The Red Sox and outfielder Roman Anthony are finalizing an eight-year contract extension that will guarantee the 21-year-old $130MM, reports ESPN’s Jeff Passan. The deal will cover the 2026-33 seasons and contain a club option for the 2034 campaign as well. Between the club option and a series of escalators, the deal can max out at $230MM. Anthony is represented by Frontline Athlete Management.
As things stand, the deal buys out all six of Anthony’s initial seasons of club control, plus two free-agent years with an option over a third free-agent season. However, if Anthony finishes top two in American League Rookie of the Year voting, he’d receive a full year of service for the current season, thus meaning the deal would lock in three free-agent years with a club option over a fourth. Presumably, some of the contract’s escalators are tied to his finish in this year’s balloting.
Regardless of the exact number of free-agent years being bought out, the Sox now control Anthony all the way through 2034 — what will be his age-30 season. Barring future extensions or opt-out opportunities, he’ll still be able to become a free agent ahead of his age-31 campaign, positioning him for another potential nine-figure contract down the road.
Anthony’s deal draws plenty of parallels to the eight-year, $111MM extension Corbin Carroll signed with the D-backs in January of 2023. Both outfielders were regarded as the top prospect in the sport when they debuted in their age-21 seasons. Both found immediate success and quickly signed eight-year deals beginning with their age-22 seasons.
As can be seen in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, Anthony’s contract becomes the third-largest guarantee ever given out to a player with under one year of major league service time. Julio Rodriguez’s $210MM deal with the Mariners currently tops the list, though that agreement came when Rodriguez was much further into what would eventually be a Rookie of the Year-winning campaign in 2022.
Selected with the No. 79 overall pick in the 2022 draft, Anthony stormed through the minor leagues, breaking out with a huge performance in High-A as a 19-year-old and never looking back. By measure of wRC+, he was at least 40% better than league-average with the bat at every stop from High-A through Triple-A, and he’s carried over his outstanding production through his first 46 major league games.
In 190 plate appearances as a big leaguer, Anthony is hitting .283/.400/.428 with a pair of homers, 15 doubles, a triple, two stolen bases, a 13.7% walk rate and a 24.7% strikeout rate. He’s averaged a scorching 94.1 mph off the bat and seen a whopping 58% of his batted balls exit the bat traveling at least 95 mph. His overall power output has been muted by a 55.4% ground-ball rate, but Anthony elevated the ball more in the minors and figures to do so as he continues to acclimate to big league pitching, at which point he’ll get to more of his plus-plus power. For now, the walk-heavy approach and plethora of doubles is getting the job done just fine; Anthony has been 33% better than average in the batter’s box since arriving in the big leagues.
Anthony doesn’t possess elite contact skills but does make excellent swing decisions. His 73.1% overall contact rate and 81.6% contact rate on pitches within the zone are both four points below league-average, but Anthony’s chase rate on balls off the plate (just 20.1%) is eight percentage points lower than average. Among the 292 hitters with at least 190 plate appearances in the majors this year, he’s tied for the 19th-lowest chase percentage, per Statcast.
On the defensive side of things, Anthony has split his time between the two outfield corners but spent more time in right. He’s seen time in center field in the minors, but scouting reports on Anthony typically pegged him for a long-term home in one of the corners. His arm isn’t elite but is at least average, if not a tick better. Anthony has drawn strong defensive grades for his work thus far (+5 Defensive Runs Saved, +4 Outs Above Average). He gives the Sox another talented defender to join the trio of Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela and Wilyer Abreu, all of whom are plus defenders in their own right.
That glut of outfield talent — plus Masataka Yoshida’s presence at DH — has long prompted speculation about a potential trade from the group. Duran and Abreu have seen their names kicked around the rumor mill dating back to the offseason. Boston would surely welcome the opportunity to escape some of the final two-plus years on Yoshida’s five-year contract, which runs through 2027, but with $18.5MM salaries in each of the next two seasons, doing so is a tall order. Anthony was never going to be traded, and this new long-term arrangement only further solidifies him as a foundational piece for the Red Sox.
