Before deciding to take a one-year deal with the Braves, outfielder Marcell Ozuna contemplated much lengthier arrangements with other teams, according to Jon Heyman of MLB Network (Twitter links).
On the one hand, this is mostly academic. Ozuna is headed to Atlanta and the prior offers are off the table. On the other, there are actually some interesting forward-looking elements to this report.
First and foremost, it’s notable that Ozuna drew not only three-year but four-year offers, per Heyman. The offered money evidently wasn’t enough to sway the veteran from the $18MM he got for one year with the Braves, but it’s still an indication that the market has some appetite for a longer pact on this sort of player.
That’s probably good news for Nicholas Castellanos and Yasiel Puig. We just ran a poll regarding the former, with nearly four in ten respondents predicting an Ozuna-esque signing and most of the remainder guessing he’d secure much less than had been anticipated in a multi-year pact. Expectations on Castellanos were always tough to set and have continued to waver. But it’s at least somewhat easier to fathom a bigger, lengthier contract given this recent report.
It’s also a generally promising sign for Ozuna himself, who is now slated to return to free agency at the end of the upcoming season. He only just reached his 29th birthday and can certainly anticipate long-term interest the next time around — if he makes good on the prove-it contract he just inked.
Most interesting of all, perhaps, is the involvement of the Reds in the bidding. Long rumored to be kicking around the market for these bat-first corner outfielders, the club’s recent signing of Shogo Akiyama further stuffed its outfield mix and made a further addition seem unlikely. But Heyman says that the Cincinnati outfit “made a spirited try” to land Ozuna with a multi-year deal.
If indeed the Reds had serious interest in Ozuna, it adds to the plausibility of Heyman’s prior reporting on the team’s pursuit of Castellanos. There are abundant options on hand, but perhaps the club simply isn’t satisfied — or has its eyes on adding another piece to help facilitate a trade involving one or more of its existing outfielders. The theoretical possibilities are endless, adding to the intrigue of the remaining corner outfield market.
Interesting
Not believable
Ya why is that?
believable and a smart move if Ozuna believes in himself and is betting on himself
I also question how it’s not believable. It says he had multi year offers, not that they were good ones. Meaning, he probably had 3 to 4 year offers with like 10-12 mil a year values. It just means that like stated, he decided to take a gamble and try again next year. If he were offered 48 million for a 4 year deal, he’s almost halfway there on just this one year deal. Unless he has a major down season, he can likely easily get at least a 10-18 million one year deal again next year. So it makes a bit of sense.
“Per Heyman”
$18 million Dollars for 2020 for Ozuna???
Hmmmm??? The Cardinals in essence, turned down Marcel Ozuna at $18 million. But they are going to pay Matt Carpenter $18 million in 2020. Something doesn’t make sense with that Ball club’s thinking???
Ozuna is the one who turned down the Cardinals’ offer of $17.8MM on the QO. He obviously didn’t want to stay in St. Louis.
Not that I can blame him, I turned down a conference in St. Louis because it’s St. Louis.
Well there are reports also though that his representation looked to get an extension done to stay in St. Louis. He rejected the qualifying offer in hopes of a better long term contract. But it is notable that they didn’t go to St. Louis and offer up a similar one year deal to return
They offered $17.8mm in the QO. So they really turned down Ozuna for $200,000.
Well for one Uncle Mike they dont have a choice in the matter of paying Carp in 2020
Who says he went back to St. Louis asking them to counter? As others said, he turned down the QO because he was expecting to get a multiple year offer to his liking.
Ozuna, as per multiple reports, wanted to return to the Cardinals, and his agent and St. Louis continued discussing deals.
He probably decided he would rather join the Braves than return to the Cardinals after they wouldn’t give him the deal he wanted.
Signing a 1 yr 18m deal would have been a Huge win for the Cardinals & I doubt he wanted to give them that win. It’s not uncommon for guys to leave an organization over not getting their way. Whether it’s a negotiating tactic or hurt feelings.
It’s also common for players to say they want to return…but if you let them choose Free Agency they find another team they’d rather play for.
Reds need to sign castellanos and put a trade together for a ss
You would think their pursuit of an outfielder would suggest that trade talks involved sending a couple of outfielders, I just hope it’s not Senzel.
I only see them moving Senzel if it nets them Lindor or Seager.
LA isn’t giving up Seagar for a lesser player.
