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Tigers phenom Kevin McGonigle signs $150 million contract after 17 MLB games
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by Yahoo
Yet another young player has agreed to a long-term extension just days into his major league career. And Kevin McGonigle might be the best bet of the bunch.
McGonigle punctuated his loud debut with the Detroit Tigers by signing an eight-year, $150 million extension Wednesday, April 15, the club announced. The extension begins next year and runs through 2034.
Assuming McGonigle is not demoted to the minor leagues, the deal buys out his first three years of free agency.
It’s a virtually risk-free bet for the Tigers, who will pay McGonigle, 21, an average of $18.75 million in that span. The early returns suggest the infielder will outperform the terms of his new deal: McGonigle debuted with a four-hit game, is batting .311 with a .417 on-base percentage and .908 OPS and ranks fourth among among AL position players with 1.1 WAR through 17 games.
McGonigle could have become a free agent at age 27, still the relative prime for a position player, and should he remain on this arc, likely could have exceeded his average annual value in his final two years of arbitration. As a comparison, Bo Bichette, 28, received a $42 million annual salary from the New York Mets on a three-year guarantee this past winter.
Kevin McGonigle contract is latest MLB extension
Yet McGonigle receives significant financial security and the knowledge he’s firmly established as the Tigers’ franchise cornerstone. He joins the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Konnor Griffin (nine years, $140 million) as well as two players who have yet to make their major league debuts – Seattle’s Colt Emerson (eight years, $95 million) and Milwaukee’s Cooper Pratt (eight years, $50.75 million) as rookies signing long-term deals just after or before their careers begin.
The Tigers are well-versed in this market: They signed infielder Colt Keith to a six-year, $31.64 million deal that also includes three club options before Keith’s 2024 debut. He’s been a useful player in his first three seasons, and at $4.3 million this season, hardly busts their budget.
McGonigle will follow a similar path – yet the Tigers are quite confident they’ll get significant bang for their guaranteed bucks.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kevin McGonigle contract: Tigers ink phenom to $150 million deal