This contract goes…back to the future!!!
This is great news!!!
This is how you sign a long term contract.
Campbell,Rafaella and Anthony now signed.I would see if Mayer and Narvaez would too.
Dickie – Yes it’s a fantastic compromise, not 12 years like Wander but 9 years is still very good.
Finally the Red Sox are starting to realize they need to spend and do it wisely, which they did here.
Good for Roman and good for the Red Sox!!
Hope it works out for them. But contracts like this are going to be a huge gamble with such a small sample size.
given some contracts are having guys sign for 2-3x this much it’s not really a gamble if you can afford it which all teams should be able to afford.
Lots of players with big sample sizes dont work out either (Pujols, P Sandoval, G Stanton, Bogaerts and so many more). Very smart move.
When I first read this I thought it was WACKED then I remembered it was the Red Sox. Yea, that sounds about right then. Ahahahahahahaha!
The report initially stated “the deal will cover the 26-23 seasons”, hence the back to the future line in my first response.
Elias, Rubenstein…you guys at the Camden Yards warehouse paying attention?
Rubenstein is going to cry more about the cost of running a team and let everyone leave
Rubenstein is currently at Home Depot buying a second homer hose
Not to worry. They’ll trade Anthony in 2 years when a new POBO comes in again, and Ownership sours in the deal. The Red Sox eat-thier-own all the time. It’s a great move…but, that always seems to be followed by a collosial blunder, somehow.
Besides, Boras Boras, Boras. Gunnar, Adley, Jackson Holliday all rep’d by Boras, so it was always a longer shot than most to get extensions done early. Maybe Basallo!?….
Even the Red Sox wouldn’t trade Anthony, that salary will be impossible to sour on
Realizing Boras is mostly repping O’s guys you don’t need to ask if the O’s front office is paying attention. They know who reps those guys and they will all go to FA. I think they are paying attention.
All of the core guys except Holliday were repped by someone other than Boras before they “made” it.
You knew after one week in the bigs Gunnar was going to be special. Lost opportunities.
I’m starting to think Rubenstein has Angelos bloodlines unfortunately…
They signed him for negative 3 years!!!!
Very good for both as he’s already shown he can play in Boston.
Good for them. Locking your young players up is a great idea but beyond the concept of some teams.
Life changing money and he can still go back to FA for another go at it while still in his prime. Win-win.
They’ll sign him to the extension and then trade him in three years. It’s what they do there,
Sure, because Devers got traded because “that’s what Boston does” and not because he was stubborn about changing positions and then petulant and even toxic about helping the team at 1B once he became unhappy. Definitely Boston’s fault that a bad defensive third baseman was selfishly possessive about where he played. You nailed it, good work!
Hey he’s not just a bad defensive third baseman, he’s a bad defensive first baseman as well.
Sure can hit though jeez
To be fair to Henry and the front office (which I haven’t always been, but I’m in a good mood right now), they forced themselves into a corner with Devers twice.
I think all along, Xander Bogaerts was the guy of the Betts/Bogey/Raffy trio who was going to be the one to get the “lifetime” contract extension. But they botched it horrifically and San Diego was able to swoop in and steal him at the last moment right before they were about to push it across the finish line. With Bogey gone and Betts already traded, they had no choice but to make Devers the face of the franchise or there would’ve been pitchforks. Clearly, it was the wrong move.
I love Raffy, but he has demonstrated beyond a doubt that he just isn’t quite that guy. He needed to be moved off third base, and yes the front office handled that about as poorly as humanly possible, but for his part he also handled it very poorly too. So 3 years after being forced to give him the contract they honestly probably never should have, they once again were forced into a corner where the only way out was to find him a new home.
