The baseball world is currently buzzing with excitement about Konnor Griffin. He hasn’t even hit his 20th birthday yet but is considered to be the top prospect in baseball and has a chance to break camp with the Pirates. Locking him up to a long-term deal is also a possibility, with Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporting that both Griffin and the Bucs are open to an extension.
It’s not a surprising stance from the team. As mentioned, Griffin is the top prospect in baseball and there seems to be little debating it. Baseball America, ESPN, MLB Pipeline, FanGraphs and The Athletic all have him in the top spot going into 2026. Some even consider him the best prospect in years. The ninth overall pick from 2024, he’s viewed as a rare five-tool monster. He’s a plus shortstop who was almost drafted as a pitcher, so the arm is clearly there.
Last year, he went from Single-A to High-A to Double-A, getting into 122 games overall. He hit 21 home runs and stole 65 bases. He slashed .333/.415/.527 on the year. He got some help from a .403 batting average on balls in play but everyone believes in the bat. It was reported in the offseason that the Bucs would consider carrying Griffin on the Opening Day roster this year even though he doesn’t turn 20 until late April and has no Triple-A experience. He added some more coal to the engine of the hype train when he hit two home runs against the Red Sox yesterday.
Not all prospects pan out but there are fewer busts the higher up the lists you go. Griffin seems to have a good chance to be a really good major league player for a long time. Players in this position are also often signed to extensions. In recent years, cornerstone players like Fernando Tatis Jr., Bobby Witt Jr., Julio Rodríguez, Wander Franco, Jackson Merrill, Roman Anthony, Corbin Carroll, Ronald Acuña Jr. and others have signed big multi-year extensions.
From Griffin’s perspective, it’s notable that he’s open to the possibility but he and the club would have to agree on a price point. Turning down a nine-figure guarantee probably isn’t easy but the potential for big earnings is still there if he goes year to year.
Juan Soto is an extreme example of the upside. The Nationals made Soto multiple nine-figure extension offers, reportedly getting as high as $440MM in 2022, but Soto made a bet on himself. That paid off as he made $79.6MM during his four arbitration seasons and then hit free agency as a 26-year old. That youth helped him secure a $765MM deal from the Mets.
That path is theoretically open to Griffin. As mentioned, he’s still about two months away from his 20th birthday. If he is able to earn a full service time this year, he could hit free agency after 2031, a few months ahead of his 26th birthday. Even if it’s too much to expect him to be as good as Soto at the plate, Griffin seems likely to add more value via his speed and defense.
As mentioned by Hiles, it’s possible for the Bucs and Griffin to sign some kind of deal that gives the club some extra years of control but still allows him to hit free agency in his late 20s. Griffin may be open to that but he would be leaving some upside on the table, as teams clearly value that youth. In addition to the Soto example, there’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He got $325MM, the largest deal for a pure pitcher ever, even though he no major league experience yet. A major factor was the fact that he was 25 years old when he was coming over from Japan.
Perhaps there’s some way to get creative and have Griffin lock in big earnings while still preserving future earning potential. Witt’s deal with the Royals is for 11 years but he can opt out after seven. The pact between Rodríguez and the Mariners is technically a 12-year guarantee but with a very complicated structure involving multiple options and escalators starting after the sixth full year.
Whether creative structures are involved or not, the price is likely to rise over time, as players generally have more earning power as they move towards free agency. Jackson Chourio has the record guarantee for a player who hasn’t yet debuted, getting eight years and $82MM from the Brewers. Even a brief major league debut is enough for a big jump, with many of the aforementioned names getting their nine-figure deals with less than a year of big league experience. Rodríguez got the top guarantee for guys under one year of service, getting to $210MM. After two years in the big leagues, Tatis got $340MM and Witt $288.8MM.
The Pirates would likely have to go into franchise-record territory to get something done. The biggest guarantee they’ve given out was their $100MM deal for Bryan Reynolds a few years back. Griffin has more prospect hype than Chourio did a few years ago when he signed his extension with Milwaukee, so it’s arguable that Griffin could warrant a nine-figure guarantee right now.
