The Dodgers announced today that they have signed catcher Will Smith to a ten-year extension which runs through 2033. It is reportedly a guarantee of $140MM with no opt-outs for the Apex Baseball client, though with deferrals. Smith will get a $30MM signing bonus, a salary of $13.55MM in 2024, salaries of $13MM from 2025 to 2027, $9.5MM from 2028 to 2032 and $9.95MM in 2033. The deferrals will be paid out at a rate of $5MM annually from 2034 to 2043 and the deal will have a competitive balance tax hit of $12.2MM. Because this deal overwrites Smith’s previous $8.55MM salary for the 2024 season, the pact is effectively a nine-year, $131.45MM deal in terms of new money.
It’s an early birthday present for Smith, who turns 29 tomorrow and has somewhat quietly been one of the best catchers in the game in recent years. Dating back to his 2019 debut through the end of 2023, he hit 91 home runs and drew walks in 10.9% of his plate appearances. His .261/.357/.483 batting line coming into the 2024 season translates to a 128 wRC+. Among qualified catchers over that span, only Mitch Garver and Adley Rutschman had a higher wRC+. Each of those two were at 130 but in barely half as many plate appearances.
His glovework has also received strong grades, including 26 Defensive Runs Saved thus far in his career. Statcast considers him to have been roughly league average in terms of blocking and controlling the running game. It’s less enthused about his framing but FanGraphs considers him to be right around par in that department, while Baseball Prospectus considers him to be well above average. His 15.8 wins above replacement from FanGraphs since the start of 2019 are second among primary catchers, behind only J.T. Realmuto.
Smith was going into his second of three arbitration seasons. He made $5.25MM last year and avoided arbitration back in January by agreeing to a salary of $8.55MM for 2024, though that salary has now been overwritten by the aforementioned $13.55MM figure. He would have been eligible for another pass at arbitration in 2025 before qualifying for free agency after his age-30 season, but the Dodgers have locked him up instead.
The structure of the contract stands out as unusual, as a ten-year deal for a catcher is unprecedented. Per MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, which has data going back to the 2009-10 offseason, no backstop has ever signed a deal longer than eight years. Each of Joe Mauer, Buster Posey and Keibert Ruiz signed eight-year extensions, the longest deals for catchers in the past decade-plus.
Catchers generally experience a great deal of wear and tear due to the rigors of the position, which can make it difficult to achieve longevity in the position. In terms of deals three years or longer, the oldest age for the player’s final season was 37, which applies to the three-year deal Carlos Ruiz signed with the Phillies back in 2013 and an extension Yadier Molina signed with the Cardinals. Russell Martin’s five-year deal with the Blue Jays went into his age-36 season, the oldest age for the final season of any deal longer than three years for a catcher.
The Dodgers have committed to Smith for a longer term than any of those deals and later into his career. But in doing so, it seems they were able to compromise in terms of the average annual value and competitive balance tax hit, which is based on AAV. The nine years and $131.45MM of new money leads to an AAV $14.61MM before accounting for deferrals, which lower the present-day value of the deal to $12.2MM. Mauer got a guarantee of $184MM and a $23MM AAV back in 2010. Posey got $166.5MM and a $20.8MM AAV in 2023. Martin’s five-year deal came with an $82MM guarantee and $16.4MM AAV back in 2014.
That is not to suggest that Smith is as good as those players, merely to point out that the guarantee isn’t as unprecedented as the length. While the ten-year span is a new record for catchers, there are 12 deals with higher AAVs than $14.61MM listed on the Contract Tracker.
Smith was likely looking at one shot at a life-changing deal when he hit free agency after 2025, but he’ll lock up that money now instead of waiting. Perhaps he is sacrificing some future earning power but he now foregoes any risk of a significant injury cutting into those plans. The Dodgers get to keep a catcher who has established himself as a key piece of the roster while tamping down the luxury tax hit. The length of the deal will keep it on the books for a long time but the modest salary shouldn’t be an albatross for a high-spending club like the Dodgers.
In the long run, there will inevitably be questions that need to be answered about the domino effects of this deal. Smith may need to be moved from behind the plate to a designated hitter role over time but the presence of Shohei Ohtani will prevent Smith from getting any kind of regular role in the DH slot. The Dodgers also have three catching prospects that are considered to be top 100 talents in Diego Cartaya, Dalton Rushing and Thayron Liranzo. As those players approach the majors, the club could be facing a bit of a logjam, though that would be a good problem to have and could allow the Dodgers to bolster other areas of the roster via trade.
For today, it’s a nice bit of security for both the player and the club, cementing a relationship that had a ticking clock with less than two years remaining.
Juan Toribio of MLB.com. first reported that the two sides were working on a deal. Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic first had the ten-year length while Jeff Passan of ESPN had the guarantee. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com added that there is some deferred money. Dylan Hernández of the Los Angeles Times relayed the signing bonus and the lack of opt-outs. Feinsand later provided the full breakdown and the CBT calculation.
6 years/150 million.
It says ten years
He wrote that before the edit.
Pitch calling and framing are critical.
6/150 is probably more like what they are actually expecting to get.
Not really. Electronic umps will be used well before this contract ends.
Pitch sequencing is where it’s at tho.
That’s done by the dugout.
Dodgers gambling on wil smith for the future
Wil leads by example. He’s not a party guy. Stays out of trouble and is a gritty dude.
@ Mets6986 electronic umps is something I dread and really hope it doesn’t happen. I love emotions being expressed while hating it when calls go against my team. I feel electronic umps will make the game too boring and a snooze-fest. The game is already getting too “watered down” and adding another, makes it unworthy of being watched. I can’t wait until the new commissioner comes in and I hope he/she turns away from computerizing the game further.
Baseball needs to keep its traditional umpires. The emotions and coach/umpires arguments are classic and memorable. From Lloyd McClendon stealing of a bag in protest, to Bobby Cox famous ejections, everything before and after those memorable events. That intensity keep us fans amused and excited. Take that away, what do you have left? Benched clearing? That happens rarely compared to a manager having a verbal argument with the umpire. These are the times that fans cheer and enjoy watching a manager fighting for their club. Doesn’t matter if it’s the home or away team manager, fans get into the game and thrive for these emotions. It’s what we crave for and become quickly entertained. MLB shouldn’t change that if they are smart.
PF1981,,,,, I agree with you. I think this is what’s happened to NASCAR to drive down their popularity. Hardly any arguments or fights after a race. If you do, “come to the trailer boys!” NASCAR is so squeaky clean, so politically correct and so boring! Hope baseball doesn’t go down that road!
A 10 year contract for a 29 year old catcher is nearly as bad as a 10 year contract for a pitcher.
Not as bad as Lindors tho Brooklyn.
