You might be right and if he lives up to the hype and becomes a free agent at age 25, can you imagine? Yikes. It would be AROD all over again.
But……….
That being said, I still think it's very possible that the Nats could offer him a 5 year extension at 100 - 125 mil and he might bite.
Think about it.....
He'd still be a free agent when he's 30 and put him in position to do what Pujols did this offseason. (Lock in huge numbers at an old age because he's still great at 30 so teams are willing to bite the bullet). If you remember, Pujols signed a big extension that made him a free agent at 30 too – it makes sense.
If he hits the market at 25, the most he'd likely get is a 10 year deal, leaving his second deal coming at age 35 (much less attractive). Plus he gets all the security that 125 mil brings and still becomes one the the highest paid players in baseball at 22.
If he took the extension and became a free agent at 30, we might have a world series or two and he may not want to leave. Even if he does, we had him for 11 years, can't complain too much about that.
This is probably the best argument to date. If he lives up to his potential, he could be guaranteed much more with this type of deal (a 5-yr at 25, 9-10 at 30). He could even be the first to garner a contract over 10 years...
