The White Sox are ready to spend some money, having just signed Yasmani Grandal to the largest deal in their club’s history, and now extending first baseman Jose Abreu.
OFFICIAL: The #WhiteSox and José Abreu have agreed to terms on a three-year, $50-million contract. pic.twitter.com/imKamyV8rD
— Chicago White Sox (@whitesox) November 22, 2019
The White Sox were already on the hook for the qualifying offer amount in 2020 ($17.8 million), so really this is another two years tacked on for about $16 million per year. Is this the kind of deal Abreu would get on the open market? Eh, maybe not, but there’s a little more attachment there to Abreu for the White Sox, and I have no problem with a team and a player just wanting to stick together. Especially through a competitive window, which the White Sox seem very intent on forcing open next year. Good for them.
Meanwhile, the Mariners have extended a first baseman of their own … except he’s a prospect who has yet to play above AA:
The Mariners and first-base prospect Evan White are in agreement on a six-year, $24 million contract with three club options, sources familiar with the deal tell ESPN.
White, 23, spent last season at Double-A. No player at that level ever has received a long-term extension.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 22, 2019
So that’s a new one, obviously, and certainly an interesting deal. We’ve seen a couple players extended as minor leaguers as they reach the big leagues from AAA, but we’ve never seen anything like this before.
White, 23, was the Mariners’ first round pick in 2017 (17th overall), and he hit perfectly solidly at High-A and AA in the two years after that. He’s considered a top 50/75 prospect in baseball – good, solid, not elite. He’s the kind of guy you assume is going to make the big leagues, but not necessarily hit in the middle of a lineup even at first base.
Still, JJ Cooper is right on with these comments – in a weird way, more risk is being assumed by White than the Mariners here:
1. Re: Evan White. I get why players do this. Financial security. The first $1 million (which White received in the draft) is the most important million. The first $10 million WAY more important than the second, third or 10th $10 million.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) November 22, 2019
3. Effectively White is being paid the rate of a average-at-best/mid-range 1B who is at risk of being non-tendered every year in arbitration. CJ Cron has been DFA'd once. He'll finish this season having made $18 million or so before FA.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) November 22, 2019
5. We don't no about non-trade provisions yet, but White's deal also makes him massively more valuable in trade for M's if he develops into even an average MLB 1B. Cost-certainty for years makes him way more valuable in trade than the same player heading to his arb years.
— JJ Cooper (@jjcoop36) November 22, 2019