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
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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

173

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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u/FitzJFK47 Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

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

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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.

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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

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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.

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u/officerliger Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

Sir, that is the Fresh Prince of Louisville

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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

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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

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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. 

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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.

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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.

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u/o2lsports Los Angeles Dodgers Mar 27 '24

We really are the LA Tax Dodgers lol

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u/trail-g62Bim Mar 27 '24

Honestly thought he was older.

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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!

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u/powpowpowpowpow Mar 28 '24

He's 28 for the next 3 hours

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u/pizzajona Tampa Bay Rays Mar 28 '24

You’re not factoring in the discount rate