As the last few months of the MLB owners’ lockout have shown us, there’s nothing baseball’s ruling class appreciates more than opening a negotiation with a laughable offer.
On the macro level, its Major League Baseball refusing to admit it is overflowing with profits that haven’t trickled down to the players generating those returns. On Wednesday, fans got to see these tactics on a more individual level.
ESPN’s Enrique Rojas spoke with Washington Nationals superstar Juan Soto this week and learned the 23-year-old’s franchise offered him a 13-year, $350 million contract extension. At first glance, it’s hard not to be wowed by the number, but once you do some simple math, it becomes very easy to understand why Soto turned down the deal—and should probably feel insulted by it.
Aside from buying out the remainder of Soto’s arbitration eligible years, the deal breaks down to a $27 million annual salary. That puts him well below comparable talents like former teammate Max Scherzer ($43.3 mil AAV), Gerritt Cole ($36 mil AAV), Mike Trout ($35.5 AAV), Anthony Rendon ($35 mil AAV), Francisco Lindor ($34.1 AAV), Nolan Arenado ($32.5 mil AAV) and Mookie Betts ($30.4 mil AAV).
Not only will Soto reach free agency at age 26 if the Nats don’t extend him before then, the outfielder could—read: “probably will”—see a deal that pays around $500 million. It’s a fact so obvious to anyone paying attention that baseball fans immediately piled on the Nats for thinking they could get away with anything less than market value for arguably the best hitter in baseball.
Juan Soto: “Yes, they made me the offer a couple of months ago, before the lockout we have in baseball”.
"But right now, me and my agents think the best option is to go year after year and wait for free agency. My agent, Scott Boras, is in control of that situation," he added. https://t.co/C2Rdw9kW6B
— Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) February 16, 2022
$27 million AAV for JUAN SOTO?! https://t.co/IESerLGDST pic.twitter.com/qDCa8kQeZz
— Tipping Pitches (@tipping_pitches) February 16, 2022
Is it weird to say that offer might be a slight underbid? https://t.co/0BUsZhIvUq
— Josh Nelson (@soxmachine_josh) February 16, 2022
Around $27M/Year for a 23yo Soto? Hahahaha
Try 37+ https://t.co/JXIZnbEZoj
— Eric Cross (@EricCross04) February 16, 2022
Here's the part where I remind you that football contracts are not guaranteed and baseball contracts are. Patrick Mahomes' "$503 million" deal might as well be a bunch of one-year contracts that add up to $503M. Anyone who tries to compare NFL and MLB deals doesn't know better.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 16, 2022
He probably should have. This is a year or two too late to be a good offer. https://t.co/cve5ohLBva
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) February 16, 2022
this certainly isn’t nearly as insulting as the Astros’ reported 5-year, $160M offer to *free agent* Carlos Correa but uh, still probably $100M short…at least. lol https://t.co/z1aveF4zmF
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) February 16, 2022
yeah, if you stood to make 500 million bucks, you would turn down 350 million bucks
this is not 😳, it’s completely obvious, and 😳 is how management wants you to react https://t.co/O7itNyAw1E
— Jesse Spector (@jessespector) February 16, 2022
The amount is laughably too low to begin with and then my question is how much was deferred? https://t.co/g8xQxmWobH
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg) February 16, 2022
Any genuine and honest contract offer to buy Soto out of his 20s and beyond would’ve had to start with a 5 and that still might be a lowball offer https://t.co/mU3JKWSqE4
— Jon Tayler, Top 0.1% On OnlyJons (@JATayler) February 16, 2022
I’m insulted on behalf of juan soto
— kilgore trout, cryptopolice chief (@KT_So_It_Goes) February 16, 2022
Juan Soto deserves better, but then again, so did Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. Thankfully, the Nationals have baseball fans on social media to remind them.