The Bucs generally don’t run up huge payrolls but should be able to get something done if they want to, as the long-term books are fairly clean. The Reynolds deal goes through 2030 but with a $14MM salary this year and $15MM in each of the next four campaigns. That’s a decent chunk of change but fairly manageable in the context of modern baseball salaries. The Mitch Keller deal only goes through 2028. Ryan O’Hearn is the only other guy with a guaranteed deal for 2027. Even though the Bucs are a fairly low-spending club, similar teams have gotten these deals done, with the Rays signing Franco and the Royals signing Witt.
If the Bucs and Griffin are able to work something out in the next few weeks, the team would be incentivized to not make it official until after Opening Day. Strangely, the prospect promotion incentive doesn’t apply to players who have already signed long-term extensions, so Chourio wasn’t PPI eligible for the Brewers. It is perhaps not a coincidence that Kristian Campbell and Samuel Basallo signed extensions a few days after their respective major league promotions last year, therefore keeping the PPI on the table. Campbell’s PPI eligibility was later nullified because he was optioned to the minors and didn’t earn a full year of service in 2025.
Time will tell if the two sides can work out a deal or not. Contract status aside, Griffin’s ascent is adding excitement for the Pirates in 2026. There was already a lot of talent on the pitching staff, led by Paul Skenes. The offense has been lacking but they added O’Hearn, Brandon Lowe and Marcell Ozuna in the offseason. If Griffin can come up, take over the shortstop job and succeed, that could be another boon for the lineup. It can be dangerous putting too many expectations on such a young player but the industry is unanimous in considering Griffin special.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Get it done; lst!!!!
I guess he isn’t represented by Scott Boras.
Nope, and the only way we see this kid before June is if he signs a low-ball deal with a bunch of team options. Sad, but that this is the current state of baseball
Unless he signs an extension before the season starts. We can all dream right?
Best to play a game then sign extension. Have a gentlemen agreement.
As long as he is the starting shortstop on opening day, I don’t care how they go about it.
Did they do the service time game with Skenes?
Don’t know. I don’t think so. Drafted in 2023 and pitched 6.2 innings the old pitch a inning or two at every affiliate. 2024 27.1 innings in AAA. Famously learned the spinkler. Few pitchers have so lil minor time.
In minors they could limit his innings. He wasn’t throwing 200 mlb innings. If they wanted to really manipulate he wouldn’t have arrived until June July. No roy. No super 2. Or August so he could win them a draft pick in 2025.
Now Bubba I lean towards manipulation. If they were in playoff race he probably gets called up sooner. Under old rules he would have been called up in June.
Mmmm, a billion for three w/a couple opt outs? 🤣
I would ask for a single opt out, that his contract gets an opt out the offseason during or after a Skenes trade
That’s actually such an interesting contract concept.
I say 9/126
9/126? If he is as good advertised lets say between all star and mvp calibre performance what dies he make over 6 years, 72M? (Minimum x2, 3.5, 6.5, 15, 35) If the cheap @$$ bucos ownership can sign off on the risk for 3 years at 54M it seems like a good gamble…he is legit and thats the only way he doesnt leave after his requisite 6 years. If you’re Griffin you are only leaving 66M or so on the table IF you end up performing like juan soto and making 126M if you break your leg
If I was batting .222 in spring I would take any money they will give!!!! Lol joking of course, fairly certain he is better than that.
It would be cool. Sign him to. 20yr deal!
he crushed two homers yesterday, one traveled 445 feet at 113 mph
Joew….spring training numbers are deceiving. Or extraordinary small sample sizes are too. You stated a .222 batting average. That materialized from a 2-9 start. However, are you aware 2 of his outs were balls he hit over a 106 MPH velocity? Those 2 balls were blown back into the ball bark by ferocious winds. 95% of the time, they’re over the fence for home runs. Switched those 2 outs for hits, his batting average skyrockets to .444.