Front office was absolutely not blameless in that mess, but it was the one misstep over the past 5 years that was not financially motivated.
I can’t see why so many Sox fans continue to cry over Bogaerts leaving. The Sox got the vast majority of the best seasons he’s ever going to have. Ducking out of paying his declining years is a good thing, not something to bemoan.
I was sad on a personal level when Bogaerts left, because he was part of two big WS teams, but I would not have liked the Sox to match what San Diego gave him on the contract. Great guy, fun player, seems to play hard and give it his all, clearly willing to play wherever he’s needed, but those late-30s years on that deal are going to be rough.
Because we care about the player, Ken, they are more than just numbers in a spreadsheet to some of us. He was a great player developed by our own farm system that many of us had plenty of fond memories watching him blossom from a young 20 year old into a star shortstop and face of the franchise. He had a lot of great moments with us and was a great player and leader. He should’ve been a Red Sox lifer and had his number 2 hung up in the right field corner one day.
Not to mention, we were not going to pay him nearly as ridiculously as San Diego did. Of course his production is never going to not be disappointing when they gave him basically Bryce Harper money. Boston was poised to give him something in the neighborhood of 6 years and $140 million. For a guy who has been worth 3 WAR per year despite dealing with some nagging injuries and the discomfort of adjusting to a pitcher’s park in a tough division, that would’ve been perfectly reasonable money. If he had stayed, there is no reason to think that contract would be significantly underwater at the moment.
My issue is not that we didn’t match San Diego’s offer. Their offer was insane and they were smart not to try and top it. My issue is that they wasted over a year pitching him stupid lowball offers he was never going to seriously entertain, which is what allowed San Diego to start talking to him and blow him away with that proposal right as Boy Wonder finally made him a serious offer he was actually about to agree to.
So answer this: would you rather have Bogaerts in year 3 of that hypothetical deal right now in Boston this year or Bregman this year? Because you don’t get both.
How do you figure? We have absolutely no idea what subsequent moves would and would not have still happened in the 3 years to follow. It is absurd to draw a line and pretend those two transactions would be the only things to change in that alternate reality.
Meow – late 30’s deal on Bog surely will be underwater but if the first few can come close to evening it out, it’s the way of the world these days.
Paid a premium for a guy they thought would be a difference maker for the year the owner was dying.
I mean, at least he should still be playing in late 30’s as opposed to a few guys in blue that will he sitting on a beach collecting checks in old age (or Bobby Bonilla until he is 72).
Acceptable situation / risk is how I’d call Bog contract. Can’t do too many of these but 1 is ok.
Even though a long term extensions for young players. Looks good today, but what if they are injured all the time or in jail (won’t get the bonus back even if saved the salary). Risk / reward all day every day.
Just be prepared for alternative endings.
They had already signed Story the year before Bogaerts opted out and left so he’d still be here. He and Bogaerts covers the left side of the IF. That leaves no room for Bregman. I’m sure you’ll try and come up with all sorts of mental gymnastics to say otherwise but with those 2 covering a significant portion of the team’s overall salary and covering that side of the IF there would have been zero pursuit of Bregman.
Lol. Mental gymnastics like the fact that Story played second base the year they were teammates? Why does this mean they suddenly have to both be on the left side?
How about the part where if they have both Xander and Story locked up, they never give Devers a 13 year contract? Maybe they would have traded him far sooner than they ended up doing. Maybe they just let him leave after 2023.
You have no idea whatsoever what would’ve happened, yet here you are pretending anyway, and you want to talk about mental gymnastics? That’s rich, man.
“Acceptable situation/risk” is an interesting take. Worst contract in the game by all reports. Seems to me that the Padres would be much better positioned without it. Those tied up dollars spent elsewhere would have them much stronger. I’m betting it’s not acceptable to Preller and he would ditch that deal in a heartbeat.
Wasn’t Preller’s call. Like in business everywhere, owners decide how and when to spend their money.