Another thing we need to look at is the insider information Will has on the Dodgers pitchers and methods. I’m sure LA wanted to keep that in house by re signing Will.
Also, Will smith is a poised hitter and doesn’t get rattled in big moments (priceless).
14MM a year is worth all the tangible and intangible benefits Smith brings.
He can always DH…oh wait, the Dodgers have a DH. Maybe 1st base when Freeman’s contract is up four years from now!
His interpreter said so?
Best of both worlds, umpire behind the plate who has an ear piece from electronic ump that tells him what the call is. I personally want accurate zones, think it makes a huge difference, especially for batters with great eyes.
@Ringorbust some of the umps act like they are bigger than the game already, do you think they would accept taking calls from a robo ump in their earpiece?
Ironic because this a party contract, at least in 2024.
PF
Just for you
They can program the robot unps to make an incorrect call 5% of the time
Then they can bring some toddlers out in the field and tell them they can color on home plate and you can watch them have a temper tantrum
To each their own, of course, but it’s absurd to me that people want to see grown men having a fit on the field
But what can you do about over emotional men?
Lindor is a top ten player in baseball year in and year out. What are you talking about? Lindor is twice the player Smith will ever be and is got a one way ticket to the hall of fame while Smith doesn’t have a prayer in the world of getting in.
Lindors deal has been great and is the most reasonable of all the recent shortstop deals. He’ll be 3-4 full years younger when it ends and his game will age better than most.
yo, holmes, to Bel Air!
One knee catcher. A lot of wild pitches the pitcher gets chargerd for instead of pass balls.
Great player, peckerwood team, crap city , great signing.
Muted for being an idiot
Probably with 135 million deferred
Read the article it says how much is deferred.
The Dodgers should give Chris Rock a seat on the railing next to the dugout. when KC is in town. Then have Will Smith the pitcher and Will the catcher both go slap him on camera. Best promo ever.
10 years for a catcher holy cow
amk – Sandy Leon has been catching for 12 years …. ‘nuf ced.
Smith has already been catching for 5.; Is Leon worth 14 million per year right now? Smith will have 3 more years left at that rate when he gets to 12 years
in 10 years, anything resembling a quality catcher will probably cost at least 30 mil so 14 doesn’t seem too bad.
Robert – If a hitless wonder like Leon can last a dozen years, then an .842 OPS catcher should be worth this contract even if he continues to decline.
Catchers are a scarce commodity, look at how much the Minnesota Dough Boy is making for his sub-.600 OPS and lousy catching skills.
Joe – You got it. Let’s wait and see how much is deferred and what the PV is for the contract. It will probably be $10M AAV which ain’t bad considering that’s how much the Minnesota Dough Boy is making.
I suspect it will be escalating from the 10 MM for the ’24 season.
Just a ridiculous comparison Fever. Are you really comparing the career of Sandy Leon, a backup catcher who has made a TOTAL of $10M, with the AAV of $14M for 10 years? Yes, there are backup, serviceable guys who hang around the league for a long time
Will Smith is getting top dollar, vs. leftover scraps. I’m not even arguing whether he deserves it or not (although I don’t think the Dodgers will be happy with the contract in about 6 years), but just a bizarre comparison.
That’s like saying – well, fine to pay Pujols until his year 41 season because Dan Vogelbach’s been in the league for 9 years.
Joe – the question is whether Will Smith will ‘resemble a quality catcher’ at 39. There aren’t a lot of examples to support that argument. Carlton Fisk wasn’t bad after 39. I’m sure there are others, just can’t think of a bunch. Looks like the Dodgers are good with that, but I do think your argument doesn’t hold water – since no one is paying $30M for a 39 YO catcher, even in 10 years.
It doesn’t really matter if he’s playing or not at 39. The Dodgers are paying $140M for the rest of Will Smith’s career. If it was a seven year $140M deal with a chunk deferred for three more years that would still be palatable.
But will he be a quality catcher in 10 years?
padd – Actual payouts, probably. But AAV is all that really matters and that never changes over the life of the contract.
This is essentially a 7 year deal. Catchers are pretty much done at 36/37 years old.
Dodgers want it to be a 10 year deal to reduce luxury tax hit in the near term, knowing they’ll probably release him the last 3 years or find an excuse to IL him and have him around as a veteran influence.
Big – I’ve already explained it more than once.
One more time for you ….
I’m using Leon as a baseline, not a comp.
It’s the old “IF-THEN” that you probably aren’t familiar with.
IF Sandy Leon can last a dozen years without being able to hit a lick, THEN a much better hitting catcher like Smith should be able to last 10 years at an obviously higher AAV.
Get it? Also keeping in mind he will likely finish the contract at 1B.
Big – Posada, IRod and Varitek all catching a lot of games through Age 39.
As genius as your complex if-then analysis is Fever (and I will spend many hours dissecting this intense, detailed, data-driven approach in the hopes of getting up to your knowledge level), it is one of your worst arguments on this site.
Baseline or Comp aside, they are not in the same stratosphere, so no amount of wordsmithing makes it make sense. Your hypothesis is this: a journeyman catcher who can’t hit, has a total of 1500 ML ABs, made a total of $10M, and is already beyond washed up at 35. Therefore, Will Smith will be worth $14M when he’s 39. It’s like a monkey got control of your computer.
Will Smith is a great catcher right now. The Dodgers took a 10 year contract to get a really good catcher for the next 5 to 6 years, and it’s probably a good bet. But it has NOTHING to do with Sandy Leon.
Fever – Pudge Rodriguez didn’t have an OPS+ over 100 after his age 32 season (but was valuable because of his leadership and defensive abilities, which I don’t think we can say about Smith yet). Varitek is the same from leadership, but his last really good offensive year was at 33.
Posada is a good example, he did keep hitting and added value late in his 30s. Again – not saying it can’t happen, just think it’s a stretch.
Big – Unfortunately it seems you’re not capable of following a conversation.
Go back and read the string of comments.
I mentioned Leon in response to Amk questioning 10 years for a catcher.
NOWHERE did I state what Smith will be worth at Age 39. As I already mentioned, we don’t even know how much the AAV is going to be because we don’t know how much is being deferred.
You are foolishly rushing to judgement without waiting for the facts.
Unless you can find somewhere that I specifically wrote Smith is worth X amount of dollars, please stop being argumentative and just move on. It seems like you’re hating on the Dodgers, nothing more.
Contract too long.
Yeah. I’m sure Smith will replace freeman….
…..
…
.
So, let me get this straight… who is the Minnesota Dough Boy? Fever likes to talk in hate and it clouds out his reality.
@Fever Pitch Guy
So you can spew hate about Minnesota Dough Boy but he can’t say hate without you drilling down his throat? That doesn’t seem fair
All good Fever, not taking this one any further down the hole.
