Would Soto Sign an Extension Early?

[BH34Natural]

Little bit of talk about this here:
https://www.getmoresports.com/nationals-news-superstar-juan-soto-sign-contract-extension-with-washington/

Does anyone think that he will sign early here like Acuña Jr. did in Atlanta?

[RyanZimsKazoo]

Its a risk for both sides. hs is still incredibly young so lets give him 2 more years to keep up his production before we throw 200+million at the kid.

He is worth the money but the Lerners wont sign early if they can save 40 million.

[HalfSmokes]

Its a risk for both sides. hs is still incredibly young so lets give him 2 more years to keep up his production before we throw 200+million at the kid.

He is worth the money but the Lerners wont sign early if they can save 40 million.

The old wait until a player proves it and the wonder why they won’t sign once they’ve proven it and have less risk on their end approach

[Slateman]

Lol, no

[RyanZimsKazoo]

The old wait until a player proves it and the wonder why they won’t sign once they’ve proven it and have less risk on their end approach

Would you have wanted to sign Harper after his MVP season?

Look at what waiting got us. No albatross contract for a good but not great player.

[HalfSmokes]

Would you have wanted to sign Harper after his MVP season?

Look at what waiting got us. No albatross contract for a good but not great player.

The point in signing players early is contracts that aren’t albatrosses- waiting gets you market value if the player is willing to sign at all. Right now Soto has what’re is left of a 1.5 million signing bonus and a year at league minimum . Waiting two years for him to prove it means he’s already looking at millions in arbitration and has little to no incentive to sign for less than market

[RyanZimsKazoo]

The point in signing players early is contracts that aren’t albatrosses- waiting gets you market value if the player is willing to sign at all. Right now Soto has what’re is left of a 1.5 million signing bonus and a year at league minimum . Waiting two years for him to prove it means he’s already looking at millions in arbitration and has little to no incentive to sign for less than market

He has already proven he can step into the 3 spot that harper left. He is going to get paid handsomely for his heroics and services

[HalfSmokes]

Then why wait 2 years? Right now he’s well off but in no way set for life, once he gets to arbitration, that start changing fast. Pay when while he still has the incentive to sign

[nfotiu]

He's a Boras client, so probably a non starter.   The Nats are already pushing up against the luxury tax for the next 2-3 years at least, and that seems to be the ownership imposed limit on spending.   Extending him now would give him a much higher annual salary for the next 2-3 years and might not be worth it to get a couple of Free agent years.   Having cheap, valuable, team controlled guys on your team is really key to fielding a competitive team every year.

[RyanZimsKazoo]

Then why wait 2 years? Right now he’s well off but in no way set for life, once he gets to arbitration, that start changing fast. Pay when while he still has the incentive to sign

Some players rather bet on themselves. Harper did and he got 30 million more than what the nats were offering.

Juan Soto isnt Mike Trout so its not like we are looking at 400+ million dollar contract for him.

I think Soto will get a 7/250 in a few years.

[HalfSmokes]

He's a Boras client, so probably a non starter.   The Nats are already pushing up against the luxury tax for the next 2-3 years at least, and that seems to be the ownership imposed limit on spending.   Extending him now would give him a much higher annual salary for the next 2-3 years and might not be worth it to get a couple of Free agent years.   Having cheap, valuable, team controlled guys on your team is really key to fielding a competitive team every year.