I didn’t say it had to be an acceptable risk for you. It was for the owner and he had his reasons (and his money to back it up) so he did what he wanted.
He was a smart man with money and spent it the way it worked for him.
Who are you to criticize that?
As to how they would have been better off – take it back to the moment the contract was offered and diagram how you think they should have done it.
Of course, you want to use the crystal ball and hindsight neither of which PS had available. He knew his future and he knew it was short. He took a shot with his money.
It was his risk and he knew and accepted it.
Fop – and just because I can, how about X having a higher WAR than Mookie in 2025, while getting paid about 5 mil less at same age withe Mookie is going to 39 at end of his contract (X will heb40) at 35 and 30 mil every year while X is only 25 mil.
If X is going to crap for not being as good as when he was 28-30, why isn’t the same argument for Mookie sitting in your face?
Dirty – They wanted to get out from under Raffy’s contract and they did just that, now it’s time for everyone to move on.
Getting back to Roman, I just hope Cora and the Red Sox don’t put unfair expectations on him to eventually be the team leader. Roman has a ton of qualities, but he does seem like the quiet reserved type that probably won’t be firing up the clubhouse like Pedroia or Papi used to do ….. and that’s okay, he can lead the same way Tek did.
Roman is gonna get one helluva ovation tonight when he returns!
Absolutely. I am ready to move on from the Devers fiasco but people keep bringing it up so I addressed it. It happened, it could’ve been avoided, but whatever, it’s over. Hope he finds success in San Fran. That’s all I’ve really got left to say about it.
Agreed on Anthony. Bogey was kind of a quiet leader too, he was never the biggest personality in the room and that was okay. Just let him be. That’s another role I think Duran is perfect for and feeds into why I hope they don’t trade him. I think he can be that heart and soul guy who wears it more on his sleeve. Hope they just let him play and be himself, he’ll be worth every penny.
Rafaela and Anthony have good “Energetic hype man”/”Cool collected serious guy” duo dynamic potential honestly
Everyone in SD will tell you the Padres overpaid for Bogaerts.
Giants have the worst record in baseball since acquiring Devers…
Meanwhile, the exact opposite is true for the Red Sox.
Are Red Sox fans still whining about not having to pay Devers 300M to be a headache?
Beg – Agreed. I’m hoping at least some of the people bringing up Raffy are not Sox fans, because they are acting like the guy who ten years later still isn’t over being dumped by the ex-girlfriend. You don’t need to crap all over EVERY ex-Sox superstar …. but they haven’t realized that yet apparently, and it’s sad.
Lol unfortunately i think some of them are Sox fans. I remember the day of the trade there was a comment thread under the article here where somebody was insisting their GM do more in person/public press conferences, suggesting or hoping that it would increase the chances that somebody would do something to the guy.
It was understandably deleted by the admins here i would assume but my understanding is that theres a good amount of sox fans outraged by it
Beg – Yep, and the origin of the word “fan” is “fanatic”.
Unless Roman becomes a petulant man-baby i think they’ll be ok
Great they signed him now instead of after he gets mvp votes
sad – He probably will finish Top 2 in ROY, which is a big reason why the Sox did what they had to do to get him locked up now. And they owed it to him after keeping him in the minors half the year.
Probably unlikely considering Kurtz and Wilson.
He’s a complete hitter. Very good discipline. Gonna be good for a long time. Glove still developing. Good deal for both.
He should be the Red Sox first baseman in 2026. Showcase Casas during SP and trade him.
I’ve been in that camp since he started killing it in Worcester. Fills a void and helps with the OF logjam. He could handle 1B for sure.
I would still stick with Campbell as 1B of future. Even Devers can’t miss a target that big lol!
Oh wow. I just turned Devers into a punch line!
wow.
OKAY Sox Nation… We can now officially wash our hands of Devers! Let the punchlines flow!
