Two Record MLB Contracts In Back To Back Days
Photo Credit: Elaine Thompson
As we enter the final days of spring training, MLB teams just keep handing out the big contracts. Obviously yesterday we were hit with the somewhat surprising news that Mike Trout was about to sign the biggest deal in the history of sports. Just last week I was writing a blog about how I was certain that Mike Trout would leave the Angels in two seasons for greener pastures. Well, I should have known the moment that I published that, that Mike Trout would up and sign a 12 year $430 million deal out of nowhere on a Tuesday morning, as the world was more occupied with March Madness. It was the ultimate Mike Trout move, under the radar and there really wasn’t a big deal made about it considering this contract blows any other contract in sports out of the water. The biggest deal ever was signed just a couple of weeks ago with Bryce Harper signing his $330 million deal and Mike Trout goes and ups him by $100 million.
For the most part I’m against paying guys these big contracts but I will say that if there is one guy in the majors that deserves this kind of money, it’s Mike Trout. While the 12 year part won’t likely be the best considering he will be 39 when this contract is up, getting Mike Trout for around $36 million a year at age 27 should turn out to be a bargain. In Trout’s 7 full seasons in the league, he’s finished no lower than 4th in MVP voting, and the only reason he didn’t win the MVP that year is due to him getting injured and only playing 114 games. Think about that, he missed roughly 1/3 of the season and still finished 4th in MVP voting. Outside of that he’s been top 2 every year. Mike Trout is undoubtedly the best player in baseball and the only player I would want my team to sign to a $300+ million deal, which is starting to scare me what the Red Sox might try to sign Mookie at. In the end, Mike Trout got his 2nd payday and whether we like it or not, he’s going to be an Angel for life.
Then fast forward to today, and we have a another record breaking deal that is being finalized in the MLB. Which record was broken this time you might say? Well it just so happens to be the largest contract ever given to a player with no service time at the MLB level. And when I mean no service time, I mean not even a single at bat. The Chicago White Sox, losers on both the Machado and Harper sweepstakes, decided they would sign their #1 prospect, Eloy Jimenez, to a 6 year $43 million dollar deal with two club options that could extend the deal to an 8 year $77 million deal. This is the ultimate risk vs reward deal. On one hand, Eloy could obviously be a huge bust. The list goes on of players who just didn’t cut it at the MLB level. Baseball is one of the most unpredictable sports when it comes to evaluating talent , thus the somewhat high likelihood of a top prospect not panning out. But, if he is a star it could save them some money down the road.
Surprised there’s even a picture of him in White Sox gear considering he’s only been in the minors
Photo Credit: El Fildeo
Let’s use Nolan Arenado for example. Arenado cost the Colorado Rockies $35 million through his first 5 years and would have likely been in line for another pay increase in his last year of arbitration to around $25 million. That would have brought his total 6 year earnings to around $60 million. So when you think about, the 6 yr deal for Eloy, for $43 million only saves the White Sox around $17 million or so. And, that’s if Eloy was to be an absolute star in the majors like Arenado. So on the surface, the 6 year deal vs letting him play out arbitration, not that beneficial. Now the part that makes this interesting is the 2 club options to extend the deal an additional 2 years for $34 million more. Let’s continue to use Arenado for this example. After his new contract that he signed, he will be getting paid $35 million dollars in both his 7th and 8th years in the league. That’s an additional $36 million in savings for the White Sox to bring that to a total of $53 million. So in the end, if Eloy was to exceed expectations and be an equivalent player of Nolan Arenado, then the White Sox are only on the hook for $77 million to Eloy vs the $130 million it could take to field him as a player if he went through arbitration and again, was a star. To tell you the truth, I would be very hesitant to sign a guy to a deal like this without a single major league at bat, but it could have big upside. I wish the Red Sox would have signed Betts or Benintendi to a deal like this now that I know they’re superstars, but in the end you never know. He could be the next Byron Buxton, who was the number 1 prospect in all of baseball for 2 years, and has only cost the Twins $3.4 million through 4 seasons. I’m not sure the risk outweighs the reward.