I think you put something like Arcuna’s deal in front of him, and it might be difficult to say no, boras may advise against it, but that’s a lot of guaranteed money when he’s still a couple of years away from arbitration

[nfotiu]

I think you put something like Arcuna’s deal in front of him, and it might be difficult to say no, boras may advise against it, but that’s a lot of guaranteed money when he’s still a couple of years away from arbitration

The other side of that though is we get to have a 5+ WAR player for under a million the next 2 years.  Giving him Acuna's deal takes $12-15 million of luxury tax space for the next 2 years.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

I'll guess they only even put an offer on the table if they don't resign Rendon and Strasburg.  There's just not room to navigate under the lux tax threshold if they are paying $70MM to an infielder and another starting pitcher.  If it ends up Moustakas and one of the second tier starters on shorter years and money, then I think they see if they can lock in Soto for a couple years of free agency.  He'll still be able to hit free agency for a lucrative long terms contract, but a 7 year contract that locks in pay and front loads some payments to the year of MLB minimum and the 1st year of arb would be in Soto's advantage, too.

[HalfSmokes]

The other side of that though is we get to have a 5+ WAR player for under a million the next 2 years.  Giving him Acuna's deal takes $12-15 million of luxury tax space for the next 2 years.

I'll guess they only even put an offer on the table if they don't resign Rendon and Strasburg.  There's just not room to navigate under the lux tax threshold if they are paying $70MM to an infielder and another starting pitcher.  If it ends up Moustakas and one of the second tier starters on shorter years and money, then I think they see if they can lock in Soto for a couple years of free agency.  He'll still be able to hit free agency for a lucrative long terms contract, but a 7 year contract that locks in pay and front loads some payments to the year of MLB minimum and the 1st year of arb would be in Soto's advantage, too.

Paying everyone market results in a situation where you can’t even offer team friendly extensions because you have to think about the near term. At some point, you either take the luxury cap hit or you perpetuate it and end up having to pay Soto market and not being able to extend whoever the next young player is

[JCA-CrystalCity]

well, the reset helps next year.

[nfotiu]

Paying everyone market results in a situation where you can’t even offer team friendly extensions because you have to think about the near term. At some point, you either take the luxury cap hit or you perpetuate it and end up having to pay Soto market and not being able to extend whoever the next young player is

Keeping your players for 7-8 of their most productive years and then letting them go is not a bad strategy though.   The more impact players you have under team controlled salaries, the better you can supplement with free agents.   It sucks a bit from a fan sentimentality standpoint, but is a pretty good strategy to fielding a consistently good team.

[HalfSmokes]

Keeping your players for 7-8 of their most productive years and then letting them go is not a bad strategy though.   The more impact players you have under team controlled salaries, the better you can supplement with free agents.   It sucks a bit from a fan sentimentality standpoint, but is a pretty good strategy to fielding a consistently good team.

It works as long as the farm is good enough to replace the exiting players and you’re willing to pay a premium to sign free agents to fill holes

[dracnal]

Isn't this basically the situation we were looking at when we signed Strasburg to his contract? Extend him through arb and two FA years, then allow him to opt out. Does anyone think we would have been better off as a team if we didn't do that and Stras walked two seasons ago?

[nfotiu]

Isn't this basically the situation we were looking at when we signed Strasburg to his contract? Extend him through arb and two FA years, then allow him to opt out. Does anyone think we would have been better off as a team if we didn't do that and Stras walked two seasons ago?

Strasburg was pretty late into his team control years when he signed.  It was his last year before FA, right?  So, we didn't really give up any cheap years to sign him.

[dracnal]

Strasburg was pretty late into his team control years when he signed.  It was his last year before FA, right?  So, we didn't really give up any cheap years to sign him.

Ah, that makes sense. It seemed like it was long enough ago, but things really blur together in my brain if it's older than six months and more recent than 50 years.

[GburgNatsFan]

Ah, that makes sense. It seemed like it was long enough ago, but things really blur together in my brain if it's older than six months and more recent than 50 years.

That really was a player-friendly deal in retrospect. If he had been injured/awful, he'd take the player option and be here for two more years. It worked out though. He's been a playoff stud and a very good regular season pitcher.

[The Chief]

That really was a player-friendly deal in retrospect. If he had been injured/awful, he'd take the player option and be here for two more years. It worked out though. He's been a playoff stud and a very good regular season pitcher.

In retrospect?