Don’t get too caught up with batting averages…especially with a sample size of less than 10.
I felt like joe was joking. The “Lol joking” sorta made me think so.
Sometimes obvious isn’t obvious enough for some
sometimes people should just stop being an a@@9&le
Thanks for the insight Harv. If he is smashing the ball and just had bad luck that is very different than if he is striking out every at bat or barely making contact.
The Pirates do need a face of the franchise willing to extend and stay . Locking this kid up could (unlikely though) convince Skenes that the team wants to win and be a perennial contender. Question is will it actually happen ? Would it convince Othrrscto follow suit ? As a non Buc fan but who loved them in the Van Slyke-Bonds-Bonilla-Drabek era I wish them well and hope they stop being a laughing stock since Nutting bought the club .
I think that window to extend Skenes has already shut as he has endorsements with Nike, Topps, Axe, Franklin Sports, Geico, and Raising Cane’s.
you don’t know what you’re talking about except for wishful thinking
They’ve been talking with Skenes about an extension for awhile
Just because this site hasn’t posted it doesn’t make it true
Only thing better than $ other than health is even more $. Maybe winning is so important to Skenes he doesn’t care. Usually when that talented you have the attitude any team with me is a contender. I’d imagine Skenes feels like pirates are contender now. Smart enough to see how great the farm system is. I don’t know about a 10 or 12 year deal but a 6 year deal sounds doable. Pirates should be one of the best teams in baseball for that period and likely few years past at least.
They can try and win all they want but unless the league changes to full revenue sharing in the next cba Skenes is never signing in Pitt
The Pirates haven’t been perennial contenders since the 70’s, beyond that they had two 3 year windows (1990-’92, 2013-’15). It would be nice to see them actually keep a young start player for longer than their arbitration window. The rare exceptions with this team has been Andrew McCutchen and Jason Kendall before him
thank you nostradamus ohyeahdam
Would be a smart play, especially if they determine he is the real deal. It sure looks like it so far.
He will be making the biggest mistake of his life if he signs an extension with the Pirates. His agent and his parents should be immediately fired.
Realistically, he’d be giving up at most two years of free agency. So, two years of being able to earn “what he’s worth.”
On the flip side, he’d be able to earn something like $10M AAV in his pre-arb years. So, at least $9.1M more than he’d already be earning each year during that time.
Arbitration could look very different after the new CBA but let’s say it looks the same as it does now: he’d likely get $12-14M in arb 1 by the time he got there, with raises each year. Let’s say he got something close to what Skubal got this past year.
Adding all that up, with a deal that gave him something like $10M a year for 8-9 years (which I think is low–I think he could get more like $12-14M a year), he’d be earning $80-90M, versus a world in which he stays under his current agreement where he earns league minimum for the next four years ($3.1M), $12M in arb 1, $19M in arb , and then $32M in arb 3 for a grand total of a bit over $66M in those 7 years.
He’ll likely earn $30-40M AAV at least if he’s anywhere close to this good and that puts him ahead but honestly not by a ton. $8-10M? Either way, that’s not a “biggest mistake of his life” type decision. He’ll be just fine.
Unless you mean that he’d be hitching his wagon to a terrible franchise, in which case, let me introduce you to Mike Trout.
How are the Pirates going to get 7 years of control?
In the slight chance that they hold him down a few weeks and do—-he’d certainly be going through arbitration 4x instead of 3.
Or if they try the Skenes method & it backfires and he earns the year anyway. Then they’re only getting 5.5. They probably should hold him down for 2/3 of the year so they can squash any chance of that if he’s not on the opening day roster but that depends how dominate he is and where the team is at.
He either plays from start and they go for draft pick if not they can simply keep him down until June and shouldn’t be enough time for ROY.
It really doesn’t matter though. Draft pick isn’t even close to value as a year of KG. So wait 2 weeks call him up and force him to be healthy productive enough to win ROY. What they did with Skenes. And no big loss with him. As a rookie he wasn’t going to throw 200 innings.
