On this week’s mailbag, I focus on Juan Soto’s free agent contract, the Rangers’ 2025 rotation, potential matches in a Bo Bichette commerce, outlooks subsequent 12 months for the Tigers and Cardinals, and way more.
Jason asks:
Juan Soto is clearly going to be the speak of the offseason. He has additionally undoubtedly confirmed an enormous asset in serving to Aaron Decide be walked much less (even when hitting in entrance of him). What contract does MLBTR predict Soto will land this offseason in years & {dollars}?
Bob asks:
I’ve watched Juan Soto loads this 12 months and am eager about execs and cons of the Yankees re-signing (or some other staff signing) him to a long-term free agent contract through the offseason. He’s clearly an important hitter and nice teammate however as I’ve watched him, my (admittedly armchair) impression is that he’s an excellent, however not nice defender and he isn’t notably quick. Primarily based on that, I’m wondering how he’ll age and what he’ll appear to be as he progresses into his mid-30s. I think, at age 25, he will likely be on the lookout for a 12+ 12 months contract and I’m not certain what a 37-year-old (or perhaps a 33-year-old) Soto will appear to be.
I used to be speaking about this with my brother-in-law earlier this summer season and he thought that Soto may signal a shorter-term contract with the Yankees due to the “intangibles” of taking part in in New York however I’m uncertain about that and suspect that Soto will go for the longest contract and largest {dollars}, irrespective of who provides it. My concern is that Soto will change into one other Robinson Cano – not so fairly as he ages. Then again, the WAR that he’ll produce for the following 5-8 years could be value consuming 4 or 5 much less productive years. Ideas?
Nobody is aware of how a lot Soto will get, and nothing is assured.
I bear in mind when the “good” free agent hit the market six years in the past. Bryce Harper was a Boras Company consumer going into his age-26 season. I am going to admit that his 2018 contract 12 months was not almost as spectacular as Soto’s, and Harper had not quieted modest issues about his protection to the diploma Soto has. However Harper was a Corridor of Fame monitor famous person in his prime, identical to Soto.
At varied factors main as much as Harper’s free company, milestones like $400MM and even $500MM have been bandied about. After a lot debate, MLBTR settled on a 14-year, $420MM contract prediction. We felt Harper would fly previous Giancarlo Stanton‘s $325MM file, which had not been achieved on the open market. We additionally thought Harper would sacrifice a file common annual worth, “settling” for a $30MM AAV that might trigger much less aggressive steadiness tax ache.
As an alternative, Harper’s market was inexplicably chilly given his monitor file, ceiling, and age. He signed with the Phillies in late February, accepting a non-superstar $25.38MM AAV over 13 years as a means of inching previous Stanton’s whole by a mere $5MM or 1.5%. So we ended up being $90MM excessive on our prediction, however time has proven that many groups that have been unwilling to high the Phillies’ provide would have benefited from doing so.
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