LETS GOOOOOOOOOO
Are you paying attention Baltimore? Lock up your young talent.
Holy crap. Can’t believe he’s signing early
Incredible news, I was not expecting this! I love to see them having success in getting the kids locked up. Roman in particular has been worth the wait. Kudos to Bres & Co. for getting this done. I’ve been ragging on some of their moves & non-moves lately but this absolutely buys them some goodwill with me. Not that they care about me individually anyways, but still.
Dirty – That’s exactly what fans SHOULD do ….. point out the team’s mistakes, and compliment them when they make good decisions.
And without question, pointing out the mistakes motivates the team to make better decisions. It’s just like raising kids.
FPG…. I love the fact my “Kids” bought me shirt last Christmas that says.. “In my defense I was left unsupervised “…..
olm – Mine bought me a shirt last year that says “You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my kids”. LOL!!
Does Jim Rice know about this?
Lefty – I’m not getting your comment, what do you mean?
Well, Jim Rice never came off the bench and he never got a contract like this
Maybe, if you adjust for inflation… but still … other than that,… I mean nothing by it
Lefty – Yeah it’s a different world, MLB makes more money than they know what to do with …. so they take risks like this. It’s a good time to be a MLB player.
BTW – Not sure what you mean by off the bench? Roman starts every day.
BTW – Not sure what you mean by off the bench?
Hahaha, all these questions
A few Memorial Days ago.. the Orioles had a weekend series with the Red Sox… I didn’t know it was Jim Rice originally, but on the Pre-game….somehow it came up and Jim Rice stated…. Jim Rice never came off the bench…. I couldn’t stop laughing, I love his confidence
The stability of a long term extension worked out great for Devers too
Totally different situation
Tang – Agreed, this is buying out 3 or 4 free agent years instead of 10.
Let’s hope management and ownership have learned from their past mistakes, and treat Roman with dignity and respect as he gets older. Because he won’t tolerate anything different.
I’m just glad we won’t have the arbitration bad blood along the way
You need to climb off your “dignity and respect” train. I don’t know anything about you other than what you write on this platform (which is A LOT!), but what you do write is telling. You are often unkind towards the Red Sox organization and the decisions they make. You claim to be a longtime fan, but you are very quick to trash them while insinuating you know the inner workings of their operation. Your delusional tone in your comments of having influence on their decisions – as if they come to you for advice – is a little unsettling. You have some knowledge of Red Sox history and seem to keep up with them, but you come across as a little smug and condescending. I’ve read posts on threads by Yankees fans, and quite frankly what you contribute seems to be more in line with what they write. Are you certain you are a Fenway Fauthful?
Hire – This is a thread for celebrating a great day in Red Sox history, and instead you use it as an opportunity to attract attention by attacking me personally.
I have zero time or patience for cretins such as you, and you most definitely will NOT ruin my enjoyment and great mood with your garbage.
Muted.
Huge news!! Wow.
Thank you Red Sox management.
This is the kid you lock up!!
“the deal can max out at $230MM.”
he’ll never live up to it
I wouldn’t take that bet
too much too soon
After watching him for just a few months I would give him double that in FA, in a heartbeat.
He’s 21 with the kind of poise at the plate that already rivals Soto.
Your turn, Jed.
Meanwhile back in NY, Hal and Cashman live in the archaic world of non extensions. Good signing for the Sox.
Who won the Yankee team? Would you consider for long term extensions.
“Meanwhile back in NY, Hal and Cashman”…So, when one team does something all the teams that don’t do the same thing are now “archaic”?
Which pre-arb player should they lock up? Dominguez? Wells? Rice? Volpe? Warren? None of them have performances which warrant a significant extension.
All just to likely get traded in a couple years like Betts and Devers.
Devers is a man child and Betts didn’t have a contract. The point of signing guys early is to avoid the Betts situation
Betts was a pending free agent and turned down $300 million refusing to negotiate a deal in Boston.
