The Pirates have announced that they’ve signed Konnor Griffin to a nine-year extension. The news was first reported by Jon Heyman of The New York Post this morning. The deal runs through the 2034 season, and MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports that the deal is worth $140MM. Heyman adds that the deal includes incentives that could take the deal up to $150MM for the Excel client, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that there are no options or deferred money in the deal. Sherman adds that the deal’s incentives are based on MVP voting for the 2026-31 seasons. According to Noah Hiles of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the deal includes a $12MM signing bonus. $5MM of that bonus will be paid out this year, followed by $3.5MM in 2027 and $3.5MM in 2028.
ESPN’s Buster Olney first reported that the sides were working on a deal in the range of nine years and $140MM last week, and now the deal is done. Even as the sides working on an extension has been common knowledge for a while now, it’s still surely a huge relief to Pirates fans that the deal is officially done. The consensus top prospect in the sport is now locked up through the end of the 2034 season, giving Pittsburgh three additional years of team control over their up-and-coming star. The term is convenient for Griffin as well. The youngster is still a few weeks shy of his 20th birthday, meaning that he’ll hit free agency ahead of his age-29 season when the deal wraps up in 2034. That should leave Griffin in line for a massive payday down the line, assuming he plays up to expectations.
Those expectations are certainly lofty. The youngster has gotten rave reviews from prospecting outlets across the board, and he’s viewed as a legitimate five-tool player with MVP-level upside. He’s certainly done everything he can to support those fawning evaluations so far. In his first professional season last year, he slashed .333/.415/.527 across three levels of the minors with 21 homers, 23 doubles, four triples, and a whopping 65 steals in just 122 games. He did all that while playing impressive defense at shortstop, and picked right back up where he left off upon starting the season at Triple-A. He went 7-for-16 (.438 average) with three steals, three doubles, and more walks than strikeouts in five games with the Pirates’ Indianapolis affiliate before they pulled the trigger and called him up to the majors.
Since being promoted to the majors, Griffin has struggled somewhat, with a .176/.300/.235 slash line in his first five games. There’s not much reason to put significant stock into a sample size that small, but it is worth noting that Griffin isn’t exactly guaranteed to hit the ground running in the majors. There’s a reason Juan Soto was the last hitter to reach the majors as a teenager before Griffin, and even Mike Trout was a below-average hitter in the majors at Griffin’s age. For the time being, Griffin’s exceptional speed on the base paths and strong defense at shortstop are already a big asset for the Pirates even if the star-level hitting contributions come later.
The extension makes Griffin the highest-paid Pirates player in franchise history, and puts a bow on a busy offseason where the club got aggressive in its efforts to contend. Brandon Lowe, Ryan O’Hearn, and Marcell Ozuna were all brought in this winter by the Pirates after the club missed on some much bigger fish like Kyle Schwarber, Kazuma Okamoto, and Eugenio Suarez to whom they were linked. Even with those top-tier pieces signing elsewhere, Pittsburgh has undeniably upgraded their offense in a big way as they try to make the most of the time during which they’ll have both Griffin and reigning NL Cy Young award winner Paul Skenes in the same uniform. All that spending has raised the luxury tax payroll considerably, and RosterResource indicates that their figure sits just under $127MM for luxury tax purposes at the moment. That should rise to the $142MM range once Griffin’s extension is accounted for.
Good for Pirates fans. Now it’s the Tigers turn to do this with McGonigle.
Seems worth it. Is Master Skenes next?
That Pirate ship has sailed.
The Pirates locking in a potential GENERATIONAL player. This is their face of franchise. $140 million is a ton for someone unproven and the fact the Pirates are giving this to him shows his potential.
Always a risky move to label someone a generational franchise savior before they’ve even accumulated 20 at bats in the bigs.
apparently you haven’t watched this kid playing at the major league level
This kid is hitting under .200 so far. Made some nice defensive plays, but nothing yet screams generational talent.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s small sample size and he’s 19. There’s every reason to believe he’ll be successful long term. But so far it’s mostly one very good year in the low minors and a ton of hype.
I want to stress that he’s 19 and a year ago, he was playing HS ball in Mississippi. He’d be in his freshman season at LSU had he decided to go to college. Freshmen don’t often hit well against SEC pitching and he’s not facing SEC pitching, he’s facing the best pitchers in the world. If the pirates had waited until he was 21 or 22, that time to extend him would’ve passed, just like it has with Skenes. Look at my Astros: Hunter brown wanted an extension two years ago before he broke out and became a top 10 pitcher in the AL. Now, it’s too late. That extension would’ve probably have been 6/70? An absolute bargain and a good deal even if he’s only decent. Konnor Griffin isn’t just going to be decent, we all think he’s going to be a dude. And pirate fans would’ve revolted if they could’ve extended him and didn’t. But let’s say Griffin doesn’t work out. Management can always say “well damn, would any of you fans NOT have done this?” The majority would be like “yeah I would’ve done the same.”
The fact that you lead your comment with his average after 5 games or so, pretty much discounts any opinion that you have after that. Hype?? Laughable comment.
Still likely to be a decent contract even if he isn’t really generational but just a great, multiple all star level player.
kermit:
Its the “generational” label thats making everyone cringe. If he had led with “likely be a decent contract”, he’d have gotten 10 upvotes instead.
Throwing out labels on mlbtr chat boards is less risky than giving them $140M guaranteed lol.
Yippie, now let’s get Skenes, Cruz, and Bubba done LOL.
I’m not sure it makes as much sense for pitchers in general given how quickly things can go south. But yes, absolutely for Skenes.
Cruz lol no
I’m actually not sure about locking up Cruz or Bubba. Skenes would be fantastic obviously but I think there’s probably a less than 3 percent chance of that happening, and that’s being kind.
Oh happy day. I’m unfamiliar with this feeling related to Pirates baseball. Is this what hope feels like?
Add this to other solid moves the Pirates have recently made and you could make a case that their owner is at long last.. nutting up.
Great job by the Pirates! Cardinals need to do the same with JJ
Same years for JJ and I think maybe a slightly lower AAV could get it done.
The team needed this and the fans deserved this
I haven’t been this excited about a Pirates move since we traded Troy Stokes Jr.
Lifetime extension for BC.
Sorry but his failures the previous 6 long years will not be forgotten that easily.
Nice work, Bucs! The kid is exciting, hopefully he pans out.
This is some proper gravy to put on the potatoes in the morning. Now, let’s finally pull the trigger and re-work Bryan Reynolds’ extension, give him 10 years at 200 million until he’s 38.
There was no way they were gonna be able to do this had they waited. If he booms like we all think he will, this is a steal. Honestly, it’s a win for both sides. He can still hit free agency before he’s 30 and command what could be by then a 700/800 million dollar contract if he’s good.
So Bob Nutting had cash the whole time
The way MLB words these deals seems incongruent with what’s actually occurring. It’s not really a 9-year extension, imho. For six years he’s under team control anyway….. more of a 9-year deal with a 3-year extension built in.
How much does JJ get offered by StL?
The smaller-market teams have persistently complained about how limited resources keep them from retaining home-grown talent. The movement towards early extensions by some of them is a good sign, particularly for competitiveness and fan-satisfaction reasons. Some of these deals won’t work out, but that’s true with many of the FA deals as well, and at a much lower price point. What we don’t know yet is whether these teams will see themselves as creating value that can be subsequently traded as the extended players move into their later twenties.