There was a well-documented run on contract extensions prior to this season, which bled into the current campaign in multiple instances. All told, 30 players inked multiyear pacts with their clubs between January and April. We highlighted five last week who’ve disappointed this year since landing their new deals. Now, here are six who have actually improved in 2019, thereby making their teams look that much better for locking them up…
Xander Bogaerts, SS, Red Sox (six years, $120MM):
- There were many who believed Bogaerts left a good amount of money on the table last spring when he inked a long-term deal with the Red Sox a year before a potential trip to free agency. It was debatable then whether that was truly the case, but not anymore. The consistently terrific Bogaerts is now enjoying a career year at the age of 26. Bogaerts has totaled 5.5 fWAR on the strength of a .308/.384/.563 line (good for a 142 wRC+) through 539 plate appearances. With a personal-best 27 home runs, he’s a shoo-in for his first 30-HR campaign. It helps that Bogaerts has swung at fewer out-of-zone pitches than ever and walked at a career-best rate.
Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Braves (eight years, $100MM):
- Thanks in part to what’s somehow a team-friendly nine-figure contract, the FanGraphs crew recently ranked Acuna as the player with the most trade value in baseball. Anyone care to argue? The 21-year-old may become the game’s latest 40/40 player this season, having amassed 34 home runs and 28 stolen bases over 562 trips to the plate. He has also slashed .298/.377/.539 (134 wRC+), posted nine Defensive Runs Saved and a 1.3 Ultimate Zone Rating among all three outfield positions, and racked up 4.8 fWAR.
Ozzie Albies, 2B, Braves (seven years, $35MM):
- The majority of observers regarded the Albies deal as an absolute steal for the Braves when he signed it. The 22-year-old hasn’t done anything to change minds since then, having batted .298/.353/.502 (117 wRC+) with 18 homers and 11 steals across 530 PA. Albies has added three DRS and a 1.3 UZR in the field, helping lead to a 3.4 fWAR a year after he logged 3.8. The switch-hitting Albies was clearly among the game’s best second basemen before landing his extension, and the contract has only made him more valuable from Atlanta’s perspective.
Max Kepler, OF, Twins (five years, $35MM):
- Back in May, the Kepler extension was one of two MLBTR’s Jeff Todd highlighted as a gem for the club. The 26-year-old Kepler was off to an impressive start to the season at that point, and he hasn’t let up. Kepler’s already up to 32 homers, 12 more than his previous high-water mark, in 501 PA. Overall, he has batted .258/.337/.536 (124 wRC+) with 3.7 fWAR. Unlike many hitters who’ve increased their power, Kepler’s excellence hasn’t come with more strikeouts. He has fanned in a meager 16 percent of plate appearances and drawn walks at an above-average 10.2 percent clip.
Sonny Gray, RHP, Reds (three years, $30.5MM):
- The Reds extended Gray immediately after acquiring the 29-year-old from the Yankees, with whom he struggled. Wise choice. Gray was mostly successful with the Yankees before an adverse year and a half in New York, and he has returned to his top form as a member of the Reds. He owns a stellar 2.98 ERA/3.40 FIP with 10.45 K/9 (easily a career-high amount), 3.39 BB/9 and a 52.6 percent groundball rate over 132 2/3 innings. The fact that Gray has reverted to being a front-of-the-rotation arm is a key reason why the Reds’ starting staff has taken massive steps forward this season.
Jorge Polanco, SS, Twins (five years, $25.75MM):
- Polanco’s extension was another brilliant preseason decision by the Twins, who’ve seen the 26-year-old hit .294/.357/.487 (118 wRC+) with 17 long balls and 3.3 fWAR since signing it. Polanco, like Kepler, has been rather difficult to strike out, having gone down in that manner in a mere 15.8 percent of PA.
Ha, real headline should read “cheap teams that got away with highway robbery”
areed especially Albies
Ok on that note lets headline it as “players who undervalued their potential”
Nobody forced them to sign the contract. If they are willing to sign for said amount then can’t get mad at the team.
The above comments are mostly bizarre. What about all the players who get injured or simply don’t perform? Players took security for whatever reason. Baseball is a team game and even with the Bogaerts’ favorable deal, Boston’s budget was stretched to the max. Teams do have budgets.
That’s exactly right, a contract’s value includes more than just the total dollar amount. This isn’t the NFL, when you have a chance at longterm contract security that’s guaranteed then you have to seriously consider signing it. Especially when you play the demanding position of shortstop and are coming off a season in which you played in only 136 games.
Now Mookie on the other hand is dead set on testing the free agent waters. While he’s had a decent season this year, still his value has diminished since winning MVP. If he has another declining season next year, he will likely regret not agreeing on an extension with the Red Sox. Interestingly he played in exactly the same number of games last year as Xander. You have to wonder how that little frame of his will hold up with his reckless style of play.
Agreed. Mookie and JD Martinez go up to the plate with stress written all over them. Xander doesn’t.
Your remarks on the NFL made me do a double-take as it wasn’t so long ago when they did not have incredible guarantees and were envious of baseball’s guaranteed contracts. Mookie will be interesting. I still see him staying unless he’d prefer to live elsewhere for family reasons. The Sox though may need to maintain flexibility after this year’s disaster and terms are not simply what Mookie wants. Bogaerts’ willingness to negotiate is refreshing.
You must be a Philly fan its not the Braves fault they signed Ozzie and Acuna to cheap deals while your paying Bryce Harper 330 mil
Rely? Do you know how many hookers and how much blow you can get with just a few million bucks? These players, if they budget correctly, can live the high life for at least ten years before they need to go out and get a real job, like selling insurance.
