The Dodgers are set to agree to a different long-term contract with one in every of their high gamers. Catcher Will Smith and the workforce are nearing a 10-year deal value $140 million, in line with a number of experiences.
BREAKING: Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers are finalizing a 10-year, $140 million contract extension, sources inform ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 27, 2024
Will Smith and Dodgers finalize 10-year, $140 million extension, sources inform me and @juanctoribio. The deal consists of some deferred money.
– Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) March 27, 2024
John Toribio of MLB.com was the first to report that a Smith deal was close. The Dodgers haven’t but introduced the deal.
If Smith's contract begins in 2024, it might exchange the $8.55 million deal for 2024 that Smith signed in January to keep away from wage arbitration. Smith would have been eligible for arbitration even in 2025 earlier than reaching free company. However this deal rearranges that timeline, after which some.
The ten years make for the longest contract for a catcher, like noted by Sarah Langs on MLB.com.
Smith made his first All-Star workforce in 2023 and hit .261/.359/.438 with 19 house runs and a 119 wRC+. It was a season wherein he was sidelined by a concussion in April and was additionally negatively affected by a damaged rib.
{That a} 119 wRC+ — wherein he totaled 4.4 fWAR and 4.1 bWAR — was thought of a low 12 months for Smith underscores how productive he has been over the previous 4 and a half seasons. Since his debut on Might 28, 2019, Smith's 91 house runs are second amongst main league catchers, trailing solely Salvador Pérez (105).
As soon as Smith took over common catching duties for good to begin the 2020 season, he leads all main league catchers in fWAR (14.3), runs scored (243) and walks (198), and ranks second within the place (minimal 1,000 plate appearances). ) in wRC+ (128), slugging proportion (.474), on-base proportion (.360), bWAR (13.2), house runs (76), and runs batted in (266).
If Smith had sat by means of his two years of arbitration, a 50 % increase in 2025 would have put him at $12.825 million. As a free agent, Smith had entered his age-31 season in 2026, the identical age at which JT Realmuto signed a five-year, $115.5 million contract with the Phillies. We're being conservative and saying Smith may have signed a smaller deal, $105 million over 5 years. Add within the $21.375 million for the final two years of arbitration, and Smith is already at $126.375 million for the primary seven years of his new contract.
In different phrases, that's primarily eight (or presumably seven) years of wage for Smith unfold over 10 years.
Tim Britton on the Athletic, in his annual have a look at potential contract extensions for pre-free company gamers in March, projected a five-year, $82.5 million Smith extension.
If Smith's contract begins in 2024, he will probably be signed by means of 2033, the identical size of Shohei Ohtani's contract. Mookie Betts is signed by means of 2032, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is signed by means of 2035, although he may decide out by means of 2029.
Smith's deal additionally places him firmly within the coronary heart of six gamers — Ohtani, Betts, Freddie Freeman, Smith, Tyler Glasnow and Yamamoto — all signed for at the least the following 4 years, with a competitively balanced annual wage of simply $165 .hundreds of thousands. The Dodgers pays a aggressive steadiness payment for the foreseeable future.
