Looking Back At Contract Extensions Signed By The Free Agent Class Of 2020

A year ago, the world of baseball was buzzing and not because of the length it took for Bryce Harper to sign with Philadelphia and Manny Machado with San Diego.

Instead it was because the slow-moving offseason wound up becoming filled with contract extensions for players at what seemed like an unprecedented pace. With those players off the free agent market following the 2020 season, teams are getting mixed results from those they inked to those deals.

Nolan Arenado signed an eight-year, $260 million extension to keep him from headlining the free agent market following the 2020 season. This was after the Colorado Rockies posted consecutive winning seasons for only the third time in their inception and it seemed it was setting up Colorado for future success. Arenado has done his part, winning the Gold Glove in every season since making his debut in 2013 while leading the league in homers three times and in RBI twice.  Last year he hit a career high .315 with 41 homers and 118 RBIs but the Rockies lost 91 games with a run differential of minus-123 and this winter management did little to bolster the roster. That makes it a strong possibility Arenado will spent the bulk of the contract playing elsewhere.

Chris Sale signed a five-year, $145 million extension that begins whenever this season starts. It seemed that the Red Sox were always working towards extending Sale after acquiring him from the Chicago White Sox following the 2016 season. Sale was 29-12 with 545 strikeouts in his first two seasons and helped the Red Sox win their fourth championship since 2004. Early last year his velocity was down and it led to his second losing season (6-11) and a career high 4.40 ERA. If the season would have started as scheduled on March 26, Sale would not have been ready due to a flexor strain in his left elbow, an injury that occurred after dealt with the flu and pneumonia.

Paul Goldschmidt was acquired by the Cardinals from the Diamondbacks with a year to go before spring training. The plan was to sign him to a long-term deal and the Cardinals did so by giving him a five-year, $130 million deal that starts this season. Goldschmidt was an All-Star in his final six seasons with the Diamondbacks and based on last year, this deal appears like it will work out. Last season, Goldschmidt put up another All-Star season with 34 homers and 97 RBIs and seems likely to do again as the Cardinals hope to reach the postseason for the first time since the 2015 season.

 Xander Bogaerts was the second player the Red Sox secured on a lengthy extension when he agreed to a six-year, $120 million with a vesting option for the 2026 season that also includes an opt-out clause following the 2022 season Bogaerts debuted in 2013 and was making $12 million last season when he batted .309 while producing career highs of 33 homers and 117 RBIs. While Bogaerts is certainly worth the money, you do have to wonder if this impacted the Boston’s unwillingness to engage Mookie Betts in similar negotiations.

Justin Verlander is defying conventional wisdom that says you don’t give pitchers over 35 contract extensions but the Astros did so by inking him to a two year, $66 million contract last March. In his first full season with the Astros he struck out a career-high 290 hitters and finished second in the AL Cy Young race to Blake Snell. Then last season, Verlander led the league with 21 wins (his second-highest total behind the 24 wins in 2011. He also struck out 300 for the first time and led the league in innings (223) for the third time. Verlander seems to be someone capable of continuing to produce standout numbers over the age of 35 even though he is dealing with a strained lat that would have possibly prevented him from being available for the March 26 season opener.

Khris Davis led the majors with 133 homers from 2016 through 2018 when he amazingly hit .247 in each season and only missed a combined 32 games. The power to go along with 245 RBIs led the A’s to sign him to a two-year contract worth a little over $30 million. In the final season of his old deal, Davis slumped to a .220 average and appeared in 133 games while hitting 23 homers and 73 RBIs, which were similar numbers to his two full seasons in Milwaukee. In the final three months of his original contract, Davis batted .189 (43-for-227) while hitting seven homers and driving in 30 RBIs. Whenever this season starts, the A’s will find out if last season was an outlier and if Davis can come close to replicating his consistent power that earned him the extension.

Aaron Hicks signed a seven-year, $70 million deal towards the end of spring training after hitting 42 homers in 2018 and 2017 with the Yankees. He missed the first month of last season with a back injury and was limited to 59 games, though he hit 12 homers in 221 at-bats. Hicks is still a standout defensive player and the switch-hitter’s swing seems suited for Yankee Stadium. This deal could work out if Hicks can stay healthy, but he is recovering from Tommy John surgery that if the season started on time would have kept him out until June like Didi Gregorius last season.

When the Yankees acquired Sonny Gray in 2017, it was envisioned as having a pitcher with two years of team control and a candidate to re-sign. By the end of 2018, he was out of the rotation and GM Brian Cashman was so adamant about dealing Gray he was very candid in admitting a change of scenery was needed. About two and a half months before Gray threw a pitch for the Cincinnati Reds, he agreed to a three-year, $30.5 million extension that kicks in whenever the 2020 campaign starts. In his first year as a Red, Gray justified the extension by going 11-8 with a 2.87 ERA (his third-lowest ERA). He also set a career-best by striking out 10.52 hitters per nine innings with a .255 BAPIP that matched the second-lowest of his career.

Ryan Pressly was a midseason acquisition from the Twins in the 2018 season and then posted a sparkling 0.77 ERA in 26 appearances for the Astros. That earned him a two-year, $17.5 million extension that will start this season. In the final year before the deal kicked in, Pressly posted a career-low 2.32 ERA and his 11.93 strikeouts per nine innings were the second-best of his career.

Miles Mikolas was one of the remarkable stories of the 2018 season when he posted a 2.83 ERA in 32 starts for the Cardinals after not pitching in the majors since 2014 with Texas when he posted a 6.44 ERA in 10 starts. His 18-4 record led to a four-year, $68 million deal set to start in 2020 but in the year before the extension kicks in, Mikolas went 9-14 with a 4.16 ERA as he allowed five runs seven times after doing so once in 2018. If the season started on time, Mikolas would likely have missed the first month due to an elbow injury that required a platelet-rich plasma injection so the jury is out on the extension so far.

Carlos Carrasco could have been a free agent after the 2019 season if the Indians declined his club option. It turned out Carrasco did not have to concern himself with that as the Indians signed him to a four-year, $47 million deal that keeps him signed through 2022. Carrasco is the last remaining piece from the 2009 trade that sent Cliff Lee to Philadelphia and, after a slow start with Cleveland, he has become a steady member of the rotation. From 2014 through 2018, he had a 3.27 ERA in 856 innings and before being diagnosed with leukemia last season he was 6-7 with a 5.29 ERA and is dealing with right elbow inflammation that would have likely kept him sidelined for the season opener.

Matt Carpenter was coming of a season in which he received MVP votes for the third time in his career. Those votes were given to him for producing a season in which he hit a career high 36 homers and drove in 81 runs, the second-highest total of his career. It also resulted in the Cardinals signing him to two years for $39 million with a vesting option for the 2022. The Cardinals are most certainly hoping year one of that contract does not look anything like last year when Carpenter batted .226 with 15 homers and 46 RBIs while appearing in 129 games with 37 extra-base hits that was barely half his total from last season.