To be clear, I LOVE the White Sox, and kind of like the Dodgers because I grew up with Gavin Lux’s dad. So – no, I’m not a hater of the Dodgers at all and have no idea how you could have gotten that from me disagreeing about a Smith/ Leon comp (which I know you claim you weren’t doing).
So again – I’ll take the high road here and end this as it feels like our arguments are flying past each other ;0).
Grandal was earning $18M/yr – for 3 years from the Chisox. Just saying.
Big – Thank you, all good.
I am kinda curious though ….. you said this was one of my worst arguments on this site, but I don’t recall ever seeing or responding to any of your prior posts. Did you have a name change, or were you a longtime reader only?
Either way, Happy Opening Day!
LOL – yeah, maybe I had a drink before I wrote that, and the monkey comment. ;0) My bad. No – you and I haven’t interacted to my recollection, I just meant that I disagreed with the premise of your comment.
And yes – good luck and enjoy!
In 10 years he won’t be a catcher
not sure how sandy leon is an example .. you could have said Molina who went all the way to 39 and was still an AS at 38 (token) but still one as well as still getting gold gloves at 35.
Roll – It’s to point out quality catching is in such short supply, a no-hit catcher like Leon can last at least 12 years which means 10 more years of Smith shouldn’t come as a shock.
Molina is a future HOF catcher, which would be a poor example.
@fever
actually it is a better comparison to this point of molina to will smith comparing age to age to molina in overall war with smith being a bit better hitter to molina being a bit better defensively.
Leon is horrible in any comparison. He has not even played half a season at the ML level in any of his 12 years even longevity. Funnily enough midway through this year Smith would have played more games than Sandy Leon in his 12 years if my math is right. If you would have said Maldonado i could accept even Bengie Molina soo many better comparisons.
Sandy Leons career isn’t worth one year of Smith.
The 10 years is just to lower the annual luxury tax. They agree on the total dollars then do the years to lessen the burden.
Lonnie – Thank you! I’ve tried to explain that to some of the kids here, but they just don’t get it.
The years were reported before the money
That’s what I was thinking too
LonnieMac
That is my guess as well
It will probably have money deferred in to his 90s.
Everyone needs a 39 year old catcher!
You never heard of the DH?
Othani is gonna catch those days?
39 year old catcher…that’s going to work out great
tuna
Read some of the other replies, don’t just give you unknowldgeable opinion.
@hok I am not doing liberal math. 29 + 10 equals 39.
tuna
Muted (Brain worms)
@amk1920 The length is just a means of lowering the LT hit. The article carrying on about the length of the deal as a record is silly.
It’s just like the Yankees deal of 6/90m with DJLM. It goes past the point where he’s ever going to play a meaningful game, and allows the team to effectively defer yet more money while ducking the LT hit—teams are going to keep pushing this until the league draws a line.
Still, this is bizarre unless the Dodgers are planning to swiftly convert Smith to DH. Destroying him at Catcher when they had him for 2024 and 2025 in any case, and paying $140m (less his 2024 and 2025 arb awards) for the privilege wouldn’t make any sense as Smith, while very good, is not a star. He’s a 4 win catcher very, very probably entering his decline phase.
Would you really pay that player something like $110m (the $140m minus his arb 2 and arb 3 awards) for the privilege of locking down his age 31 to retirement years?
—-The plan has to be to convert him. Otherwise the deal is ‘heads Smith wins, tails the Dodgers break even.’
Oops. For “DH” read “1B,” please.
Hey Jack, since Ohtani is DH’ing the next 10 years, I guess Smith better invest in a 1st base mitt when that comes open. I do believe catchers tend to make decent 1b’s. We’ll see.
“KEEP! MY! WIFE’S! NAME! OUT! YOUR! BLEEPING! MOUTH!”
Probably moving positions at some point. First base???
Was thinking the same thing. He’s definitely no Gary Sanchez but he’s also no Yadi back there either
I believe he also played 3rd back in the day. I’m sure he’s athletic enough to where corner OF spot is doable too
Quality poop post. Thumbs way up.
rings – He should have known, Girls Of The World Ain’t Nothing But Trouble.
“That was the greatest night in the history of MLBTR.”
Does $ grow on trees in los angeles???
yes, in the form of a $8 billion tv contract
We print it!
“Does $ grow on trees”…Have you seen the nightly, overflow crowds that routinely pack into Chavez Ravine?
Johnny – As long as Boras is not the agent, yes.
No, they are using a credit card and deferring it all
@Mad Do you know how deferrals work or when they re required to b funded per the CBA? They are funded while the money is deferred so they re just letting $ accrue and buying future payouts at a discounted rate.
As long as MLB has no competition this is how the competitive model will be. And I think it’s fair. If you’re an owner in a big market, all that local TV revenue is rightfully yours. Kudos to Dodger Blue for putting it back in to the on field product.
What could change the model? Competition can. Look at professional golf. Money bags LIV swoops in and disrupts everything. This could happen in baseball. Only difference? Instead of buying players, disrupter “buys” up all the small market teams with silly money and then guaranteeing each owner equal yearly revenue off a league wide TV deal … and it’s a World League. Disrupter is not just buying up existing teams here in North America but from around the globe as well.
Dodgers: please relax.
Whoa.
Prediction of last payment received: 2049
2044
Ohtani: 2043
Freeman: 2040
@RunDMC 2024. Incredible how much corporate and legacy media keep citizens of the West in the dark regarding how close to nuclear war we are.
Sources, please (not joking, I truly want sources that are not slanted media)
Wowza!
10 year extension for a catcher is way too much. I bet he coverts to 1B/DH in 6 years.
And check out his numbers. For a catcher they are good, not Posey type numbers. Good luck with that deal in 2-3 years
Second best CATCHER in the league and at 14 mil per year which will likely be lowered with deferrals. Also he’s 29 not 35. I know you’re a padres fan but come on lol
@jt, who is your #1?
The years don’t matter. Teams are making longer contracts to bring the avg yearly salary down because of the luxury tax. Basically they’re asking how much Smith wants for the rest of his career? $140? Okay then we’ll spread it out over 10 years.
Exactly. Fans get caught up on how long these contracts are. Instead of 7/140 they make it 10/140.
Lonnie – Yep …. and fans also get caught up on dollars when a good portion of the contract is deferred.
It’s amazing how many people think Ohtani’s new contract is worth $700M. Truth is he signed for less than the $500M that most people expected.
How much will he get paid? $700MM or $500MM? There is a reason people correctly think Ohtani will make $700 MM
@jjd Yes Ohtani will be paid $700M but only $460M of that will be coming out of Dodgers pockets. The other $240M will be come out of pockets of wherever the deferred monies are invested.