Dude. I don’t know how you live but if I had Bryce Harper money I would only make it about six months. That’s assuming I spend it all on hookers and blow alone. You must be cheap and I feel bad for you. No judgement though. No judgement.
I don’t know how Braves got those 2 contracts off
The way they carry themselves, I don’t think they care about money as much as other players. I think they love playing in Atlanta and they want to play together. They make more money in the short term and get the long-term security of playing together for basically the next decade. They’ll both be young enough to sign another big deal.
What an Atlanta fan, hahaha every comment made on this is completely dictated by fandom, no one knows anything
OK genius, then for what reasons would they sign those contracts? Were they forced to sign?
Speaking of extensions, Julio Teheran’s 2013 extension will hopefully end by the end of the season…unless they pick up his option.
Rejoice, 2020 might be the first real chance the Braves advance past the NLDS since 2001.
That’ll be your first time ever seeing them in the playoffs, so you shall too rejoice.
So be it. Knowing I never have to see him pitch with the Braves in the playoffs is a great first playoff experience for me. Not like I missed anything since 1995.
Braves get the NL central winner which will be a much less daunting draw than the WC team. They should make it to the LCS this year
Not if Swanson is out. They have amongst the worst 5-8 in baseball, a rotation that relies on a semi rookie, and a bullpen with ZERO quality pitchers.
I said this when he got hurt, and I will say it again, Swanson is the biggest missing link on this team right now. Bullpen is dead, no hope. Offensively (and defensively) Swanson solidifies the lineup. What we have seen from the Braves since his injury proves it.
A more realistic guy would be Kolten Wong…and what I mean by that is obviously the two brave players would improve…especially Acuna …that’s kind of a weak assessment
They didn’t get anything worthwhile the first 3 years of that extension. Now in year 4, he’s doing ok. Let’s wait and see if he’s worth the $10M next year or if Cards exercise the option the option in 2021 for $12.5M?
Smart GMs know a 20-something year-old player isn’t going to turn down $20-40M offer. The next lockout needs to address the major league service time rules. It’s obscene.
Thunderbolt: Your only talking about the few that make it big. What about the cost of those that never make it? Signing bonuses are bigger than ever. Free agency is screwing fans of smaller market teams and you want to make it worse. Lowering the service time will hurt teams like Cincinnati, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Even Cleveland would suffer in my view.
Can you imagine teams like Tampa/Cleveland having to trade their assets even earlier in service time? Like you said, higher signing bonuses, but less time for actual results. Less time to establish AND less team control to trade… It’s gotta be tough being fans of low budget teams anyway.
Teams will also be rushed in evaluating and will likely make more mistakes that could hamper the team even more.
Forgot Mike Trout.
I agree seems like the most egregious exclusion I can think of in any post. I have to comment.
Everyone forgets about guys like Mat Harvey. I’ll bet he wishes he signed an extension for about $200 million when he had the chance. Careers can go south I’m a hurry too.
HELLO!?!? MIKE TROUT?? How did he not make this list? This post was about players that signed contract extensions. They were listed in descending order from highest paid to least paid. Trout received the biggest extension in MLB history while also signing the biggest contract in MLB history for the highest average annual value in MLB history. Mike Trout just tied Cody Bellinger for the current MLB lead with 40 home runs tonight. He is definitely improving in his power. He has had a great season. The way this list is set up he should not only be on it, he should be at the very top. Can someone please explain to me why he didn’t even make this list at all or is this just a huge miss by Connor Byrne? Sorry Connor. I don’t like to pick on the new guy and I love a lot of your posts and chats but I am trying to figure out if the absence of Mike Trout was intentional or not and if it was intentional then why? Even though he is arguably the best player in the league and is hitting for more power than ever before is he not qualified as improved? Shouldn’t Mike Trout not only be present on this list but be #1 overall?
Probably because Trout was already an absurdly exceptional player? If you use fangraphs, he’s on pace to top his highest career WAR by 0.4 for the year. If you prefer baseball reference, he’s on pace for his 4th highest season WAR, not even topping last year… because there’s more to baseball than just power.
The article uses fangraphs, so for consistency’s sake… yes it could be his best season to date, but his IMPROVEMENT compared to prior years isn’t really in the same league as how much the guys on this list have improved
Tune in tomorrow for the list of worst contract extensions. #1. Matt Carpenter. #2. Miles Mikolas.
Settle down folks. These players probably had an agreement when they signed those inexpensive international free agent contracts to sign extensions that favored the major league team. That’s how the Braves built that great farm team.
It’s not that hard to realize how the Braves pulled those two contracts off. Acuna and Albies are best friends that live together/love playing together/love playing for the Braves. They get tons of security. In Acuna’s case he said as much. He said he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. Even if he gets a career ending injury tomorrow he will walk away with $100 million dollars. If he didn’t sign the contract and gets a career ending injury tomorrow he could be broke in a couple years. People also never consider where they came from. Acuna is from Venezuela. His entire family lives there. Now that he has a guaranteed contract he is going to be able to bring his family over far more easily. That country is basically going through a revolutionary war right now and being that he is a famous athlete all of their lives are at risk. The same can be said about Albies. He is from the DR. MLB players family members get kidnapped for ransom there all the time. David Ortiz just got shot there. Would you put your entire family at risk for over half a decade just to have the opportunity to earn a couple hundred mill when you could instead protect them and walk away with at least $35-$100 million? Anyone who would leave their family in that situation when they would be guaranteed to be wealthy beyond their wildest imaginations anyway is just a terrible person. Best case scenario Acuna gets hurt and still makes $100 million. Worst case scenario is he is a great baseball player for the next decade and still makes a $100 million. It was an easy choice. They made the choice that helps their families. It’s not like they have the safety of an American suburb to consider when looking out for the ones they care about the most.