Pretty sure he means Kyle Seager genius. You know, the one who’s been in trade rumors constantly all offseason
Kyle Seager, the Mariners 3B, when the discussion is about a trade for a SS? Yeah, OK.
Good luck, Trader Jerry would never do that deal.
lol
Corey Seager has been in every trade rumor for the past 2 and a half years.
Hopefully not…
I did read somewhere that his defense has improved. The few games I saw him play last year wasn’t enough to draw my own conclusion. I like the bat, but I want to see what we can get from Winker for a full season now. Shogo needs to be in the lineup every day, as does Senzel. If we’re going the ‘bat before glove’ route, I’d like to see an infield realignment with Eugenio moving to short, Moose to 3rd, Senzel to 2B. Shogo moves to CF flanked by the young guys.
why do the Reds need Castellanos and where does he fit?
One of the corner outfield spots. Winker is hurt too much and Aquino is a question mark.
The first answer is they need significant upgrades on offense in order to contend. They squandered terrific starting pitching and a decent bullpen in 2019. If they’re going to contend in 2020, they desperately need another bat.
Where does he fit? Damn good question. Obviously, he’d play a corner OF spot, but the Reds are already packed at LF/RF. Like Jeff said, signing Castellanos would signal a likely trade of another OF, perhaps Winker or Senzel.
They’re not packed with guys who need to play. Senzel wasn’t very good last year, they could always option him. If they send him down for a month and a half it will save them $10m-$25m over his arbitration years (whatever his fourth-year arbitration amount would’ve ended up being as they would avoid Super-2.)
Agree that they’re not overloaded with starters… Winker is starting to look good and Aquino should be considered a 4 or 5 right now. Senzel won’t be optioned though. He’s an MLB guy now and we need to see what he can handle with a full year hopefully injury free…
Senzel WAS pretty good last year. He was hitting .285 through August and was disastrous the res of the way because they started jacing with his swing…
Good f****** riddance Turner Ward
Absolutely!!
Agree 100%. If they leave him alone and he can stay healthy he can have a good year.
Why do the Cards need Carpenter and where does he fit? They have Wong at 2B, Edman can play 3B, and they have plenty of OF and PG at 1B. Oh yeah, I forgot, Carpenter is the bench coach.
Small Ball Park with a history of making Power Bats look even stronger. A front office that wants Bats everywhere regardless of defense.
Castellanos would love to play there. He hated Detroit because They had a really deep CF which he thought robbed him of HRs….and cuz they sucked.
Sounds like a Perfect fit to me. He might knock another talented player out of the picture but that wont matter to Nick.
Meanwhile it makes the Reds offense better. I believe the Reds want to hit at all costs. They have Gray, Castillo, Bauer & DeSclafini. Theyd rather add a bat than waste $$ on a Pitcher that doesnt pan out in Cincinnati.
Btw I’m not sold on Bauer as a Fit in Cincinnati but the Reds are tied to him for now.
30+ homers easy with the reds
SunTrust/Truist plays just as nice as Great American — and he’s hitting behind 3 Silver Sluggers. Look what it did for Donaldson.
The Braves chose Ozuna over Castellanos. Whether they liked him more or just preferred to ink someone on a one year deal.
Ozuna & Castellanos werent going to sign with the same team.
He has hit over 30 homeruns once in his career. Another fun fact he has 5 career HR’s there in 110 plate appearances
Glavis is a smooth shortstop
With the glove he is one of the best in the nl
And also the worst offensive SS in the nl. If u want him we’ll trade him to you.
NO
Indians need to sign Castellanos or Puig quickly to solve some of their OF issues.
OR
The Reds need to sign one of those two and then move Senzel and Winker and another piece to Cleveland for Lindor.
Winker and Senzel aren’t good enough for Lindor.
Reds fans coming out of the wood works and thinking that they are only 2 pieces away from a WS.
Reds Fans – LETTTSSSSS GOOO !!!!
Everyone else – lol, enjoy 4th place in the central
I am not a fan of any of the NL Central teams, but given the significant loss of depth from the Cubs, Castellanos, Zobrist, Russell, Hamels and most of their bullpen. I would figure the Cubs are more likely to finish 4th than the Reds at this point.
First off: sports are built to let fans be excited. Let them go.
