How about Wander Franco.

Have there been any young pitchers who've signed long-term pre-free agency extensions like the ones bandied about here?

Have there been any young pitchers who've signed long-term pre-free agency extensions like the ones bandied about here?

Two central elements of a 14-year deal to a 22-year-old need to be brought into sharp focus. First, with the caveat that all sports money is crazy, $340 million spread over 14 years isn’t nearly as much money as it seems. The “present value” of Tatis’s $340 million, made in equal payments over 14 years, is “merely” about $232.9 million — or $16.6 million a year.

As long as Soto stays vertical, and nothing in his history suggests he won’t, he’ll be a bargain at Tatis prices through age 35. He’ll probably have earned the whole value of the entire contract by the time he’s 30.

Why exactly is Soto a "pure hitter"?

We will offer long term contracts, we did a long term deal with Marco Gonzales. We did a long term deal with Evan White...when I say long term deal, he had not played a game in Major League Baseball, and we signed him to a $24 million contract, overpaying him in year one, two, and three. Fair in years four, five, and six. And then, if he’s a superstar, we have the option to exercise and keep him in years seven, eight, and nine. Weep not for Evan White, but if he’s a superstar, we’re only gonna pay him $15 or $16 million a year, [while] on the free agent market he might get $20 to $24 million a year. So we took the risk in the early years, and he took the risk that he’s a superstar in the later years of his contract and he’s probably underpaid. He took a lot of heat for signing that deal, the union really pushed back and said, don’t do it. But I like Evan White, he’s a nice young man, and he made the comment, he said, “I have $23 million guaranteed. That changes a person’s life. I’m signing the deal. And if I’m good and they pick up my options, I’ll have $55 million guaranteed. That changes my family’s, my grandkids’ lives.” I like the young man. We will offer more long term deals.

And there’s a certain pitcher that I won’t mention, who was in the bullpen at T-Mobile Park during our summer camp. And this was reported by one of the coaches. The players were sitting around talking about Evan White and, you know, he made a mistake signing this long term deal and delta. And this particular pitcher, who is going to be here in 2022, he said, “If somebody offers me $23 million guaranteed, find me a pen as fast as you can, I’m signing.” So we’re going to do that, our ownership is committed, we’re eager to sign these players up [and] we’re willing to take that risk. Some we’ll win on, some we’ll lose on, but we’re going to try to get three or four more players signed on these long term deals over the next two years.