By your math he should only sign an 8 year $100-110M contract. Then he would be a free agent at 27 but starting that year as a 28 year old.
Any form of extension (even with the Nutting Pirates) would guarantee him for life – unless his agent came from the 1930’s and made him sign a *Mafia deal*. For a 20-something in a sport where one day you can be King and next day have an accident and never play again wouldn’t be *the biggest mistake of his life*. It simply would guarantee his financial position. And any contract is a negotiation- you give some and take some (limited no trade clauses, opt out , bonuses). At present if he signs he will be on the minimum amount and under team control for 6 years . So you’re advising taking that deal rather than more money and potential control of who you can be traded to ? Don’t become an agent – your customers would be unhappy very quickly !
you have always been great at predicting nonsense, Slider
I see time hasn’t changed your view on baseball
Id say if he signs the rookie deal at age 20 he hits FA two years sooner than he does if he doesnt sign the deal and the Pirates hold him back for two more seasons.
There is no rule that says he has to be promoted because his numbers in MiLB dictate that he is capable.
He could be the starting SS at age 20, or, if the Pirates really wanted to play hardball, they dont have to add him to the 40 man roster until Dec. ’28, they can option him for the ’29 season, the ’30 season and the ’31 season. He would be the starting SS in ’32 in his age 26 season, his arbitration earnings would be reduced dramatically, and he wouldnt hit free agency until the ’36 season at age 30.
That is the reality of the system and that is the leverage the Pirates have on him.
It would be a waste of his talent and the fans would likely be outraged but in setting that precendent the Pirates would have even more leverage in place for the next superstar prospect that arises.
It could be
2026 – AAA/MLB debut
2027 – pre Arb
2028 – pre Arb
2029 – pre Arb
2030 – Arb 1 – guess $15M
2031 – Arb 2 guess $25M
2032 – Arb 3 guess $35M
$75M over next 7 years but nothing guaranteed… OR
10-$150M extension.
Nobody makes that much in arbitration
Soto settle for $31M and Skubal won for $32M. We’re talking seven seasons from today on his final arb year under a new CBA. Those figures are very realistic if he’s a stud.
Skubal shattered a record due to his team putting up a serious lowball offer and Soto was a super two who made $8.5m his first arb year then set every contract record imaginable in FA. Neither is a comp any team will accept for a player who hasn’t touched AAA. Nobody makes $15 or$25 their first two arb years
Nobody does until they do four years from now. We can agree to disagree. The topic remains what Griffin’s camp is going to argue those post-arb club option years are worth to the AA player.
Acuna won RoY in ’18, signed a year later in ’19 for 8/100m with two 17M club options for a total of 10yr/134M
Only seven years ago.
He shouldn’t get a deal close to Acuna’s. Acuna had hardware on the table.
7 years is a long time if you haven’t noticed the market movement or you know even the price of milk and eggs.
Acuna’s deal was panned as a bargain for the club back then too.
I follow the market, inflation and the increase in food prices (consumer staples) is a direct result of minimum wage increases across the country, keep the poor poor is the rationale. Those price increases shouldn’t hit those in the top tax bracket all that much.
The CPI and PPI shouldn’t be applied as a mechanism to value relative increases to salaries in the top tax bracket, nor should the growth in the S&P. The S&P has grown at a CAGR of around 13% over that time frame but there is risk in investing in the market, why would a risk-free guaranteed cash payment earn that kind of return?
If anything, the average yield on a 10-year note would be used as the standard for a raise due to a player over the past ten years but that isnt even the argument.
My argument is that Acuna won the Rookie of the Year before signing his deal and Griffin hasn’t had an at-bat. You could argue that Griffin is a can’t miss prospect and that’s probably accurate but the Pirates should still get a deep discount having signed him before his rookie season.
Roman Anthony’s contract was absurd, Anthony is a “can’t miss” prospect too in some way, but in some way, it was a gross overpay that has skewed the market.
Anthony can pull up lame like Tristan Casas, or have a couple bad shoulders like Michael Conforto.