Second: aggressive hopes maybe but 4th place is as likely as WS champs. Pirates are garbage the brewers have a net loss on talent and the Cubs will be no better. It’s a 2 horse race.
We can agree to disagree
Lol, for a guy with 2 years left it’s way too much. You’ve made some silly comments today.
Ten years of Senzel and Winker for two years of Lindor is a VAST overpay. I wouldn’t trade either straight up for Lindor.
I guess you don’t understand the concept of proven superstar vs prospect. You would be a fool not to trade either one of them for Lindor.
I guess you don’t understand that the playoffs are a crapshoot. Lindor might get them into the playoffs the next year or two, but then you’re left with nothing. And he hardly makes them the favorites to win the WS. The LA Dodgers are Exhibit A as a high quality team that can’t get over the hump. I’d rather keep Senzel as a stud in CF for the next 5-6 years. Five tool players in centerfield are as rare as five tool players at shortstop.
Indians likely would have already signed Puig by now if they wanted to. My guess is that the rumors of him being problematic in the locker room are probably true. The dodgers shipped him out, the reds shipped him out, and now as a free agent none of those 3 teams have sounded like they’re trying to bring him back
The Reds traded the last few months of a one year Puig rental after they fell out of contention. In other words, they got something for him before they lost him in free agency. It had nothing to do with him being problematic. By all reports, he was a good teammate and he hustled his butt off on the field.
Kind of meaningless without knowing the numbers. If the 4-year offer was $40M/4, it is easy to turn down.
I would not say easy at all. Understandable, sure.
Exactly. The devil is in the details. He didn’t like the offers he was getting so he settled on a one year deal. I’m sure the Braves originally didn’t offer $18 but his qualifying offer was $17. He said give me a million so I don’t loook like I blew it.
Maybe the four-year deal was with the Marlins for $50 million. Maybe it was the Giants for 3 years/$35 million.
Now he is going to try free agency without the QO and cross fingers he puts up good numbers.
Can a player not be offered a QO in consecutive seasons?
Just once in a player’s career …
The rumor about him joining the White Sox probably had smoke.
I would have thought the Nats would have made a run at Castellanos to make up for some of Rendon’s production.
Very full outfield. Castellanos at first still makes sense though and he is Boras so very possible.
Scott Boras gets his lackey to write things that make Boras look good. Film at 11.
Not a big fan of Castellanos, but I’d be ok with Puig back as a Red. His power, defense, and arm are all top notch. He brought a lot of good energy to the team, and fanbase when he was here.
Yes he did, I’d love to see that energy back at GABP…
I agree, I would be happy to see Puig back with the Reds and I am not crazy about Castellanos.
Yes, please.
You may have been happy with Puig. But the Reds obviously were not. Otherwise they would have A) Signed him by now or B) Not traded him away.
Not necessarily, Vin. You’ve obviously seen a bunch of baseball in your 1500 years and no doubt you’ve observed how quickly the FA market has moved and paid pretty well so far.
With that in mind, I don’t find it unusual for a team to compete for players they put a premium on before they acquire someone who COULD blossom with them…the Reds did this last year with Iglesias and he performed well.
The reds traded Puig for a greater need in Trevor Bauer. Now they have Bauer and there is a chance to get Puig at a lower annual rate back in Cincinnati.
Maybe they like him, maybe they don’t…IDK. As a fan with an opinion, I like him and think there is reason to believe he still has better days ahead…I may be wrong but I’m just a fan.
It’s good to see Marty and Vin working together.
Priceless… Haha!
This. Just need to settle on a number and years. Cleveland makes sense for him too if price is right, if they like him there that is.
One thing for certain, Ozuna should definitely be motivated to have a big bounce back season since he is betting on himself. Hopefully that is a great thing both for the Braves this season and for him next off season.
Yea, and that’s what they said for his second year in STL.
He had one blow up year and now everyone thinks he should hit 43 HRs every year and bat .305
Obviously not or he wouldn’t have taken 1-year make-good deal with ATL. I love ATL, but no one is leaving $25-45M on the table to play there unless they think they can make more by betting on themselves.
On the other hand, I wish the Cardinals had committed $18 million next season to Ozuna instead of Matt Carpenter!!!!!!
I think 4 years 70 million is what Castellanos gets with an opt out after the 3rd year. Can’t see Puig getting more than 2 year around 12-13 million annually.
I do not believe he had multiple multi-year offers unless they were super lowball.