Soon we’ll be asking how much dead money is on the books each year.
Tigers – YES!!!!
jjd – If you are the winner of last night’s MegaMillions, how much do you think you’ll get paid pre-tax if you ask for it all at once? Do you think it will be the full $1.13B? Would you like to bet on it?
Ohtani’s contract is also 10 years. So it is doubtful an age 34-38 Will Smith supplants Ohtani at DH
Ohtani is a 2 way player. He’ll probably end up being the Dodgers closer the last 2 years of his deal as a pitcher. Anything more than 6 years with rare exceptions is a mistake. If Ohtani inevitably does regress. He’s still gonna be the DH.
@Logjammer D”Baggagecling If they wait 6 years to convert Smith, there won’t be enough left to bother with.
Much sooner.
He’ll definitely send Freeman or Othani to the bench. God forbid Mookie Betts gets hurt playing SS and they need to move him to 1st or DH too.
Ok, we get it, the dodgers have money…
“The deal includes some deferred money” because of course it does
That’s a small market comment, bro.
Agreed. As a Red’s fan I am allowed to cry about deferred money and the Dodgers, not some highborn Yankees fan. 🙂
I was just pointing out that the Dodgers like to defer money. If anything, large market teams shouldn’t HAVE to defer money.
@Angry deferring $ requires a team funding the deferrals annually. So this perception by many that it’s buy now and pay way later is false.
What is really happening is the player opts for getting paid at a later date, the team funds that $ per the CBA with the amount needed to accrue to amount at the future date. This is an option for all teams, it is used most often with large contracts. A player getting his first $1M contract is not very likely to deferrals til a later date. Players who have already amassed 10’s of millions or more can much easier forgo getting paid immediately.
Is there a reason why the NYY cannot do this with Volpe and/or Dominguez?
Did you see how much Ahmed signed for in SF? No hit SS don’t get top dollar, no matter how good defensively. Doubtful either the NYY or Volpe want to discuss long term with his current platform season.
@Joe I’m sure in the next few yrs they ll at least be discussing extensions with them. With their years of control Yankees will still have leverage for a while.
As for Dominguez if his production starts to match the hype he seems like the type of talent that tests free agency. The players with his type of name recognition and hype its a bit less risky to wait closer or even go all the way to becoming a free agent. I guess time will tell.
Because neither one of them are good enough to warrant it.
The Yankees don’t do extensions.
Severino and Hicks both signed extensions while under team control. I can’t think of all that many they ve extended, but in recent years they ve often been trading away young talent to aquire players.
Give him a Bobby Bonilla deal.
BB deal is a once year contract. That’s why
The deal includes some deferred money, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Hey wait I’ve seen this before.
Dodgers finally starting to get jiggy wit it.
I see what you did there
Miami could aswell they, party all night tell the break of dawn, go to the beach where the heat is on
Oh good…I was worried about their competitive window closing
Keeps the aav down obviously
I know 14 million a year isn’t much but its still kinda wild to see a 10 year deal given to a 28 year old catcher.
When Freddie leaves after 2027 Will can slide over to 1B.
@Mojo While I believe Smith is more than capable of adapting to 1B, his offensive production would be subpar coming from a 1B.
fair point, at present levels. not the key to Will’s value for this deal in any case.
He turns 29 tomorrow, and realistically they don’t expect anything of him the last 3 years… its just to keep the tax number lower that its 10 years not 7.
@nick
Yeah I get the logic, I was more pointing out that 10 years has to be a record for a catcher right?
I think so.
Mauer – 8 years
Posey – 8 years
Piazza – 7 years
More – Yes it is.
And the Boras suckups still think all MLB teams have stopped spending on longterm contracts. Clueless they are.
Mauer signed his 8 year extension 14 years ago for $184 million
Well played Mauer. Well played.
Mauer was a much better hitter at that point. I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad move by the Dodgers, but Mauer’s extension was far less risky than Smith.
I think this is a good deal the first half of the contract. I question the 2nd half of the contract though. If it were just Smith that might be dead weight against luxury tax I wouldn’t think much of it. What I wonder though is Smith and all the contracts of players in their regression years and how it will impact Dodgers when the time comes.
Who knows luxury tax could be a thing of the past by then.
Happy Birthday Willie D! And on Opening Day no less.
Turns 29 tomorrow btw. HBD you rich sob
29
Was Will Smith at Diddys house?
They’re betting on smith to do well for the next decade. Dodgers sure like to gamble
Dodgers can afford to gamble. The Pirates could never pull off a deal like this because if it didn’t work out, they would be sunk for a decade. The Dodgers won’t care and will just eat the costs and buy another catcher if Smith fades.
defer, defer, defer!
That is the question, how much will be deferred?
Awful deal
He’s worth at least $20m/year right now… so just needs to have 7 years of goodness… the last 3 are just a tax thing.
I don’t see any issue with this for the first 5 to possibly 7 years. I’m curious though if Dodgers are just planning a rebuild period around 2030 with back end of all these deals, if they re just taking an approach of deal with it as we go, or they have some other plan.
These deals are great for the rest of 2020’s. But it looks like a strong possibility they could be saddled with a bunch of $ counting against future tax thresholds with players who might b producing little or even cut. Ultimately I think they ll figure something out and it ll be a non issue. Just will be interesting to see how it plays out.
The anti – Dodger sentiment is old. A well run team with a lot of money. Remember money does not guarantee success and they games still must be played. Ugh.
“The anti Dodgers sentiment”…fans are usually telling teams to “spend, spend and spend some more” and when they do, people still complain. It’s a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.
No matter how much you spend still have to have a solid farm system… ask Arte Moreno how spending worked for Anaheim. LA has had a solid farm for years. Start with the farm and fill in as needed.
As the man said, if you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.
If the Dodgers were drawing one million fans a year, they would be a 3rd tier team and no one would hate them. Class organization and beloved in LA.
Until the 7th inning, then everyone leaves.
Good deal.
Yep. Hey new owner in Baltimore; first piece of business, extend your catcher. See Dodgers.
Good for Apex Baseball!!! Apex in the last couple of years lost Snell and Alonso to Boras. Snell takes a super small deal and Alonso can’t get an extension done. Meanwhile, Will Smith gets a 10 year $140 million dollar extension as a 28 year old catcher. Gotta love it!!!
Turns 29 tomorrow, so even better for him.
This shouldn’t go unreported. This is an excellent point.
Smith got more $ than montgomery, snell, & bellinger COMBINED
is that bec boras is a failure or LA has lost its mind?
It can’t be both?
167 is more than 140. I’m all for trashing Boras and the Dodgers, but let’s keep the facts straight.
@tizzy
lets be logical for once
chances are, they all opt out after 1 year
Yeah for more $
Deferred money. I. Am. Shocked.
as long as the Dodger DO NOT extend Barnes, all is well.
