2:30pm: Kurtz tells Tyler Kepner of The Athletic that he is “Definitely open and interested” in a long-term deal but added that “It’s just about timing.”
1:10pm: The Athletics have made an extension offer to first baseman Nick Kurtz, reports Joel Sherman of The New York Post. No specifics of the offer have been reported and it’s unclear how likely it is for the two sides to reach an agreement.
The A’s have been busy on the extension front in recent years. It appears there is a dual motivation at play, connected to their ongoing move from Oakland to Las Vegas, with a stop in West Sacramento in between. Reportedly, they wanted to increase their spending in order to avoid a grievance from the MLBPA, so as to not risk losing their revenue-sharing status during the move. Also, it seems the club wants to have an exciting and consistent young core in place to help them build a fanbase when they get to Vegas, currently planned for Opening Day 2028.
About this time last year, they got two extensions done. They signed outfielder/designated hitter Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60MM pact, then inked Lawrence Butler to a seven-year, $65.5MM deal. They have continued down that road this offseason. It was reported on Christmas Day that they had agreed to a seven-year, $86MM deal with outfielder Tyler Soderstrom. That was followed by a seven-year, $70MM deal for shortstop Jacob Wilson about a month ago.
Kurtz is another sensible target. He just made his debut last year at the age of 22. His 30.9% strikeout rate was on the high side but he drew walks at a strong 12.9% clip and hit 36 home runs in only 489 plate appearances. He was the unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year, even though he wasn’t called up until late April.
Even though he missed part of the season, Kurtz was retroactively awarded a full year of service time for that award win, as part of the prospect promotion incentive rules. That means the A’s currently control him for another five seasons instead of six. He is going into his age-23 season and is slated for free agency after his age-27 season.
If the A’s want to sign him for longer than that, it makes sense to do it sooner rather than later. Players generally get more earning power as they approach free agency. The record guarantee for a player with one year of service time or less is Julio Rodríguez, who got $210MM from the Mariners. For guys with two years of service, Fernando Tatis Jr. got $340MM and Bobby Witt Jr. got $288.8MM. For guys who have pushed into their arbitration seasons, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the record at $500MM.
That doesn’t mean that getting something done now would be easy, as MLBTR’s Anthony Franco examined in detail earlier this month in a post for Front Office subscribers. For one thing, Kurtz is represented by Excel Sports Management, an agency with even less of a track record of early-career extensions than the Boras Corporation.
Kurtz also shouldn’t be desperate for cash in the short term. He got a $7MM signing bonus after being drafted fourth overall in 2024. He also would have added around $2MM in 2025. The league minimum salary was $760K last year and Kurtz earned just under $1.3MM via the pre-arbitration bonus pool.
Considering those factors, as well as Kurtz’s prospect pedigree and rookie season, Franco concluded that it would probably take $150MM or more to lock up Kurtz now. He’s in a similar position to Rodríguez when he signed his $210MM deal with Seattle, though Rodríguez had more earning power as a strong defensive center fielder, whereas Kurtz is farther down the defensive spectrum as a first baseman. The $150MM range would get Kurtz beyond Roman Anthony, who only had a couple of months of big league experience and was one year further from free agency than Kurtz when he signed his $130MM deal.
Getting to that range would require the A’s to effectively double their franchise record, which is currently held by the $86MM deal for Soderstrom. The long-term books aren’t totally clean, as the four aforementioned extensions are there. However, none of those deals has an average annual value of even $13MM. The salaries do increase over time but none of the guaranteed seasons even reach $20MM.
If the A’s wait, they run the risk of Kurtz continuing to perform, which would gradually nudge his earning power closer to that of Guerrero. Even if they can’t get a deal done, they can control Kurtz through 2030. If they open in Vegas in 2028 as planned, they could still potentially have Kurtz for their first three campaigns in their new home.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
who is kurtz’s agent? if its boras then as they say in brooklyn and parts of jersey, fuhgeddaboudit
also, its pretty messed up, as was the case with skenes, that a’s dont get ppi pick for kurtz. neither did pittsburgh even tho both won ROY and were awarded full yr of service time. so both tms have these once in a generation players for 1 less season AND get no xtra pick
So?
He’s represented by Excel Sports Management. They don’t have a history of doing pre-arbitration contracts, but you never know. If the A’s don’t lowball him, having all of that money now instead of waiting until he’s a free agent may get him to sign.
