Former LSU commit Konnor Griffin signs 9 year $140 million contract without an MLB AB

Jay can't match that

The economics of baseball are broken and enjoy this year of MLB, there won't be a season next year. Giving this kid this much money is downright stupid for any club to do. He hasn't proven a thing.

Of all the times over the last century the pirates have pussy footed around, signing 140 million over to someone without an MLB at bat is an interesting time to get froggy

Genuinely curious, why did they have to extend him? He obviously had a few rookie contract years.

He makes his MLB debut in the game tomorrow. It’s amazing to think that a kid at 19 will be playing SS for a major league team. Hasn’t been done since A Rod broke into the majors at such a young age.

Andruw Jones

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Giving this kid this much money is downright stupid for any club to do. He hasn't proven a thing

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If he ends up being what they (and pretty much everyone else) think he is, nothing stupid about it. It would be a bargain for a top 10 player at his position

That $15.6m / year average wouldn't even put him in the top 100 this year. He'd be the 13th highest paid shortstop. If all he ends up becoming is an average everyday starter, that's market rate. The risk is that he could still end up being a AAAA player but it's not like the Pirates did this blind right after the draft before he was in their system. They know what they have by now. And they're not an org that does bold things

Once he starts proving a thing, it's going to be a hell of a lot more than $15.6m / year. And now they've avoided 3 extra years of free agency

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Dam, what year was he coming in? Like 2024?

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He would be a sophomore this year

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Have to think they're locking Griffin up young so they can extend Paul

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Paul’s probably part of this, but I don’t think necessarily how you’re thinking. If they’re already offering this to Griffin, I’m sure they’ve already also Paul a huge extension. That he and his agent likely laughed at. Most players in MLB, the NBA, and the NFL, take this early guaranteed money from the teams that drafted them to protect themselves from losing out in case of injury. Even if they think they’ll wind up being underpaid by the end of it. Or may not see themselves with that organization for their entire careers.

But I think Paul is different. He wants to pitch on the big stage, and probably as quickly as possible. This Griffin signing might be the Pirates way of signaling to Paul that they’re serious about winning. But I don’t think it will matter. He may not ever sign an extension with Pittsburgh and gamble on himself. When he signs a big deal, it’s probably going to be the biggest contract in MLB history when he does.

He’s probably gonna communicate that to them early, and they’ll wind up trading him before they have to do in order to get back a king’s ransom in prospects. And those guys will wind up being part of the young group with Griffin that may develop together and make the Pirates competitive for a bit. But I’d bet Paul is going to be the Yankees or Dodgers opening day pitcher in ‘28, having just signed like a 10 year/$750 million deal.