Pitchers love throwing to Barnes, but he is 34. Having now blocked all of their catching prospects the Dodgers will have to decide if they want to keep Barnes around for another year or go out and find someone just like him for backup duties.
Dateline Los Angeles
It’s 2034. The Dodger payroll is $300M. $200M is going to players who have retired. The Guggenheim Co. Sold the Dodgers to a Japan Consortium headed by former Dodger Pitcher Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani quickly named Ieppie as CFO.
Ippei will move into his new position when he is released from Prison later in the week.
The age of the player might be worth mentioning here. He turns 29, tomorrow. Catchers rarely play the position at least not daily beyond their mid-30s. Also, what does this mean for/about their top catching prospects, especially Cartaya?
A Will Smith in the hand is better than a Cartaya in the bush (league). It means trade fodder except for the one current prospect who becomes the backup when Barnes leaves.
For this year and maybe next too, but beyond becomes more complicated now. Usually catching prospects are brought up for a year or so as backups and then take over for an expiring contract or they swap. This could still happen I suppose but I am wondering if Cartaya’s stock in particular has dropped to where they don’t see him as a viable everyday catcher now.
Rushing, Feduccia, Okey, Cartaya, Liranzo. A lot to choose from and at least a year to figure out the backup sitch. assuming Barnes is history after 2024.
Ssshhhh. Don’t impact Carty’s trade value. But yeah this extension impacts Cartaya’s future with team. Unless Smith plays IF?
Cartaya strikes out a ton. He’s still young-ish, but he’s getting closer to ex-prospect status.
If striking out a ton was a show stopper then a whole lot of players who are in the majors today would not be in the majors today.
Cartaya has fallen out of favor. His prospect rankings have plummeted. Hasn’t been able to catch up when moving up the minors.
He’s still at #9 according to MLB prospect rankings. Another catcher Dalton Rushing is now #1. So no matter how they are ranked, both are now blocked. As Mr. Spock says, this is curious.
I’m imagining they don’t think Cartaya can handle upper level pitching after seeing 2023 play out. Rushing is a WIP defensively but I am a bit surprised. I figured their next C was in the minors rn.
Hard to keep the C prospects around when you have a stud AS in his prime on the MLB squad, and $ to pay him.
I would think one or both of Rushing or Cartaya are likely trade bait at this point.
Cartaya is horrible. Won’t even make the show.
Still rated as the #9 prospect in a good farm organization.
He still hit below .190 in the minors at 22 years old in any farm system. Tells you their farm system gets over rated. We can pull any advanced cyber metric stats and it won’t get any better for you.
It’s a conspiracy, obviously. Don’t know why I didn’t think of that.
Call it whatever you want. The dude is horrible. You can rank him whatever you want but the Dodgers are obviously not expecting much from him.
Call if whatever you want, but you can’t get away with saying “dude is horrible” based on one tough season at double-A.
Good players don’t have tough seasons like that in AA ever. A rough season in AA for a top 100 talent is .800 OPS. What that guy put up gets you a one way ticket home.
Ever? Look I’m the one who raised the question of what it means for the Dodgers to have blocked him and every other catching prospect they have in the organization. Below the Mendoza line in the minors is a difficult comeback for sure, but it depends on the reason, and I don’t believe nobody has ever bounced back from one bad season in the minors.
It’s a great deal for the Dodgers. 14 million a year for a 4+ fWAR catcher. The Cardinals paid 18 a year for an older, less talented catcher last off-season.
He won’t be great at age 38 but he will make less than 10 million a year, which is chump change to the Dodgers.
Wow 10 years but that is a huge bargain for the dodgers. Rip their catching prospects
Should just call the the “Deferrers”
The next CBA should fix blatant luxury tax and service time manipulation. Free agents should be negotiating at 26-28 not 30+.
The only one negotiating as free agents at 30 plus are ones who didn’t make the bigs until their mid 20s.
The first part should be a given unless Robby the robot caves to his large market masters.
The luxury tax is supposed to manipulate. It manipulated in such a way that the Dbacks got Montgomery, the Giants got Snell and baseball is now talking about how competitive and fun the NL West is going to be.
As i understand it, service time is a trade off for a guaranteed contract in FA. Effectively, the Ronald Acuna’s are paying for the Stephen Strasburg’s. You take away one, you take away the other.
Oh, sorry. My bad. You are probably talking about deferred payments and long terms. Reading is hard !
Fair call. Although I think they eventually pay a price. For example, there will be a time when the Padres have a significant % of their tax number tied up in very old men. People say the thresholds will increase by then so it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure thats a given.
It’ll definitely matter. $80MM per year of dead money will hurt even with a $300MM lux tax threshold. You’re running on the assumption that players will continue to want to take deferred deals also. Probably not a terrible assumption but there’s only so much free cash flow to go around when you’re paying Ohtani, Smith etc. after their playing careers.
All the Dodgers need to do is win a WS now.
If you’re into stupid runs, Will Smiths of MLB have rings from the last four Series.
Wills Smith.
Interesting! So, teams should get a “Will Smith” of some kind on their team!
A lot of years and a lot of money for a catcher. But this is the Dodgers and they don’t concern themselves with such things.
Every team can afford $140m, but not every team can develop an elite catcher, and get him to sign. Well done Dodgers.
Yet most teams have had better catchers in their history. So what are you talking about?
Paid out over the next 42 years?
Dodger fans…. So 6/$140MM which comes out to $23.33MM/yr.? I’m aware it’s a 10-year deal. Slightly lower AAV than JT Realmuto after accounting for deferrals.
Of course no one wants to leave the best D(odgers) they ever had he’d be worthless anywhere else and even though he was drafted by them it’s yet another purchase because only they have the money to give him a deal like that. Sick of this BS.
The BS belongs all to you Mickey. You have no clue wtf you are talking about. Ever.
Defer that reply. Stop supporting LA.
It’s not about LA. It’s about what an idiot you are.
Which is the better deal, Will Smith at 10/$140 or Sean Murphy at 6/$73?
Murphy for sure
The braves have serious bargains.
Albies & Acuna signed extensions that are Pennies on the dollar of what they’d be due to make.
No way. They traded a better catcher to get him.
Contreras isn’t a better C defensively. And until Milwaukee developed him he wasn’t good at catching at all.
Milwaukee is the best at developing catcher’s defense.
But I would take Contreras over the life of that contract no questions asked.
I would take the Brewers version of Contreras, but that version didn’t exist in Atlanta, and was never going to. That trade was a win for both the Braves and the Brewers.
Dodgers fan and Will Smith fan here. Why? Have catchers in the system. 10 years is a joke. And unless the length and deferrals bring the AAV way down, then you’re not saving much for that kind of risk. On the open market at 30 as a catcher? 6/105 gets that done!