Devers was a blatant locker room cancer and removing him instantly made the Red Sox one of the best teams in baseball, and the Giants the worst.
Two very different scenarios.
Also, Trevor Story has a significantly higher WAR than Betts this season. Both are 32yo.
To be fair Betts has been battling illness and a bunch of personal stuff this year. He will rebound. Spot on with the rest.
I don’t think Devers contributed to the Giants’ collapse so much as he didn’t rescue the team from an inevitable decline they were going to have anyway with a weak offense. According to MLB.com he’s hitting (5-20-.226) as of yesterday for San Francisco. Their hitting is so weak they would have had trouble even getting that level of production from in-house options.
Is he the problem or does the team just stink ? Unless you can show me some articles showing that SF is having problems with his attitude as well, I’m inclined to believe his slide coincided with the collapse; it didn’t directly cause it.
“All just to likely get traded..Betts and Devers”…I think you missed your freeway exit.
The Redsox are NOT the Minnesota Twins and the “Depressed Twins Fan” exit is two exits north of here.
Meanwhile Hoyer is twiddling his fingers with PCA…
If I’m PCA I ask for 230,000,001….. he’s that good…
Price is only going up, Hoyer had a chance to get it done and still does. PCA has all the leverage. But Hoyer has his extension, job security is assured so he’s in no rush and it shows.
Acoss… my guess is your in Chi-town also( maybe) I haven’t seen Cubs fans so stoked about a young Cub player since Tarzan Joe Wallis!!!lol
@Acoss1331
We’ll never know. They might have thought about extending him or even offered it but it wasn’t made public.
So you’re saying this semi old man can get a new jersey for Christmas?? And possibly hang up his C- 33???
This is a good call. My mom has been sad that all the player jerseys she owns are gone or retired. Anthony jersey inbound this December….
You are a good child!!! Great if you buy it for her!!!
Extensions like this are the ultimate win, win, win.
Players get life changing money and a sense of security.
Teams get cost control and usually save vs. actual production.
But just as importantly, fans get to buy in. Your kid’s favorite player can be with him for a while. You can buy a jersey and expect to wear it next year.
MLB’s economics need to change so the smaller market teams can afford more extensions like these.
Plus, signing this early gives the team 2 years of his free agency, but he still gets to hit free agency and look for a market-setting mega deal during his athletic prime. Literally everybody wins.
Yes, another win. The player still gets a good run at free agency.
You hit the nail on the head. I like players who I get to know over a period of years, so as a fan knowing a player will be around is a big win.
That’s part of why the Devers trade was such a blow. It looks good right now, but if any player can be cut loose at any moment it’s harder for a fan to get invested.
What’s preventing smaller market teams to offer similar contracts to their young talent right now? Pirates gave Keller and Hayes one. Rays signed Franco. Padres signed Tatis, Jr. Brewers signed Witt, Jr.
Risk aversion, if I had to guess.
Don’t get me wrong I think these are by far the best types of contracts in baseball. But there is still risk in it, if the kid doesn’t pan out. If you’re a cheap/poorly-run team and give out an early extension to a kid who never turns into anything useful, that could cripple them for several seasons. Some of them naturally would prefer to wait and see if the player pans out and then face the risk of having to replace him.
Not to mention, not every player is going to want to sign one of these. Some are more than happy to bet on themselves and go year to year to try and get every single dollar they can. Those guys will never agree to a payment structure that potentially leaves significant money on the table.
Exactly. A $130 million mistake by the Brewers hurts a lot less than a $130 million mistake by the Red Sox.
I had the same thought, Halos. Teams need to do more contracts like this. I can still name the players on my favorite boyhood Red Sox teams, their batting order, etc. It was easy to remember because it was basically the same team every year.
Baseball needs to get back to that, it would be great for the fans. And as you said, Win, Win, WIn.
