Why have there been so many MLB contract extensions? Six possible explanations for post-Opening Day frenzy

This was a very busy week around the main league baseball and not only in the field, on a regular season. Teams also take care of great business from the field. Since the opening day, five players have signed extending long-term contracts. Big names and big contracts too. Players close in the next decade.

Long-term expansion signed from the opening day.

• GARRETT CROCHET, RED Sox. 6 years, $ 170 million
• Jackson Merrill, Padres: 9 years, $ 135 million in club version
• Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks: 6 years with a version of $ 116.5 million
• Christian Campbell, Red Sox. 8 years, $ 60 million with two club options
• Brandon PFAADT, DIAMONDBACKS. 5 years, $ 45 million in club version

That extension is on top of the deals signed by Taner Bibe (:5 years, $ 48 million), Alejandro Kirk (5 years – $ 58 million), and Cal Raleigh (6 years, $ 105 million) Before opening the day. It’s very busy 7-10 days.

After opening the extensions are rare. Last year, only one player in the opening day, Ceddanne Rafaela signed an extension. Players often set an opening day deadline for extension because they want to focus on baseball after starting the season, which is understandable. Crochet did it this yearIt is clear that his deadline was flexible.

“I was not very sure (we would do it). It fell down quite a wire. ” Crochet told Weei about expansion talksA number “So I wasn’t really sure. It was just waiting to hear to listen. There was all the time.

February and march is usually an extension season. November, December, and January, when the teams improve their rosters, in the spring training, they focus on maintaining their players. This year the extension season has been dumped in the first week of the regular season. Five extensions in the first week including nine numbers worth three. It’s out of the ordinary.

Why are there so many extensions at the beginning of this season after a regular opening day after the deadline? Here are six possible reasons.

1. They approached the spring

Let’s start with the obvious. These expansions are probably not gathered in the last few days. Both sides, of course, spoke throughout the spring and worked hard to bridge what the gap had existed, then arrived openly. But when you have already done so much work, why pour it into the drawer and wait next year? After approaching, you can simply push it on the finish line, even if you take you opening day.

2: Probably there will be a lock

This is not an alarming. MLBPA CEO Tony Clark recently said He expects a lock when the current collective transaction agreement expires In December 2026. The commissioner loot Manfred, odd and almost antagonistically, says closure will be a good thing. “It’s really positive in a strange way,” Manfred said in January. Yes, it’s weird.

Anyway closure seems to be two years away, and when there is a lock, there is a chance to be lost regular seasonal games. When regular seasonal games are lost, players lose checks. By agreeing to the effectiveness, it is one way before closing some money before closing some money. Look at the latest expansion on some payments.

• Garrett Crochet: $ 4 million signing bonus plus $ 24 million salary in 2026
• Jackson Merrill: $ 10 million signing bonus
• Brandon PFAADT: $ 2 Million signature bonus
• Christian Campbell. $ 2 Million signature bonus

Even CY Young Caliber season, Crowet in 2026. Through arbitration looked at $ 15 million. Merrill would roughly the league in 2025 as a pre-arbitration player aeration of 2026. His arbitration payment does not come until 2027 after closing. He has now received $ 10 million at the bank.

During his team’s management years, the agreement on the long-term extension for players has agreed to the changing fee of life by 2026-27. The money is right now there, they offer you, and you don’t know if it will be in a few months. Who cares if the day of an arbitrary opening day came and went? Pay while you can.

3: The next Central Bank is a sign of a giant matter

I promise you to be baseball after going out of 2026-27. MLB will not stop operations. We don’t know. No one is doing. What will the next Central CB look like? Will be a wage cap. Restriction of the contract length. These next two years, the final chances of players have a really unlimited market in the four largest sports leagues of North America. No one has an idea of ​​what the financial landscape of the baseball will look like when the next Central Bank starts in 2027.

4. Expansions are good business

From the team’s point of view, these long-term extensions are smart business. You are closing a good young player through his own market value due to his market value. For example, Padres will pay $ 20 million annually for its 27-31 seasons a year. In the open market Merrill is 30 million dollars-a-one-year-old player, easy. Come to 2029, when he was a free agent, he could be a $ 50 million player. Now San Diego has blocked him for $ 20 million a year. Some extensions deteriorate, it is inevitable, but in general, teams are usually happy. When you have the opportunity to sign a player with a discount, why let the form open the deadline for opening the day?

5: They retain PPI status

This applies particularly to Campbell extension. Prospects for promotion promotion (PPI) options are additional projects issued by teams that do not speculate their best prospects service. Here is the rules of PPI eligibility.

• Right to enter the season
• Service throughout the year is the whole year as a rookie (ie no service manipulation)
• Appears at least two best 100 prospects list of baseball America, EPP piping
• The year wins the year’s Rookie, or completes the first trio in the MVP or CY YOUNG voting within its first three ways

When the player meets the standards, his team gets a PPI choice that comes after the first round. Marinmer received one for Julio Rodrix, D-Backs received one for Corbin Carroll.

Although there is an exception. Players who sign an extension until Their MLB debut is unacceptable for PPI selections. Brewers can’t get Jackson Churio for that. RED SOX, waiting until last week, kept his PPI competence after his debut. They can receive a PPI project selection aeration of They closed him long term. It’s the best of both worlds. A few days after the opening day, waiting for the best Rocky to PPI is a way around the rules of competence.

6. The classes of free agents are diluted

This is something independent prophecy. Every time a young player signs a long-term signature, a free free agent class becomes a little weaker, and it makes it so important that you keep your best players. If you plan to sign my food in 2029, very bad. He stays with San Diego. The teams see the lessons of future free agents that decrease in quality, which means that there will be no great players to spend money, and b) their players are more desirable. As a result, you must sign your players now, because if you don’t, other teams will want when they are free. Lessers of weaker free agents lead to more expansions.