So, maybe they get the AAV under 10? That’s helpful. Maybe it frees up Rushing to trade?
For a team that thrives on flexibility – including payroll flexibility – this offseason is nutso. Smith, Ohtani, and Yamamoto. All 10-12 years? I mean Ohtani is a no brainer.
Of all the talks about the Dodgers this offseason (98% garbage) this is what doesn’t get brought up enough.
The loss of aversion to risk they are now taking as you point out
This is AF’s 3rd act with the Dodgers
Act 1- New Rich – Kaz/BMC years, Andrew felt outta place in the Ferrari dealership
Act 2- The controllable re-up’s – Kenley Turner CT3 – If it aint broke don’t fix it
Act 3- F@ck It ….. Your gonna be damned if you do damned if you don’t, grab a lifejacket
*I prefer flexibility as well, but I’m in the car regardless of its destination so buckle up
At the end of the day, can you trade the contract? As a RS, I’d gladly trade for the $140M contract, with no second thoughts. To me, that makes it a good contract.
The present value of a straight $10/140 million deal is $116 million
The present value of 6/105 is $95 million.
We don’t know what the deferrals on the contract will be. I suspect that they will bring the present value down to around $100 million – so, basically the same as your deal, except the actual deal will be a lower AAV for CBT purposes.
So, a better deal for the team than yours. And a better deal for Smith as well.
Better today. This is a lower but longer hit.
Eventually, the Dodgers are going to be jammed up with dead money. All worth it if they win a couple chips along the way though.
Both are outstanding. Smith may have a higher ceiling, but at $14M per is a bargain for someone like him.
Nice they are committed to a home grown player
But then what separates them is the ability to buy out their homegrown players so they still have an unfair advantage.
KC bought out Witt.
TB bought out Franco.
Seattle bought out JRod.
CL bought out Ramirez.
Brewers Chourio
DBacks Corbin
Rox with McMahon, Tovar and a couple of SPs.
It can be done, but requires commitment
The Los Angeles Deferrers are on a roll!
Those palm trees at Dodger Stadium grow money. Some of it is deferred, of course.
For those saying why would any team do this…. I think there’s something to be said for star power, marketability and profit sharing as well as fair compensation for prior production.
Taking logic to its extreme, no team should extend any player except for the most elite high profile marketable players and even then whatever deal it is- 8, 9, 10, 12 years etc? Shave off around 2-6 years…
Every player is replaceable. It might not happen immediately or there might have to be some creative roster construction, but nobody is irreplaceable.
But then, teams already budget their rosters to still turn a tidy profit.
And literally every team since the dawn of free agency has had aging players in the decline getting “overpaid” while young players entering their prime are getting underpaid for very productive years and will eventually get their own “overpay” that they will play through until they’re aged and declining as the next crop of young players entering their prime are getting underpaid for very productive years….
I do not get why fans don’t like seeing guys get paid. Also- a lot of these contracts are as long as they are specifically to keep the AAV down, not because a team believes the player is worth the years. Teams bake that player’s eventual probable obsolescence into the last few years of a contract like this.
Do you guys want teams to jettison every player at 30 years old and never pay anybody much and always have a revolving door of roster construction in the name of never paying anybody?
IMHO, all these gripes are nonsense. They developed a good player, and now they have to pay for the guy. They have more resources, but some poorer teams have been consistently successful. At least their spending is yielding results.
Yeah the crazy thing to me is that everybody around here complains about overpays, everybody around here consistently agrees Will Smith is the best in his class etc. so now he gets paid and they’re griping over years when the Dodgers are renowned for over extending players and giving massive signing bonuses to keep AAV or the actual annual cost of the payer down.
This is no different from Betts’ 12 year deal with his $65M signing bonus. It’s the same concept and structure at play, really.
Until this year the Dodgers hardly ever extended a player and almost never for more than a year or two. They were more renowned for letting some of their key players to go to free agency. Ther approach has definitely changed.
Gabriel Moreno is salivating.
Will he celebrate by buying a house in Bel Air?
I”ll BET the dodgers don’t even win the division. Signed ohtani
Didn’t MLB state they would have vetoed the Judge contract with the Padres since they were adding extra years to just cheat the system? I wonder why that wasn’t allowed but all the Dodgers B.S. with contracts is just fine and dandy.
It’s an age issue. The questions really start when players are getting paid past 40
Bet he’ll move to a corner position less than half way through this deal
If the deal were a straight 10/$140 million, the present value would be $115.8 million (assuming a 4.5% discount rate)
THAT”s the number that should really be reported. It makes it much easier to compare different contracts – especially those of different lengths. Unfortunately, the average baseball fan is so ignorant about basic finance that it’s not reported that way.
For comparison, and for the “It’s too long!” crowd, a 7-year $18.8 million deal would have the same present value. Obviously, the team would prefer that $14 million be counted against the tax (sounds like it’ll be even less than that since some of the money is being deferred) than $19 million.
THAT”s the number that should really be reported.
===========================
The way to assess contracts should be akin to a double-declining depreciation. For $140M, it should be looked at like:
$18M * 5
$12M * 3
$7M * 2
You have to account for buying out one year of service time, but no matter how you chop this up, I cannot see this not working out for LA.
This sounds more like a Rockies extension.
You figure he won’t be catching every day at 35, he will start having knee issues like most catchers. He will be a DH from the years 35 to 39 catching about 5 % of the time or even maybe less and PT first baseman spelling Freeman sometimes.
DH is going to mostly be blocked by Ohtani (as long as nothing happens there). I could see him maybe moving to a corner spot half way through this deal for sure though.
Ohtani will be the catcher.
Good deal for the LAD. Smith figures to be a 4-WAR catcher for 5-6 years. Anything they get after that is pure gravy.
Yep
This is the way to look at it
The length of the deal doesn’t really matter. The total/present value is what matters
This is so fracking obvious, I don’t know why folks need to analyze it. How much did you pay, and how much WAR will you receive?
Even 4 WAR * 5 years is a small bargain for $140M.
great job team Dodgers!
It will be fun to see how the future owners of the Dodgers handle paying out possibly $100 million per year to a bunch of guys that are no longer playing for them. Alas, I’m sure I won’t be around that long to see it, but maybe there will be news media in the afterlife.
The liability is established on Day 1 and increases each year. The new owner will inherit the liability, and will be taken into consideration with the purchase price. In some cases, these liabilities might be currently funded.
This is the same with any company with liabilities. Think about buying a company with environmental liabilities. An prospective owner will pay a price for the current value of future cash flows, less an allowance for remedial work.
MLB is going to have to stop this deferred money thing that happening. One it undermines the game, and two, in the long run it devalues organizations.
