Dodgers get jiggy with latest monster contract extension before Opening Day
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the MLB offseason by a landslide by signing Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year $700 million contract. Adding Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, Teoscar Hernandez, and James Paxton makes their 2023 offseason one of the best we've ever seen.
The Dodgers won 100 games for the fourth straight full season (excluding 2020) and added all of this talent. This isn't a short-term thing either. Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Glasnow are all in it for the long haul. The Dodgers just made sure to keep one of their core pieces in Los Angeles for a long time as well with ESPN's Jeff Passan reporting that Will Smith is signing a ten-year extension.
BREAKING: Catcher Will Smith and the Los Angeles Dodgers are finalizing a 10-year, $140 million contract extension, sources tell ESPN.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 27, 2024
Dodgers lock up key member of their core, sign Will Smith to ten-year extension
He doesn't get as much attention as several of his Dodgers teammates or Will Smith the actor, but Will Smith the Dodgers catcher has established himself as one of the best catchers in the sport.
Smith made his first All-Star appearance last season despite posting a career-low .797 OPS. He did still hit 19 home runs and 76 RBI and has a career OPS of .842, an outstanding mark, especially for a catcher. Ensuring they'd keep Smith around for the long haul definitely makes sense, but ten years is a very long time.
It's a shocking amount of term for a 28-year-old catcher, but the contract total is just $140 million. At $14 million annually, Smith is likely leaving some money on the table in exchange for long-term security. Both sides got part of what they would've wanted by doing a deal like this.
Smith will be 38 years old when this contract expires, and chances are, he won't be an everyday catcher by then. The thinking for the Dodgers is to presumably keep him in Los Angeles for a while as he was set to hit free agency after the 2025 campaign, and keep the AAV down to help with the luxury tax.
Two of the Dodgers' top ten prospects are catchers in Daulton Rushing (No. 1) and Diego Cartaya (No. 9). It'll be interesting to see what this extension means in regard to their future in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers deserve credit for keeping a core piece of their team in town for the next decade while Smith gets the security he coveted. Good deal for both sides.
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