Kingery's contract can grow to $65M over nine seasons if the Phillies exercise three option yearsGETTY IMAGES
The Phillies awarded top 2B prospect Scott Kingery a six-year contract that guarantees him $24M, a "record amount" for a player who entered pro baseball through the MLB Draft and has "yet to play a major league game," according to Jim Salisbury of NBC SPORTS PHILADELPHIA. Kingery's contract "can grow" to $65M over nine seasons if the Phillies "exercise three option years." Kingery was the Phillies' "top minor-leaguer last year and best player this spring" (NBCSPORTSPHILADELPHIA.com, 3/25). In Philadelphia, Bob Brookover writes when the Phillies opened Spring Training this year, the thinking then was that it would be "wise for the Phillies to let Kingery open the season" with the Triple-A Int'l League Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in order to "prevent him from becoming a free agent" after the '23 season. Kingery's deal dwarfs the five-year, $10M deal the Astros "now regret giving" prospect Jon Singleton in '14. It is a "risk for the Phillies because it's possible Kingery, like Singleton, will not live up to expectations" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/26). Meanwhile, THE ATHLETIC's Ken Rosenthal notes a rival agent following the announcement of Kingery's deal "termed the three club options 'offensive.'" The options, valued at $13M, $14M and $15M, "will cover Kingery's first three free-agent years" -- '24-26. None is worth as much as the current $17.4M qualifying offer, and "inflation should take salaries even higher" by the mid-'20s. Kingery, if he "proves successful, will not hit the open market until entering his age 32 season." In the view of the rival agent, such deals are "part of the reason the free-agent market is suffering" (THEATHLETIC.com, 3/26).
THE GOOD WITH THE BAD: In S.F., Scott Ostler wrote the A's "made a smart business decision" by sending P A.J. Puk to the minor leagues. By "stashing Puk in the minors for 2½ weeks, they gain an extra year of control." But from a "fan standpoint, that's one crappy agreement the owners and players hammered out, where it's smart to hide your brightest stars" (SFCHRONICLE.com, 3/24). YAHOO SPORTS' Jeff Passan noted the Braves also optioned top prospect CF Ronald Acuna to Triple A "because it was right for business." Passan: "This sort of manipulation is rampant, and so long as it goes unpunished -- and it typically does -- teams are playing within the rules." However, a system that "cannot dissuade multiple teams from participating in such strategies ... is at best flawed, at worst broken." MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in the next CBA needs to "seek a solution ... that allows the Ronald Acunas of the world never to rot in the minor leagues for a day longer than necessary" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/26).