If MLB stops it now, it only benefits the Dodgers even more since no other team will be able to take advantage of the loophole.
True, but they have to stop it. Regardless now, you have too!
Both the teams and players like it, so good luck with that.
The Dodgers isn’t teams!!!! And I’d say maybe 3 teams would, the rest no. Amd im 100% certain MLB isn’t a fan, as that’s already been spoken of.
I recognize the words, but not the order they are in.
The deferred salary idea isn’t exactly a new thing in MLB
Dodgers looking to lock up a “Dodger lifer” for when Kershaw retires?
From my math 5 seasons is the break even point. If Will Smith can continue to put up 4.0 fWAR per season for the next 5 years 140 mil would be worth it regardless of how much value he provides in the last 5 years of the contract.
Os
I have doubts about the specifics of your math, however, the general idea is correct – which is more important.
An internet kudo to you.
Nailed it. One could argue at the margins, but this is exactly what it is.
Not really. You’ll be paying for a Cabrera. Ask the Tigers fans what they think.
The Tigers stuck with Miggy bc he’s a major draw for a team low in star power. Even the Angels released Pujols. The Dodger shouldn’t have this problem.
They got Miggy with it.
No they absolutely didn’t!!! The Tigers owe Cabrera ZERO!!! Not a, nothing. So no you should read up on contracts.
KC
1) tiger fans, like all fans, are largely idiots and intelligent people should not give 2 poops what they think
2) there can certainly be bad contacts for a team
3) just because a player doesn’t produce commensurate with the contact for the end of the contract does not mean it’s a bad contract
Do you have a favorite team Filihok?
Gwynn
Sure
And that fact changes nothing about my thoughts on the topic
I think Will Smith is going to be the 3rd baseman once Muncy moves on. They can’t hold all of the top catching prospects down forever.
I’ve been wondering when/if they would end up doing this with Smith once Cartaya or someone else comes up and is successful. I think its entirely possible that he could make the move to 3B but I do wonder if he’d be better suited for a corner OF spot instead as he ages. It’ll be very interesting to follow. I think we all agree he likely won’t spend half this contract at Catcher
Planning to relocate a catchers aging knees and back spasms to 3b or OF is a stupid idea.
I saw that when they had Johnny Bench play third. He even said he was a terrible third baseman.
Don’t see that. Far too limited mobility and his highest value is as a catcher. More likely that Barnes maybe gets one more year. Rushing gets traded. Cartaya becomes back-up catcher after Barnes. Liriano could be back-up and if he really turns out to be a hitter, a possible 1B after Freddie. Injuries happen. Players fizzle. All caveats apply.
Once again the Dodgers giving a 29 yr old catcher a 10 yr deal is ridiculous regardless what the avv is. The bottom line here last 5 yrs will be garbage and sunk cost with Smith likely out of baseball. These owners will be dead when all these deferred deals come due that the new owners will be saddled with so its all about now and who cares in 10-15 yrs
I’d bet real money that Smith is still playing at age 34. He might not be catching, but an .800 OPS will still have value. The beauty of the contract is the residual value once he’s earned his first $140M.
Don’t the dodgers already have a very expensive DH during that time frame?
Once he can’t catch, what’s he going to do, relegate ohtani to the bench?
This seems like a horrible gamble. Pun unintentionally intended.
Not that they’ll go this route, but Freeman is a FA in 4 years and Smith has played some 1B in his past.
Has Bobby Bonilla’s deferrals saddled Steve Cohen when he bought the Mets? In the baseball economy, those deferral payments will mean a lot less when they’re due.
Figure four more years of good/great producing comparing catchers to catchers….as a Dodger fan, it’s good to know we fans won’t have to worry about picking one off the scrap heap and we can wait on Cartaya and ultimately Rushing to fill the lean production years and Smith can slide into the backup role if his production craters or he breaks down.
Solid move if not spectacular.
He’s very good, and overall not a bad deal value wise, but ten years on a catcher is always a tough one.
Agreed.
$140M/7 would be a bargain, $140M over 10 years with deferred money is a steal. Great signing by the Dodgers, and congrats to Smith. 2nd best C after Adley, and that’s no disrespect to him.
A 29 year old catcher. Sounds very risky.
It is. The overall guarantee isn’t that bad tho. In a way signing a 29 year old catcher for a 10 year/140m deal is almost the equivalent of deferring money (despite the already likely deferred money involved-scanning thru article I saw no details of the deferred dollars, just a reference to their existence).
Of course there are deferrals.
He must have won a bet with ohtani.
This is very good value for a 4 WAR player. If his skills hold up until the end of the contract, this is a huge bargain.
Zero chance his skill hold up until he is 39. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad deal, but that isn’t happening
I doubt he’s the same player after 35. The AAV makes the contract a fair deal even with the length.
Fortunately, fair market value for Smith would be six years $120 million dollars right now and at an annual AAV of $12.2 million for the next ten years, the Dodgers get to spread that contract out over that much longer period.
So the back end four years are virtually irrelevant. Austin Barnes gets 3.5 million per year as a scrub backup catcher in 2024, so I am sure Smith will at least provide that value on the back end of that contract. Scrub backup catchers will probably be getting 5 or 6 million per year by 2031-20234 anyway…
Had no idea Smith was 29 already. As good as he is, this could blow up at the contract’s midpoint? Catchers break down sooner than most. Expecting him to be good after 34 is a stretch. 5 more years seams wild. Yeah I know the luxury tax hit will probs be closer to 10-12 a year with the deferrals, so not much for a team like the dodgers to eat, but still. They could have a lot of dead money on their tax bill when 2030 rolls around.
IT was a bad signing but shows that their farm system is void of Catchers if they had to go this route
Well, he is getting jiggy with it.
Hate to be a Dodger fan when all this deferral money hits the books for players long gone.
I think it’ll play out just like US debt — it’ll grow and grow and grow and all that’ll happen is ticket and concession prices will go up.
$20 is going to cost a hundred bucks in 10 years so you’re 100% right
17.5% annual growth? Nice.
60% of the time you’re right every time, Yanks
I guess that means it’s definitely going to rain Saturday
Gwynning, you may me laugh.
Why?
The Dodgers are owned by an investment group and since they are retaining 100s of millions of extra dollars in their accounts, most have estimated that they will make back all the deferment money with just a decent rate of return on the invested money to more than cover the deferments.
Just great business on the part of the Dodgers and the Guggenheim group.
Plus will annual team revenues over $600 million per year, the Dodgers are not exactly ever going to LOSE money…
Just great business on the part of the Dodgers and the Guggenheim group.
