The Marlins and the right-handerSandy AlcantaraThey are approaching a five-year contract extension that would guarantee the CAA Sports client more than $ 55MM, reports Craig Mish of SportsGrid and the Miami Herald.
Alcantara, 26, has been in extension talks for months, dating back to July, when the first reports of negotiations emerged. While the Marlins’ early starts were said to be low enough to be deemed worthless by the Alcántara camp, a $ 55MM + guarantee would be a record extension for a pitcher with between three and four years of service time in Major League Baseball, beating the previous record set. byCarlos Martinezin February 2017 (five years, $ 51MM).
Acquired from the Cardinals alongsideZac gallenin the 2017 trade that shippedMarcell ozunato St. Louis, Alcantara has steadily improved over the course of his four seasons in Miami. He has always been a specialist in hard sinks, but his strikeout and walk rates early in his career were pedestrian, to say the least. Alcantara racked up 197 entries with the Fish in 2019, but he looked more like a potential diner than a star at the time. Fast forward to 2021 though, and Alcantara looks more like a building block than someone that stable No. 4 starter he was in ’19.
Last season, Alcantara finished fourth in MLB with 205 2/3 innings pitched, averaged 98.1 mph on his heater, and posted career-best strikeouts rate (24.0%), walk-through rate (6.0%) and strikeout rate (6.0%). ground balls (55.3). %). All three are far better than the league average, so it’s no surprise that Alcantara’s 3.19 ERA has been largely supported by independent brands on the field. This year’s swing hit rate of 13.3% was easily the highest of his career, and Alcantara’s striking opponent chase rate of 36.7% on pitches outside the strike zone ranked third among qualified holders. Alcantara also thrives when it comes to inducing weak contact and ranks above the league average in Statcast “expected” ERA, batting average, slugging percentage and wOBA.
Alcantara had been scheduled for his first trip through the umpiring process this winter and MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected he would win $ 4.5MM. He would have been eligible for arbitration two more times, securing a couple of additional raises in the process. The proposed deal would buy two seasons of arbitration and, depending on how optimistically one cares about projecting potential increases for Alcantara in years two and three of arbitration, places a value of around $ 14-15MM per season on those two campaigns of free agents. That, of course, still represents a bargain for Alcantara if it can replicate its 2021 break, but that kind of compensation is common for players signing extensions long before they otherwise hit the open market.
The $ 11 million annual value – a figure that, as with many extensions, is skewed by the arbitration seasons included in the deal – is significant for a Marlins club that typically has a low payroll. However, Miami doesn’t have a single guaranteed contract on the books after the 2023 season, and second-year general manager Kim Ng has expressed her desire to spend more money this offseason. Much of that is expected to come through free agency, but locking up one of his current stars to keep him in the fold beyond his previously assigned team control certainly speaks to that increased financial resources as well.
Miami has reportedly considered trading its impressive collection of young starting pitchers as the organization seeks long-term options both in the outfield and behind the plate. That said, Alcantara would always have been one of the hardest Marlins starters to get, if notthemore difficult, and a five-year extension would further diminish the already slim chances of being redeemed. The Fish could still hang any combination ofPablo lopez,Elieser HernandezandJesus Luzardowhile prospects close to MLB likeMax meyerandEdward cabrera(among many others) would surely have a very strong commercial value. Wounded youth likeSixto Sanchez(shoulder capsule surgery) andJake eder(Tommy John Surgery) are attractive in their own right, despite the health issues.
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