Contract comparisons
Ten days before the 2018 season opener, the
Astros and
Jose Altuve agreed on a seven-year, $163.5 million contract, the largest in Houston history. They came to terms about seven weeks before his 28th birthday.
Like Ramírez, Altuve signed a team-friendly deal early in his big-league tenure, before he emerged as an MVP candidate and perennial All-Star. So, his new deal in 2018 essentially just tacked five years and $151 million onto the two bargain-priced years he had remaining on his original contract. Those five years cover his age-30 to age-34 seasons.
Altuve, 2016-21 seasons: .878 OPS, 28.1 fWAR
Ramírez, 2016-21 seasons: .895 OPS, 32.7 fWAR
Another possible Ramírez comparison would be
Christian Yelich, who signed an extension with the
Brewers in March 2020 that added seven years to his two years of team control. In all, he’ll earn at least $215 million over nine years, with some of that money deferred. His 2020 and ’21 salaries, stemming from a prior extension signed five years earlier, remained intact. He’ll earn $12.5 million and $14 million the next two years, nearly identical to the price of Ramírez’s upcoming club options.
Yelich will receive $26 million per year from 2022 to 2028, with a $20 million mutual option for ’29 (his age-37 season) or a $6.5 million buyout. Yelich’s deal is similar to Altuve’s in terms of average annual value. He also struck his agreement after authoring a pair of MVP-worthy seasons, which probably helped him pry some extra pennies from the Brewers’ pockets.
Yelich in 2018: .326/.402/.598 slash line, 36 home runs, 7.7 fWAR, first in NL MVP voting
Yelich in 2019: .329/.429/.671 slash line, 44 home runs, 7.8 fWAR, second in NL MVP voting