===========================
Everyone can do this. For CBT purposes, the implied tax is maybe 4.2 or 4.3%. AAA corporate bonds yield 5.03, and equities can get you 6-7%, with some variance.
wouldn’t hire Andrew Friedman to mow my lawn.
Well, you’re in luck as I’m sure he wouldn’t take the job if you offered.
I drafted MJ Melendez anyway for my C…..big year coming from him
Sure hope you’re right! Go MJ
I like him (and Davis) as C2’s. They hit well enough that you can slot them in as a bench OF, and 40+ games as catcher-eligible.
This team will have 200 mil in payroll a year in the 2030s before getting out of bed?
New team name: Los Angeles Deferrals
That will be the name change in the 2030s as the geriatric crew has to take the field.
Braves, Ray’s, Dodgers have the it… Everyone else is trying to “figure it out”.
I don’t see how the Dodgers today are remotely similarly managed as the Braves and Rays. Night and day.
It’s been over a decade since the Dodgers have missed the playoffs. It’s right in front of you.
Now, missing in the playoffs however is a different story!
Remind me, I forget. How did the Braves do in their postseason last year?
Seems like an underpay
Best whiner in all of MLB.
Catchers don’t have that much longevity at the position, although some do, but that is a huge risk here.- They must have lost trust in Rushing/Cartaya.
This was a bad signing Smith is fine C right now but his stats do not scream for long term signing like this. Dodger winning was based on bringing in youth (keeping it fresh) not keeping 34-39 year olds around.
@Data
I usually don’t like to respond to comments like this because most of the time it’s just opinion based. I will say as a fan of a team with a billionaire owner is they typically don’t mind making a mistake when at the end they can just trade the person, eat some money and move on. It only matters to people with opinions, the owner ate the money and moved on. If the contract ends up worth the money, at the end the front office/owner looks smart.
they can just trade the person, eat some money and move on.
==================================
The beauty of this signing is that likely won’t have to do that until the very end. He hits well enough that when he gets moved to 1B, he will still be a real player. The last year or two, maybe not, but they’d have already gotten all the value.
@Joe
Completely agree. To me it’s a win either way. Only bad scenario would be Smith falling off the map completely, but thats when trusting the front office comes in to effect. No front office is perfect but I believe the Dodgers front office knows what it’s doing.
Considering Realmuto’s contract and inflation since then. Smith would have received a minimum of $120 million over the next six years with one year left of arbitration and a reasonable five year free agent deal.
Dodgers are just spreading the same amount over 10 years in with a $12.2 AAV.
Good extension. He is better than most people think. With LA and deferral I would have done this.
It’s hard to pay a catcher into their late 30’s, but at an AAV of just $14M a year, this is a great deal for the Dodgers.
$12.2 because of deferments.
I’m rooting for the San Andreas Fault to finally put an end to these shenanigans.
So that’s what he’ll be doing during his Oscar’s ban.
I only have one question:
How much money DO the Dodgers have? The way they are going, if they count deferred money for tax purposes, the Dodgers will be in the tax just on that alone!
According to Forbes, the Los Angeles Dodgers had $581 million in revenue in 2023. So, although not an infinite amount of money, one has to assume their revenue will be well above $600 million each year moving forward with the Ohtani generated revenue streams.
Fortunately, the deferred money does NOT count down the road. They reassess the AAV value of the contract and it counts just for the years the player signed. So, Smith will be around $12.2 million per year. The deferred money just gets paid out down the road.
Just kidding —But maybe the Dodgers invested in Bitcoin and or another cryptocurrency and Ohtani is going to open his own bank/FinTech and compete with SoFi
Seriously other owners might start complaining and it will addressed in the next CBA which won’t be for awhile
Technically and legally the LAD are probably within the rules (I’m not a Union Lawyer) but it seems it circumvents/violates the “spirit” of the luxury tax thresholds.
Players also have to be willing to defer quite a bit of money. In this case W. Smith got a sizeable signing bonus AND his 2024 salary.
kodion
I don’t know how much money the Dodgers have. A lot
I do know that the deferred money is counted during the contract terms, not when it’s deferred to.
Due example, Ohtani is receiving $2 million a year for 10 years. He counts $46 million a year towards the CBT not $2 million because the deferrals are factored in.
Seems like a pretty good contract. Incredibly fair. Considering Both sides don’t k ow how the next ten years will go. I was thinking of he could exceed that amount over the next ten by not taking this deal. I think he made the smart choice considering health reasons. Catchers break down mid 30s offensively. And that where his bank will come from.
LOL!
As a Giants’ fan I hate this, because this is good for the Dodgers. There are a few good hitting catchers, that aren’t good defensively, and a fair number of good defensive catchers that don’t hit very well. Good hitting catchers that play their position well are the rarest thing in the game. If he gives then 7 good seasons behind the plate it’s a huge plus for LA. Good for him because he’s got security and deserves it, and I hate to say it, but good for Dodgers as well.
Everyone saying the Dodgers can trade Smith for the last few years of his contract are forgetting about his 10 and 5 rights. He should only need 4 more years to have those kick in. And to be honest, will another team be willing to take on those final years and whatever deferrals that would transition over their way for Smith in the final 3-4 years? Smith is a Dodger for life now.
Expect any C that isn’t about 5-6 years out to be traded for upgrades at other positions for the Dodgers.
Inside baseball on the Shohei scandal ?
Who wants the bet that this long-term deal turns out to be much better than the last two they just signed
Plain stupid!
I’m surprised that it’s not $10,000 for the first ten years with the rest payable in 2034….except the one million payable each year into infinity and beyond! Don’t you just love sports accounting?!
I wanted Smith when the Pirates and Dodgers were discussing Felipe Vasquez.
But Huntington didn’t pull the trigger on any deal and ended up with a pedo and not a few good prospects.
Nice move by the Dodgers. He won’t be player a high level by the ending this contract, but that is more than accounted for in the yearly cost. Now let’s see Adley locked up.
Excellent deal by the Dodgers. The bulk of the money will be paid in the next four years when he’s at his peak, and then it’s only in the nine million range the last six years. He’d be worth that if he was barely more than a one win player, and it’s a fantastic deal if he’s a Jorge Posada type and productive into his late 30s. If he’s done by his mid-30s, like most catchers, then they can cut him loose. Another form of a deferral. He likely would have scored a deal double the projected AAV if they had let him reach free agency.
DEFER!!!!
Wow. Maybe I’m alone, but I feel like this is an absolute crazy good deal for the dodgers. He’s elite. I suppose that 10 years for a catcher in his late 20’s is a big of a risk, but still, it’s not that much for them. Good for him also, again, being a catcher in his late 20’s he secured him generational changing money. He’s earn this for sure
yeah, this seems like a decent deal for the dodgers.
off-topic, why can’t I comment on the wander franco post?
Wow big contract ain’t that a slap in the face