Anthony’s contract being absurd is simply your opinion. You don’t think the Red Sox did their due diligence and future market predictions before offering him the deal? John Henry didn’t build an empire by being risk-averse and making shot-in-the-dark choices. His only bad choice is allowing Sam Kennedy to speak publicly.
He was a first-mover in trend-following systems in commodities markets, he applied the same methodologies to the futures markets that Richard Dennis developed a decade before he founded John W. Henry and Company, and if you know the story of the Turtle Traders, this was a system that could be taught and replicated.
I worked in the grain complex at the CBOT myself many years ago before the entire business moved to the screens. I havent had as much success as JWH, but do have a good sense for valuation.
Anthony’s contract isnt that out of line with the Acuna deal, Anthony was on pace to have a RoY type of season if you extrapolate his 300 PAs, but he landed 50M more than Acuna signed for and as I have said, I dont think salaries should be growing that dramatically.
Anthony would have topped out at 70M through his arbitration, thats what Boston paid him.
Boston loaded up on risk for then right to a 3yr/85M dollar deal for his age 28-30 seasons, if you use the absurd Kyle Tucker deal as a comp and assume Anthony is going to remain healthy and play at a high level, this is an enormous savings (100M) but that is six full seasons away and there is a lot that can go south before you get that payoff, and the Tucker deal is an absurd comp. Judges 40M per is a better comp because there is damn way anybody should be making more than Judge. Son its a 35M gain on that 3yr deal.
I guess ita a good risk for a 40M gain but there is no risk in running him through arbitration.
Small market teams cant lock up their players with overpays and Anthony’s deal was an overpay. I think Anthony is going to.be a good player too but he hadn’t posted
*my edits at the end of my last post were truncated by a bad wifi connection, excuse the incoherence in the last paragraph, that was meant to be deleted.
I think in hindsight Acuna probably doesn’t *totally* regret the deal right now. He’s had two ACL tears since he signed the contract. For a player his caliber it is highway robbery in comparison but $100M is still insane generational wealth and he’s very secure financially in case his knees continue to bite at him.
I appreciate your well-thought out response but what you and I think salaries should be are irrelevant. The free agent market is dynamic with elastic demand (cost to sign) driven by need. It’s not a rational market. There is only one Ohtani, Tucker, Judge, Soto, etc. available. Red Sox are playing the law of averages by trying to lock up their young players. They know and expect every signing isn’t going to work out.
Id agree, but small market teams cant overpay, they have to use the leverage of time to sign contracts that are well in favor of the team, they cant afford to miss, and if a player isnt on board, they have to use the advantages that are inherent to them in the team control and with the arbitration system to keep the players trade value intact and maximized.
Guaranteed money reduces the trade value of a player substantially.
We knew Acuna deal was lowball at time though. Luckily for him (in theory of potential money left on table) he has been oft injured.
Anthony Roman’s deal is a great framework. 8/130 which can escalate to 230 with escalators.
Add 5-10% to that and you’re pretty much there. Get it done bucs. This isn’t Marte, Polanco, or Tabata.
Mark Antony
Wow
WHoops. Ive been calling him that for a bit now.
I guess he flipped the last and first name.
Great player, absurd contract. Got around 50M more than Acuna without much run in the bigs.
ZiPS loves him
2026 – 3.5 WAR
2027 – 3.9 WAR
2028 – 4.5 WAR
Pirates: We are offering you life changing money: 15 years/$75M, $60M deferred to years 16-36.
In all seriousness, they’d have to offer anybody willing to sign an early extension at most 6 years/$61.65M w/ the option to opt into arbitration and out of the guarantee (but guaranteed $60M over four years of would be arbitration and $825k a year pre arbitration) because anything beyond that and the amount they might be committing to a dud or the amount he might be giving up as a stud is virtually incalculable in today’s market and salary ranges.
Completely know what they’d be risking if he’s a dud in that scenario. $60MM
6 year extensions never happen for someone with no service time because the team gets nothing in that scenario but cost certainty. They already had that much control.
