is touted as fantastic. If he’s putting in this much effort to win and be better, I’d speculate he’d want the same from his team. The Twins have done little to impress.
Also, based on the contract extensions other Twins players have signed this offseason, it sure looks like the Twins have been trying to take advantage of the current FA market situation and lock up players with a couple free agency seasons and for significant cost savings. Berrios is more coveted than Rosario or Kepler so I can see him holding off on a very team favorable arrangement.
All that said, Berrios is not an ace and is never likely to become one. He has 3 pitches and that pretty much caps him out at where he is, and that’s a very solid, high innings, #2 rotation piece. If it’s not about going somewhere with a commitment to win, he should take an offer with less AAV than an ace caliber pitcher like Nola so long as the Twins aren’t trying to steal multiple FA years.
Berrios to the Padres rumors in 3,2,1..
Hey, did you hear that Berrios may go to the Padres?
The Padres are considering hiring Berrios’ personal barber that he’s had since he was a kid.
So, did you guys hear? Tim Flannery on PadresCast just said that talks are in motion for Berrios to the Pads. A couple of high ceiling prospects and some international money is going in return.
I know you’re responding to a joke post, but is this a real thing?
Sounded somewhat believable didn’t it?
In all reality – the phils sound like they’re about to make a deal for him. Solidify a cheap young talented rotation for the near future. Twins will get the kind of return they got for stars like JJ Hardy or Aaron Hicks.
My grandparents LOVED Tim Flannery. He’s legendary in San Diego.
Berrios may never be as dominant as Severino, but I think there’s a possibility that he could be more successful in the long run. Consistently is key, and he has the work ethic to maintain that for many years. Which why I’m hoping we can get this extension done sooner rather than later, but if he’s willing to bet on himself in order to make more $$$, good for him and good luck.
Meh. Severino has to stay consistent throughout an entire season before I’ll even start thinking about the word “dominate”
This kid works harder than most. I’m not going to knock him for betting on himself.
He doesn’t want to pitch for the Twins. He’d rather pitch in Cuba.
Is “Sargent” your name or did you just misspell “sergeant” because your spelling is as dumb as your trolling schtick?
Instead of hamstringing clubs with huge extensions, give out cash awards for top-10 finishes, MVPs, Cy Youngs, etc, directly from revenue sharing.
I don’t think that specifically makes a lot of sense in and of itself since awards are a pretty crummy and subjective measurement of a player’s performance… but right now players are often underpaid to perform early, and overpaid to rehab on the DL later. If they could get what they’re worth when they’re actually worth it it would help a lot.
You gotta wonder where the twins were trying to get him at. There have been some terrible starter deals. He could be aiming for 10 aav and they’re looking at 5.
He will definitely be an Cy Young candidate in a few years? I remember the quote of a better young pitcher Matt Harvey saying he wanted Jeter money.How did that work out. No one knows if he will be a Cy Young candidate ever and when it comes to pitching it’s even harder to predict the future then it is for hitters.I remember when the Yankees had a young Nova and a young Pineda and a young Hughes and Joba Chamberlain everyone said they had it made.Where are they now?
No rush, I guess…
Remember that Max Scherzer guy when he played for the Tigers? …