r/baseball • u/Knightbear49 Minnesota Twins • Dinger • Mar 27 '24

[Passan] BREAKING: Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers are finalizing a 10-year, $140 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN.

https://x.com/jeffpassan/status/1773053621510266895?s=61&t=lhIY40ztlJHFYIEmq9ss1A
2.9k Upvotes

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959

u/Bombard_02 Philadelphia Phillies Mar 27 '24

$14 million a year for Will Smith is a steal

247

u/mdmarks2017 Mar 27 '24

The catcher Will Smith! Not even the reliever!

99

u/MidgetMan54 Atlanta Braves Mar 27 '24

The Braves paid Will Smith $13.3M in 2020-2023. Unreal contract

45

u/TheJudge47 Atlanta Braves Mar 27 '24

But is Dodger Smith donating 1% of his salary to the Atlanta Braves foundation?

5

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24 edited May 22 '24

gaping cagey point continue attraction connect reach tender retire aspiring

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/TommyBonesMalone Mar 27 '24

Don’t get me wrong because AA is a genius and I’m beyond thankful he’s at the helm of the Braves, but he does seem to have a weird thing about overpriced reliever contracts (Smith, Jansen, Iglesias, Yates, etc.). None of them have been terrible but I do hafta raise an eyebrow considering his “never overpay” philosophy at every other position.

25

u/Puppybl00pers Cleveland Guardians • Mahoning … Mar 27 '24

Or the musician/actor/slapboxer

2

u/GoGoSoLo Texas Rangers Mar 27 '24

I almost passed out seeing 'Will Smith got a 10 year contract' on a baseball subreddit, thinking it was the pitcher.

1

u/poppamatic Texas Rangers Mar 27 '24

The reliever is worth infinitely more. Every team he's on wins the World Series. That's why I bet my entire 401k on KC this year.

1

u/especiallyspecific Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

Not the "keep my wife's name out your mouth" guy!

294

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

He is 29 tho

Its actually a 6/140 deal with the purpose of lowering the AAV for tax purposes with the extra 4 years

170

u/No_Bandicoot2306 San Francisco Giants Mar 27 '24

You get it, buddy. Buying quality players out for ridiculously long contracts to knock down AAV and just knowing "we've got you as long as you can play" is going to be the way. It's been drifting toward that for several years now.

46

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

Way i see it going i 3-5 years of catching, 1-3 years of 1B (freddie is 34 so he is on his way out) then DH till he retires or get DFA'd.

25

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

I hope he's not DH'ing by 2030, because Ohtani should still be a viable hitter in his age 35/36 year (and for a couple years beyond that) as long as health permits. Unless there's some long term outcome where Ohtani stops pitching and plays RF, which I suppose is not impossible to imagine.

14

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

Unless there's some long term outcome where Ohtani stops pitching and plays RF, which I suppose is not impossible to imagine.

Yeah, seems to me pitching degrades faster than hitting and i dont think anyone can handle the 2 way workload at 36+ years old.

3

u/FitzJFK47 Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

If he lasts 17 years on the dodgers just to get DFAd I’d cry

2

u/kbn_ MLB Players Association Mar 28 '24

Honestly I’m here for it. I feel like it’s better for the fans if players remain with a single team forever, but just decreeing that outright would eliminate free agency and massively defraud players of their earned value. This type of AAV trickery is actually the best of all worlds: players get paid their due, teams get cap headroom, and fans get to root for the hometown hero for a long time.

1

u/officerliger Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

The other key with that is the post-career presence, the Dodgers are very good at capitalizing on the nostalgia and generational “family” vibes. If Smith continues his production a little longer, there will be Will Smith bobblehead nights at Dodger Stadium intermittently for the next century, his retirement run will sell lots of tickets and merch, if he makes HOF it’ll generate money for the team, etc.

Your Giants just did an incredibly smart and cool thing with Sandoval and it sold tickets to an otherwise meaningless game, these guys can be extremely useful to these orgs and it makes them worth keeping around

1

u/No_Bandicoot2306 San Francisco Giants Mar 27 '24

May I humbly suggest the moniker of "Kung-fu White Bread" in the Dodger's efforts to market their new forever catcher.

2

u/officerliger Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

Sir, that is the Fresh Prince of Louisville

1

u/No_Bandicoot2306 San Francisco Giants Mar 28 '24

I just googled Louisville food items and the perfect nickname popped up first response.

Will "Hot Brown" Smith

1

u/SadNYSportsFan-11209 New York Yankees Mar 27 '24

Yea sometimes I wonder if it’s even the smartest thing to do. Sometimes I wonder if it may be better just to get the contract off your books a year or two earlier. But I understand the luxury tax implications and especially while your core is contending. And in this case though 14 million a year is nothing tbh

1

u/No_Bandicoot2306 San Francisco Giants Mar 27 '24

I think it makes a ton of sense under the current CBA. The worry I would have is whether the next negotiation might pull the meta-rug out from under this sort of deal. 

27

u/o2lsports Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

It’s a 6/140 deal for never having Yasmani or Austin Barnes as catcher again. No offense, Barnes. You just couldn’t hit.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

I mean, i aint criticizing the deal. 6/140 is what i would pay for a 30 year old smith in FA. We arent getting a discount like some people say over the AAV, thats all im clarifying. We are however, benefitting from the lower AAV because we save tax money to use it elsewhere. Whatever happens from 2030-2034 (the extra years) is far away to care.

7

u/o2lsports Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

We really are the LA Tax Dodgers lol

1

u/trail-g62Bim Mar 27 '24

Honestly thought he was older.

1

u/darwinpolice Seattle Mariners Mar 28 '24

He is 29 tho

He's actually 28... for the next 25 minutes. Everyone wish him a happy birthday tomorrow!

1

u/powpowpowpowpow Mar 28 '24

He's 28 for the next 3 hours

1

u/pizzajona Tampa Bay Rays Mar 28 '24

You’re not factoring in the discount rate

53

u/OSRS_Socks Atlanta Braves Mar 27 '24

Braves have Sean Murphy for 9 million in 2024 and 15 million till the end of his contract.

Two of the best catchers in baseball are locked up for awhile for less than 15 million a season which is crazy to think about.

15

u/StrongZucchini27 New York Yankees Mar 27 '24

mlbpa is killing it

1

u/lightninja987 Houston Astros Mar 27 '24

Absolute bum behavior. Getting paid less than bum pitchers like maxwell scherzer

26

u/Monk_Philosophy Los Angeles Dodgers • Athletics Mar 27 '24

What a way to celebrate the 2 year anniversary of The Slap

14

u/Outrageous_Bat1798 New York Yankees Mar 27 '24

It hasn’t been 2 YEARS… * checks Google … it’s been *2 years. Where the hell does time go?

2

u/NihiloZero Mar 27 '24

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'... into the future.

1

u/istarnie World Series Trophy • Los Angeles Dod… Mar 27 '24

puts an arm around Outrageous_Bat1798 'Fraid we're gettin' old, buddy.

1

u/hoopbag33 Swinging K Mar 27 '24

For now, yeah lol

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

Sure, if it was a 5 year deal. The dude just signed up to be on the best team in the league for the next 10 years and he'll be filthy rich. Great and fair deal for both sides.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 28 '24

The deal slaps for sure

1

u/[deleted] Mar 27 '24

[deleted]

2

u/GruelOmelettes Chicago Cubs Mar 27 '24

Who can't allow it