This contract can max out around 230 mils PLUS close to a BILLION in endorsements.
The kid is SET! Good for him!
Lovin’ my Sox today. I’ll find a reason to throw shade at the FO and Cora tomorrow. For today I am GOOD!
Smaller markets can do one of these, two at the outside. The Red Sox could do several. The Dodgers can do a whole team and defer most money until 2099.
That’s the difference.
That being said, the Reds should have done this with Elly over a year ago. He is the meal ticket for the franchise.
Now it’s too late. He is gone in two years when they deal him for a load of suspects along with probably several of his teammates.
lol. We feel your pain in 1 word… Mookie.
But back to your point. I think ALL teams could do this. There isn’t a team out there that can’t afford 16 mils a year. It is just a matter of willingness.
Why do this? You have complete control for several years. Why make a commitment you don’t need to make? These don’t make sense to me.
The free agent years they’re buying out will be at a significant discount if he shows any sort of normal career trajectory based on his early results. It’s a calculated risk.
Not to mention that it gives them cost control over Anthony’s arbitration years, which would have been a platform for the eventual free agent price. It’s worth making an investment like that in an extraordinary talent.
Because if he continues to play like an mvp, it will save them over a hundred million dollars or more over the course of this deal.
Those three arbitration years likely cost about 40% of this extension on their own.
Redmatt, at $16 mil a year, this is a very friendly team deal by the time Roman hits free agency even if he ended up league average. And he is projected to be a star player. He’s already almost there.
He’ll make more by the time arbitration is over. Plus there will be no Broadway production like with Betts and Bogarts.
Just a drama free deal for the next 8 for a fan favorite.
Take the win, bro. It’s a good day to be a Sox fan!
LETS GO!!!!
Somebody… Anybody… say those two famous words I long to hear!!!! Hint..Jerry Jones also likes to say them!!!!(NOT!!!!)
Let’s just say that Breslow is being truthful about the trade deadline and everyone was indeed asking for Duran/Aberu/Rafaela. That takes stones to keep saying NO when he knows he’s gonna get roasted for not making a big move for Ryan/Keller/Alcantara. He held his ground and kept key parts of the roster intact, There’s that.
In the off season, he sacrificed a group of nice prospects to acquire Crochet. Then he got sort of creative/aggressive with the contract for Bregman which closed up a very successful off season.
Since then he has locked up Rafaela, Crochet, Campbell (!) and now Anthony for long, team friendly deals. The core of this team is coming together. And don’t forget the Devers saga where he removed a clubhouse issue along with a boatload of salary.
I don’t know man… maybe this Breslow guy has an idea of what he’s doing.
Swan, I am agreeing with you begrudgingly. It did take stones to keep all 4 outfielders. And it was smart. I didn’t WANT to see Duran or Abreu moved but I though one would NEED to go.
I will give him credit for that. I’ve been screaming ‘Let the kids play’ for 3 years. Guess I got my wish.
Sooo…A 7 game win steak later (going for 8), I will once again say with a smile, “Let the kids play!”
I keep pessimistically waiting for someone to drop into a long slump, but these OFers have been pretty great all year. They’ve each had their dry spells, but each has rebounded just fine. Young players are hard to project/predict, but this group has shown nice consistency.
It’s been nice to watch Rafaela mature. He’s no longer afraid to be behind in the count so he doesn’t need to swing at the first pitch EVERY TIME.
The sox have now locked up two young phenomenal outfielders for the next eight years.
File this under “things rich teams can do that non-rich teams cannot”. This is one of the big ones. If he bombs or blows up physically, no biggee for the Sox. Big big biggee for a small payroll team.
I see the appeal of early extensions, but as a White Sox fan, I also got a front row seat to the risk. Eloy, Moncada, and Robert all failed to live up to their deals, which were highly lauded at the time.
Brewers did a lot less for Chourios extension correct?