Hopefully his agent says unless it starts at $100 million over 6 years, no thanks
Hope he accepts. 100 mil over ten years max. 30 percent k rate, low on defensive spectrum, good power.
Not even close. Age 23, ROY. Scouts point to him with tools to be really good defensively.
Found a player agent’s intern!
My real name is Scotch Bohras. Thanks!
Gotta love socialist libs
Gotta love fascist pigs.
How’s Oregon?
10/100? You’re delusional.
That’s pretty nit-picky for a guy with an 86th percentile Chase% and and 90th percentile BB%.
I’m sure the Las Vegas rAy’S are making the same arguments in hopes of short-changing their young superstar.
I think Anthony’s $130 million sounds about right. Kurtz is the better hitter and a year closer to free agency, but he is a first baseman.
Anything in the $130 to $150 million is a win for the Sacramento A’s and their fan base.
Kurtz has a longer track record but its very debatable who the better hitter. Plus Kurtz is older by over a year ..that makes a huge difference between ages 21-23.
Kurtz turns 23 in march Anthony will be 22 in may..
Let’s not forget Kurtz played his home games in a minor league stadium for a team with zero expectations vs Boston ina playoff chase.
8 years 180M let’s get this done
That is crazy. Should be less than Anthony. There is an odd supposition on this site that salaries must always increase. Untrue.
It’s a fact that overall salaries do always increase for the same reason the Q.O. always increases annually.
Overall yes, but not necessarily individually. Thank you for proving my point.
Of course they must increase. As long as the Federal Reserve keeps pumping out more and more money, everything will keep going up exponentially.
Kurtz is a better hitter? Respectfully disagree…
Kurtz – 173 OPS+ / 170 wRC+
Anthony – 140 OPS+ / 140 wRC+
Among players with at least 450 PAs, only Ohtani and Judge hit better than Kurtz.
Among 300+ PAs, Anthony was 15th.
I’m not saying Kurtz can’t be the better hitter, but definitely can’t make that claim with such small sample sizes to compare.
I am not saying Anthony can’t become the better hitter, but Kurtz is the better hitter right now. Limited sample, but enough for me to be very confident in both batters. Kurtz has the power edge so far.
I’ll stand by that – look at the OPS and OPS+ for both in 2025, Kurtz is superior to Roman Anthony and both look like future perennial all-stars.
You can disagree, but you’d be wrong.
FJF! Didn’t make any extension offers of note during his entire tenure in Oakland. More evidence that his plan was to leave the whole time.
There was never any doubt that was his intention all along.
Good for them. Lock up your young stars before the big city agents beckon.
If I was Kurtz, I’d say 5 yr / 70M, lock me in some guaranteed money, you stand to save 15M over the course of my ARB years and let’s talk about a new deal in ’29.
No team options, no buyouts, the big money deal comes in ’29 or I’m hitting FA after the ’30 season.
Let’s win a championship.
Lol I would never do that if I were the team. Team control or bust.
ABS has no idea how extensions work.
Do it now or forever hold your peace
Let’s see if he has a good year this year. but because of the calendar April May, and June, he’ll be cycling off will cycle back on in July
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but the Athletics are one of maybe two or three teams that have never signed someone to a $100M+ contract. If fact I’m fairly sure their largest franchise contracts have come in the last year or so, one of which was, I’m sorry to say, a bit of a joke.
I’m curious how this will end up going down. Part of me wonders if they’ll try to offer under 100M as a token gesture to say “Well we tried.” But if they really are trying to be a different franchise in Vegas… who knows
Tyler Soderstrom’s recent $86/7 is the franchise high. It’s not a token gesture to Kurtz. Fisher wants to maintain the buzz of the new stadium opening with a long-term core and justify high costs to attending ballgames with a 33k capacity.
The dude who said 5/70 has no idea how extensions work.
How much higher than Julio Rodriguez would they have to go to get Kurtz to sign an extension? About the total Witt Jr got or closer to Tatis Jr’s total?
“So they can control him for five seasons instead of six”
Is that supposed to be a good thing for the A’s?
I think a Julio Rodriguez type of extension might be the play. Kurtz is in that tier already. Sign a fair deal initially, but if he continues to win awards and make all-star teams then an escalating scale of options/bonuses can kick in over time.
I’d be interested in an article that talks about the value of contracts/extensions on franchise value. I assume most valuations are based on things like revenue streams, market size, liabilities and media contracts, but would a contract or contracts, depending on how below-market or gross overpay make a difference. Would the A’s be worth more with more “good” extensions?