If he was offered for example $15 mil /4 years, and he thinks he can get $22 mil/4 years after $18/1 year in hitter friendly Truist Park then it makes perfect sense.
That is a very extreme scenario. More likely he turned down 3/$36m, thinking he could comfortably top 2/$18m after a good year and same QO, with a Moustakas-like deal as an ambitious target.
They didn’t need to be “super lowball”, just lower than the qualifying offer he got from the Cardinals (which was $17.8 million, only 200,000 less than what he got from the Braves). Once he rejected that offer, it was off the table.
The other teams most likely tried to save on money in giving a still-good but regressing player security. If they offered $12 to $15 a year, I can see Ozuna rejecting it. He took the Braves offer because (a) they’re a playoff team, (b) he’s being paid closer what he perceives he’s worth and (c) he’s betting on himself to prove that he’s better than his two troubled years with the Cardinals and is worth a larger investment.
Taking the MLB The Show Route sign 1 year deal every year to play with every team..
I doubt it was a hard offer from cincy unless there was a lindor trade in place pending Ozuna signing in cincy. 3/45 mil makes a lot of sense for an offer.
Shot out to Braves ! Ozuna for 1 season is WAY better than that Donaldson contract. Rarely ever Do they make a poor move. They are fun to root against
Personally, I’ll evaluate the signing mid-year to see if it’s better than Donaldson. JD brings a flair to the team that Atlanta has surely needed.
Donaldson over paid
Also for reds lindor plus Ozuna creates another 30+ million to payroll. So it could have been reds kicking tires and getting cold feet at the same time
You do know that the Reds are not getting Lindor, right ?
3/18 or 4/18 right?
Is an 18M contract really a “make good” deal. Hardly some discount taken to rebuild his value….
It’s one year, and it’s only slightly more than what his qualifying offer from the Cardinals was. It’s not like he was terrible last year.
This is MLB where scrubs earn $12 million a year. Enjoy your $15 beer and $8 hotdog.
Seeing this comment from “Vin Scully” amuses me
Player salaries and the cost to attend games have weak correlation. The food would cost about the same if the players were paid a quarter of what they currently get.
Sucks for Ozuna though cause I heard he wanted to stay in St Louis. If he just accepted the QO he gets to stay where he’s at and next season there won’t be draft pick compensation on him. Plus he gets virtually the same amount of cash.
From everything I’ve heard, he definitely wanted to stay here in St. Louis, but when you have a front office like we do that doesn’t want to add payroll it’s not going to happen. The fact that Mo got an extension and Ozuna didn’t is an absolute joke. We even traded away outfielders to make room, and yet Mo still didn’t do it. Let’s stick with Bader and Fowler because that worked so well last year. Granted I know Fowler has a no trade clause, but still.
The issue is that the Cards believe that they still have 2-3 OF’ers that are already in the organization that can produce the same, if not better numbers than Ozuna .
So they chose to not spend 18 mil to block their young guys.
The only way Ozuna would have made sense is if the Cards were able to get rid of Fowler.
Those are Cardinal “Prospect Outfielders”. That’s wishful thinking those prospects will produce as well as Ozuna.
Hmmm! Braves got Ozuna for $18 mil. for 2020. Right?? The Cardinals are paying Matt Carpenter $18 mil for 2020. Correct??
Does that make sense to you???
Can anyone name the last productive Cardinals OF that came from their system that produced anything worthwhile?
There are a ton, what do you mean?
Piscotty, Grichuk, Pham, Mercado, Bader, to name a few. These are all 2 win guys at the least. And these are all recent guys.
WE GET IT! YOU DON”T LIKE CARP OR HIS CONTRACT. HOW MANY POSTS DOES IT TAKE FROM YOU?
“contemplated much lengthier arrangements with other teams”
How of those were MLB teams?
I’m calling BS on this guy!
He was paid by Nick’s camp to issue this release, undersigned by the MLBPA.
Still think the Braves need one other bat. They’ve got several salaries on one-year deals that could be included to sort of offset incoming salary. Ultimately think their big acquisitions are done until the deadline.
I’ve come to be of the belief that Austin Riley is the wild card of the 2020 Braves. How he performs has the potential to take the Braves’ lineup from good to great. With the lack of a clear five-hole hitter, that’s beyond crucial if they want to get to the World Series.