Pirates extend players all the time for a long time. If he is willing they can get it done.
Hasnt played 1 mlb game lol. Shittsburg
jealous piney?
Paul
You should know a simple troll when you see one.
Doesn’t need to play 1 mlb game. Pirates have something called baseball people who know what they are doing.
Do it, please
This kid breaking camp is one THE stories of baseball (and fantasy baseball). Kid looks insane.
No longer a beat reporter. Not a solid source.
Don’t need to be a beat reporter to report. Good as source as anyone not employed by pirates.
Moronic
Go Pirates! Lock him up!
Is he the real deal, Pirates fans? If he’s as good as advertised, then Bob Nutting needs to open up the pocketbook, especially if the young man is willing to sign an extension.
Yes, his upside is insane, and he’s become an excellent defensive shortstop. Even if he puts up like a 105-110 wRC+, he’s going to be like a 3-4 win player because of his defense and baserunning. But he has the ceiling to be like an annual 140+ wRC+ sort of bat.
Sounds like he’s part of your young core to go along with Paul Skenes. I’m glad the Pirates are making a real effort to compete. Your fanbase deserves to be excited.
As I’ve mentioned in my Skenes’ comment above, the kids today are building their own brand on social media with a PR team the day they’re drafted. Nutting needs to strike now.
instagram.com/konnorgriffin/
Any player at 20+ with only AA play behind him will sign a deal . Question is at what level and with what player options (opt outs, limited no trade clauses and bonuses) . This isn’t Fantasy baseball or Video version – it’s their livelihood and financial future and no one in Sport is guaranteed either to be the next Trout or Soto , and every match played •could be their last•.
Question is what does Nutting and his advisors think is the price and what the player and his advisors think ? There are a load of precedents from Red Sox youngsters or the recent A’s flurry of extensions . I as a neutral hope the Bucs do sign him and others and make the team competitive for the future. They haven’t the resources to play in the FA carousel so this method is the safest and best way to build a contender.
minor league player of the year in 2025
Been real deal for 3 years. Pirates haven’t failed to extend anyone they should have since Nutting owned team.
With the exception of Hayes maybe
Hayes was great extension
At least a 10 year deal, which would still allow him to reach free agency at 30. Anything less than that and the Pirates probably don’t do it
Yep, this.
Pirates will do it for 8 years
The kid should only be open to 8 too. Pirates should be going for 20 but probably can’t afford to go too crazy.
More years the better for both. In case kid is a stud let’s have him forever. 300 million for sure is more logical than 600 what if. But high risk for both. He could get hurt or decline early. Could be a stud and left ton of $ on table.
8 years is easy for both. However bad or good it goes it’s only 2 years.
Those options are a nice middle ground. You get paid for sure and if you are truly amazing we have to pick up a option for hundreds of millions more.
Griffin and McGonigle are two prospects that their teams should sign to pre career extensions.
8 years, 150M is my best guess if it even gets done. It was a huge mistake to not do this with Skenes hopefully they figured out they can’t miss on both him and Griffin.
Anyone else think Griffin will have a better season than the 5+ WAR Kurtz put up last year?
I don’t think he’s going to put up the same pop, but 25+ homers for sure, but 50 steals+ and a top 15 MVP finisher. Maybe top 10.
Agreed and I think the speed and defense make up the difference and easily put him above Kurtz’s 5WAR.
You can’t know but I really feel that Skenes would’ve never signed a pre-MLB extension with Pittsburgh unless the money was unjustifiably high.
8 years and a team option or two gets him 150. If not they might get him for 115 to 130.
What’s the rush? I need to see it before I pay him.
The rush? By waiting a season…or half a season….or even a month can escalate the cost to sign him by tens of millions. Who is the last player to debut m on opening day in MLB as a teenager? Ken Griffey Jr back in 1989. Like Skenes before him, Griffin is a unicorn. Many baseball experts compare him to Mike Trout, Bobby Witt or Alex Rodriguez (without roids). Keith Law sees him as Willie Mays…but playing shortstop. He’ll likely be the Pirates best hitter/player since Bonds, Stargell & Clemente.