“Brewers did a lot less”…No two markets are the same and no two situations are the very same. History has shown us many times that two players are never really exactly the same.
But the Rogers twins are identical.
I’ll go on record as giving this deal a thumbs up.
:)
This is an aggressive and good deal for all parties. A smart deal. Let’s go Sox.
Kurtz is going to be difficult to unseat in that RoY contest. Jacob Wilson will probably miss most of the second half and will fall out of contention but one of Noah Cameron, Jack Leiter and Jacob could but Anthony out of the top three depending on how they litch and how their innings are limited. Chandler Simpson could also be in the running for runner up. Id have to give runner up to Leiter at the moment.
*Jacob Lopez, I tried to edit the post, I got timed out! I am back and forth between browsers with one hand on a Juicy Hazy IPA and the other fumbling this damn telephone.
If the system gives you 6 years of control so teams can watch develop players as a hole (athletic and human), see the ups and downs in a large sample size, why not take it?.
But my main concern is how much damage is done to the player when suddenly they don’t have to fight to get it done, players say the hardest thing is not to get to the big leagues but to maintain for long time.
Man an outfield of Anthony / Rafaela / (Duran/Abreu/Garcia) for the next few years is going to be exciting to watch. Reminds me of the 2017/2018 killer B’s
Yep, it’s awesome to see young talent locked up.
Wonder who’s going to be “asked” to learn 1B. I think I read something recently that Garcia is taking some reps already. If he’s supposedly the second coming of Manny, they need to find him a spot.
Boston and the A’s are going to square off soon.
A’s will have Soderstrom, Butler and Colby Thomas in the OF. Not as prolific on paper but I think Soderstrom is as good of a player as Anthony. Butler can play with Duran and Thomas can slug with Abreu. Rafaella at second until Boston unloads some of their OF depth.
A’s dont have the depth in the OF but they have it in spades on the diamond with Hernaiz and Gelof, Wilson and Kurtz and Leo De Vries.
Affirming young studs with early big money deals is double-edged. I suspect Anthony will be good, just like a lot of guys who got the arbitration buyouts; however, I don’t expect him to be the best version of himself. At least the earning money aspect, the motivation to keep improving doesn’t have that in the tool-shed. The motivation will have to come from somewhere else.
Anthony looks like the type that cares more about his numbers on the field than he does his bankroll, I think he’s the type who plays for the records and not so much for the Mercedes. He looks like a ball player to me.
Speaking of ball players, saw Devers playing in a Giants uniform he is looking svelt. He is going to tank a few into the cove before the season is over. If 1B prospect Bryce Eldridge doesn’t pan out, and I think he will, they should move Chapman to first and let Devers play 3B. Likely wont be an issue, likely that Devers is at DH until Chapman’s deal expires, but could move Eldridge for an ace and Chapman would be a gold glove 1B.
Wow you think Bob Nutting will do the same for Paul Skenes? Lol
Too late for that
Brilliant organization
So the nickname Romin’ Roman will never be a thing.
Where is the lol button??
Wait, a 21 year old left fielder with the Red Sox.
Hmmm.
Great day for the Sox and Anthony! If the rumors are true that Breslow turned down the Twin’s offer for one of Duran/Abreu to get Ryan then he made a huge mistake
Outstanding. I love these contracts with young players that are good for both the player and the club. Both are taking on a little risk but both get cost certainty.
If I were Roman I would have pushed for either 6 or 7 years instead of 8, but no matter what happens, he’s set for life now.
Great for both sides. People are going to call me crazy, but I’m kind of optimistic the A’s are going to do something like this with Kurtz.
But John Fisher!!!…. I know, I’ve rooted for the A’s for awhile and know how they operate. But it makes sense from a business standpoint to have a superstar moving to a new city, and the A’s have given out long term contracts this year already. I’m not saying it’s going to have a no trade clause or anything, but I think it might happen. You don’t have to agree with me just remember I said it in a few months.