Riley or Carmago doing well and dans staying healthy. Very important this year. Also fried getting consistent and ‘good’ Folty
Love hearing this. He is betting on himself and will be motivated to have a great year. Hitting behind Acuna, Albies & Freddie is gonna give him ample RBI opportunities.
And to think the Braves dill have potentially $60 million coming off the books next year with hopefully Pache, Waters & Anderson ready.
Shouldn’t he have been motivated to have a great year last year as well?
“Three and four year offers?” I’m a little dubious that they could be at such a lower AAV he would select a one year make good deal. This is all risk for him.
He might have been looking for 6 years or more as young as he is. Also his peripherals like hard hit and BABIP support the idea that he can do better than he did last year.
Maybe 3 years 30 mil
This is ludicrous. No way he received multiple offers at age 29 and rejected them for a one year deal. This is agency spin – and bad agency spin at that. If he did turn down any multi-year deals, he needs to have his head examined and look for a new agency.
You have no clue what you are talking about. He could have easily had multi-year offers at low $$ per year. For example 3yrs 30mil or 1yr 18mil. ? Can’t blame him one bit for taking the later deal.
Ozuna is just another rental for the Braves, much like JD turned out being. Just waiting for another batch of youngsters to get MLB ready.
Hopefully, with him betting on himself, Atlanta gets the Ozuna from 3 yrs ago and he helps lead them deep into the playoffs.
Why would this be different than last year, which was also a contract year for him? Where does this idea keep coming from
He’s recovered from his bad shoulder
Did that magically get healed this offseason? Didn’t hear of him having any surgery,.
I guess this means Ozuna really believes he’s going to have a good year
Braves got worse this offseason.
If 2020 is 2019, then yes. But luckily, it’s not. There’s been some interesting arguments that with few breaks, ATL could have a more potent offense.
-Can Swanson/d’Arnaud both build on the offensive breakouts they were showing in 2019?
-Can Riley, like Albies, make the transition at the plate seeing consistent ML pitching?
-Will Camargo look more like his 2018 self producing 3.7 WAR seeing steady 3B-play?
-Can Ozuna avoid some of the freak injury issues he’s had and find consistency in having one of the best 1-thru-3 hitters as tablesetters? REMEMBER, Ozuna is still only 29.
Obviously, a lot can happen in a year, but Donaldson benefitted just as much hitting at the hitter-happy Truist/SunTrust (a place that plays as well as Great American Ballpark) than he did hitting behind Acuna, Albies, Freeman in a season they all picked up Silver Slugger awards. I mean, look at the stats…
Donaldson (2019):
Home: .283/.426/.611 (1.037)
Away: .238/.338/.447 (.785)
**People talk about Arenado’s home-road splits. In 2019, Donaldson showed a larger OPS difference between home-and-away splits than Nolan Arenado (252 to 191, respectively). SO, it’ll be interesting to see how Donaldson hits in that cool Great Lakes air.
Not over all. They significantly upgraded their bullpen. That and Ozuna might actually make them a better team.
Ozuna also now won’t have draft pick compensation attached to him next year… this is an interesting move by him depending on total value of the other contracts he was offered
The narratives on Castellanos regarding multi-year, big dollar deals befuddle me. A half a season does not a contract make. If it did, the Pittsburgh Pirates would be able to dump Josh Bell and his MVP worthy first half off for a top ten prospect. But that’s not how it works. Castellanos can’t even fall bag on strong defense to argue his case. I believe any contract for him with AAVs over 10 million a year is a risky overpay for an inconsistent player who can’t play defense at a non premium position.
And if he’s the second coming of J.D.M., I’ll concede defeat.
Wow, Herman’s mystery team offered four years to Ozuna?! Man, they missed out… the Mystery Team probably would’ve won the World Series this year too. I’ll tell you, the Mystery Team really tries to pursue top talent every offseason. Mystery Team fans can’t criticize their team for lack of trying.
I don’t see Ozuna being anywhere close to Castellanos price range on a multi year deal so I dont know if any of it is good for Castellanos.
Puig will like have to settle for a 1 year deal and try to build some value. Cleveland seems likely.
I suspect he wanted to see bigger offers but a corner OF that has a bat that has produced just a little better than league average just isn’t going to get much unless they are producing some pretty great numbers. His hard hit rate and BABIP make me think he does have more in him so taking a 1 year prove it contract the way he is just might maximize his earning potential.