This is the rush. If you wait (like they did with Skenes), the price goes up astronomically…and then only a team like the Yankees, Dodgers or Mets could afford to pay him upfront.
But you’re not paying him. The rush is that if he does prove it (à la Skenes) you don’t get a reply from his agent and he is gone in 2032 or earlier . This could look him in till 2035/6 and build around him with other talent. Is it a risk ? Yes , it’s a question is it a viable risk or mad one. So far, it seems the former .
Pirates already seen it. Do it now for pr marketing before season and so you can use him the entire season instead of waiting until June July.
Wonderful to have this kind of talk,but.
Start him out in AA for two weeks then AAA for two months.
There is a big jump from AAA to the Majors.No matter how good he seems there should be time to figure it out.
He seems to have a good head on his shoulders like Skenes but let him show that he has mastered the minor leagues.
He is only 19 years old.
Already shown he mastered minor leagues. If you send him down it’s only for service time which is a legitimate reason to do so. Never played a single AAA is a great excuse.
Good prospects usually skip AAA or spend a minimal amount of time there at most anymore. That level isn’t really the developmental step it used to be because it’s full of aging journeyman players hoping to hang on for one last shot/a rehab league for returning injured players.
I prefer Gonzalez to not be penciled in at shortstop every day. He’s horrible defensively
My only concern is that as he progresses through the minor leagues, the Pirate ‘development’ crew gets their hands on him.
Which means changing his swing, then leaving him down for a few more months because they think he has a better build for second base and needs to learn the position.
Uh oh, hurt – good time to switch him to the outfield as he recovers.
Finally debuts in 2029 as a first baseman.
Let’s see. Noah Hiles asks Ben Cherington if there would be interest in a long term contract with Konnor Griffin. Noah Hiles asks Konnor Griffin if there would be interest in a long term contract. Noah Hiles reports that both sides are interested in a long term contract.
If it does happen, it never would have happened if not for Noah Hiles.
Something between Anthony and Merrill will get it done.
Witt Jr. is the best comp. We would be happy with that. Like the Red Sox announcers were saying he doesn’t have to grow into a big league body – he’s already there. Valdez and Password coming behind. Ryan OHearn is already talking ’23 Orioles vibes.
Only Haines is famous for changing a player’s swing
just ask Suwinski
Paul- Which begs the question I wonder whether they talked to Jack about a long term contract after the second year.
No matter what just start him on OD. It looks to me like there are 3 odds on best bets, him, Wetherholdt and MacLean. I like him best. Get the pick, embrace the long suffering fans, just do it as the commercials say.
10 Years
$200M
8 years 108 million should getter done.
I’m not a Pirates fan but they gotta do whatever it takes to extend this kid. WHATEVER IT TAKES. Teams commonly go over a decade or more without even crossing paths with a talent like Griffin.
His upside is so staggering there’s a chance he becomes peak non-injury Mike Trout but as a shortstop. And with him and Skenes on the team possibly in their peak years at the same time? Wow. Bucs could have potentially the best pitcher and best hitting shortstop in the league at the same time. Surround them with a high-floor supporting cast and all of a sudden we are talking about a playoff team with a multi-year window of contention
Bobby Witt Jr. isn’t bad either.
8 years, $130+ million
That’s the going rate considering inflation.
Bold prediction:
Pirates call a news conference on Thursday, April 2, 2026, after going 6-0 on opening road trip vs Mets and Reds, to announce they have reached an agreement to extend Skenes, Griffin, and Chandler through 2035. In the next 24 hours the team sells 10,000 season tickets.
From your lips to God’s ear
I would not be using wander Franco as an example unless I was describing a pedophile.
The Pirates are going to win their division this season. Everything is coming together. By September, we will wonder why it wasn’t universally predicted in March.
The Reds will finish second, then the Brewers, Cubs, Cards.