Castellanos needs to see what multi-year deal he can get this year rather than taking a one-year deal. He wasn’t eligible for the QO this year because he was traded. He could be offered next year if he takes a one year deal.
That’s a really good point, particularly to those who doubt Ozuna market was any better or worse than Castellinos. Ozuna has the QO offer attatched to him and needs to shake it while Castellinos doesnt so it behooves him to NOT do a pillow contract.
This is tripe put in the public sphere in an attempt to boost the tepid Castellanos market. Three weeks until pitchers & catchers, tick tock Nick.
First of all.. this is not in any way, shape or form a prove it deal.. He went with the best dollar amt he was comfortable with much like the one yr deal Grandal signed. He is who he is which is easily replacable and avg
Ozuna is 29 (going on 30) hitting behind 3 Silver Sluggers in a home park (SunTrust/Truist) where Donaldson just produced a 1.000 OPS for 2019 (his away OPS was much lower, just so you know).
These are all things Ozuna’s agent has on his Notes section on his iPhone X that can easily be found on the net by anyone’s unpaid intern or some spare time.
Next year there will be Betts, then not much else in his age range/skill set at his price point…George Springer Jr. (31), Joc Pedersen (29), Michael Brantley (34), (Castellanos?)
If you can point out those things, why wouldn’t MLB front offices notice them too and take that into account next year when considering a contract offer?
Maybe they did and they still weren’t interested? Maybe they didn’t like the way he fits, maybe they have another option they like better..who knows? That’s a guessing game nobody can answer with certainty.
All that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that DMC is right. Stats like exit velocity, hard hit rate, BABIP, xwOBA and the like are all highly accessible information that all points to some amount of greater production. You can find this information at fangraphs, baseball reference, mlb.com, baseball savant and more.
But the question of why this club or that one didnt sign him in light of this information is not a contradiction in the argument DMC posted.
Run dmc spot on . Atlanta looks good this year
Donaldson WAS on a prove it deal. His situation is nothing like what Ozuna is doing. Ozuna is more on a pad it deal. Like Grandal. I also fail to see how quoting stats and next class free agents shows why I should consider it a prove it deal.
Sorry, but I’m very skeptical of this claim.
I wonder if he’s pulling a Yasmani Grandal and thinking he can get better AVV if he puts together a career season. Good for him though, he’s got a good spot to succeed in Atlanta.
That’s what I was thinking. When you look at his exit velo, hard hit rate and BABIP, he has good reason to believe he’s going to get better production next year.
This right here is why nobody watches baseball. It’s a paper game made up of algorithms and made up numbers.
He was in a contract year last year, what is the difference?
Hmm..funny how we have all these commentors on baseball when nobody watches it.
The math behind baseball doesn’t always prove to be right otherwise we could predict every winner every year. Like many others, I personally enjoy the science behind baseball.
Yeah, because a few dozen commenters on a forum means a lot of people are watching baseball. Not sure if you’re paying attention, but attendance is down, ratings are down, and games continue to bore the crap out of younger people. And those younger people are the future fans. I used to enjoy the game until sabremetrics and dumb managers killed it.
So what you are REALLY basing your opinion on is why YOU stopped watching baseball. Are you able to look at the world outside of your self or is confermation bias to much of a time saver for you?
It strikes me as odd to blame sabremetrics on baseballs decreasing popularity. Why not just blame it on moldy cheese?
Not only is your grammar and spelling awful, you also are clueless. My opinion about baseball’s decline in popularity stems from the exact time sabremetrics came into the game. It’s that simple. In fact, it’s fairly common knowledge around the game.
This is actually very believable. I mean, we were all saying that it seemed early for pillow contracts, therefore, he’s simply just shedding the attached draft pick, outearning the QO and enterring the market in one year, as he will only be 30 in 2021. That”s young enough to secure a 4=5 year deal. This is especially true if he plays anything like he did in 2017 with the Marlins.
It a win/win situation for Ozuna. Barring a major injury. Let’s say he performs like he did with the cardinals. Then he’ll still have those 3/4 year deals available next off season, with 4 or 5 million extra he got from the “prove it” deal. If he’s produces like he did in 2017 then he’s going to get a higher Annual salary 3/4 year deal.
Didn’t he turn down a QO? Yet another example of a player with talent but question marks overestimating his value in the market. Take the QO, go perform and then get paid.