TODAY: The Mariners officially announced Munoz’s extension.
NOVEMBER 30: The Mariners are finalizing agreement on a four-year extension with reliever Andrés Muñoz that guarantees at least $7.5MM, report Daniel Kramer and Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com (Twitter link). The deal contains three club options, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (on Twitter).
Muñoz, a client of Hector Gomez, had been controllable via arbitration through 2025. The deal buys out his final pre-arb season in 2022, as well as all three arb years. The Mariners extend their window of control by three seasons via the club options.
It’s a fascinating agreement, as Muñoz has made exactly one appearance in a Seattle uniform. He recorded two outs during the M’s season finale against the Angels, his first big league work since his time with the Padres in 2019. Those two seasons mark the entirety of Muñoz’s big league career, as he has just 23 2/3 innings of 3.80 ERA ball under his belt at the highest level.
That limited track record is on account of both youth and injury. The Mexico native is still just 22 years old (23 in January), having reached the big leagues at age-20. He blew out his elbow in Spring Training with San Diego in 2020, requiring a Tommy John procedure. While he was rehabbing, Seattle acquired him as part of the seven-player Austin Nola deal. He spent the next year recovering under the eyes of Mariners’ medical personnel before returning to health in time for the season’s final game.
That lack of track record makes Muñoz a rather atypical extension candidate, but it’s also easy to understand why the Seattle front office jumped at the opportunity to lock in some eminently affordable rates over the coming seasons. Muñoz possesses electric stuff, including one of the game’s hardest fastballs. He averaged triple digits on the pitch during his 2019 rookie campaign. Upon his return from injury, that average heater had “dipped” to 99.6 MPH. Were Muñoz to emerge as a potential closer or even simply a high-leverage relief arm, he’d stand to earn far greater than a cumulative $7.5MM through arbitration. And that’s before considering the most appealing part of the deal from a team perspective — the opportunity to extend their window of control an additional three seasons.
From Muñoz’s perspective, the deal affords him the opportunity for up-front financial security. It’s possible he’ll wind up underpaid, if he lives up to his immense upside. Yet it’s difficult to fault a player his age for locking in this kind of money, particularly given that he’s yet to establish himself within a big league bullpen. Even independent of injury concerns, Muñoz comes with questions about his strike-throwing ability. He routinely walked upwards of 11% of opponents in the minors until 2019, and there’s a chance he never develops adequate command to match his power arsenal.
While the team can shoulder that kind of risk with relatively minor cost, Muñoz struggling early in his career could have had a significant impact on his earnings. He’ll forfeit a fair bit of ceiling in order to avoid that downside. All told, it’s a fascinating gambit for Seattle — one that, while unconventional, has the opportunity to pay off handsomely if Muñoz emerges as a late-game weapon.
Rangers29
Wow that is so cheap. Congrats, M’s.
MLB Top 100 Commenter
Before injuries this guy looked good.
Dogham
It’s going to be a lot of fun watching the Mariners in the World Series.
Randy_Watson
Lol
compassrose
Oct BB I am in. Tickets will be a tough get though.
LordD99
Being honest. Have no idea who he is so surprised to see a 22-year-old get an extension.
dan55
Relief pitcher who throws over 100 mph but has serious injury concerns.
LordD99
Thanks. Figured it had to be a combination of something like that.
Orel Saxhiser
When I was 22, I was always getting an extension. Oh, those college girls.
tstats
Aren’t the college girls still on your to-do list?
DarkSide830
worth it for him given his age and injury history. worst case you got $7.5. best case you’re still hitting FA young-ish.
kingcong95
BAG ALERT
MAJOR BAG ALERT
NWMarinerHawk
Thanks again Padres. We love you guys so much
ratedrdude
Another brilliant move by the Mariners this off-season…
Larry Bernandez 1324IM
Saw him pitch against the Angels this year. Easy triple digits. Great sign M’s! (Thanks Padres)
JohhnyBets67
More talent the Padres gave away. Brash is going to be a good pitcher too.
HBan22
The Padres ended up trading Ty France, Taylor Trammell, Luis Torrens, Andres Munoz and Matt Brash for Austin Nola, Austin Adams, Dan Altavilla and Taylor Williams… Preller probably shouldn’t trade with Dipoto anymore.
JohhnyBets67
Trammell was the best prospect at the time and he’s probably the smallest loss now.
Another Anthony Alford
Deleted Userr
Dude it doesn’t matter having homegrown talent on your roster isn’t important! /s
WinADateWithTrevorBauer
Mariners pen is gonna be nasty this year. Hopefully Giles comes back strong.
Slothcliff Hokum
I’m glad both Giles and Munoz are with the M’s. Even if only one of the two is effective after the surgery the bullpen could be way better. And what if both relievers make successful comebacks? The bullpen this year was excellent, but with these two guys both healthy, Seattle’s bullpen could be dominant. In my opinion Giles and Munoz are both “closer material” if healthy. It’s hard to say whether the returning members of the M’s pen are able to repeat their success from 2021, but I’m betting they can and probably will. Ray has been added to the rotation, but I think Dipoto is going for it, so will add another starter via trade (Manaea? Castillo?) Could we be looking at one of baseball’s best pitching staffs by the time he’s done?
Vegasnightlife
There is a reason why the Padres didn’t resign him. He has a long list of injuries so don’t thanks the Padres just yet. Wait until he goes on the DL and then you can thank the Padres.
OneBadMata'afa
The Padres traded him to the Ms along with Trammell, France, and Torrens
myaccount2
The Padres didn’t re-sign him because they had to add him to that insane package they received for Aaron Nola.
Deleted Userr
Hey, just a cotton pickin’ minute! Since when did Aaron Nola ever play for the Padres OR the Mariners?
myaccount2
Whoops!
I also said “received” instead of “gave up.” I really needed to proofread that comment before posting.
thornt25
High injury risk, could be a tiny liability like Evan White, or could be a great value for those club option years. For perspective, the guarantee is equivalent to Michael Lorenzen’s 1 year deal (which could be good).
Now is the time to take risks on extensions for the Mariners, so I’m all for it.
BPG86
No real liability at all. It’s a 4 year/ $7..5M deal. If he blows out his arm and never pitches again, it’s not even $2M a year for the life of the contract.
lumber and lighting
After TJ he was chucking 101.Kids put in the work and he has an opportunity on a young team to grow together.1 thing I remember about him was his poise on the hill at such a young age.
SufferingB*st*rd
Love it! Congrats, Andres and Jerry! Win, win.
hoof hearted
At first I was thinking, over pay for the min mlb experience he has.
Then I was figuring thru arbitration, the 7.5 would be about the lowest he’d make. Could be much more $ if he’s lights out.
myaccount2
Protects a player with injury history and the team in case he becomes dominant.
BuJoBi
Forget the money, the extra years of team control is what they are paying for
bucketbrew35
Happy for this kid. Lots of uncertainty coming back from TJ and throwing as hard as he does. Very smart move taking that deal.
Fred Park
I guess this will just be one more entertaining aspect of the Mariners’ season.
Those flamethrowers do get injured. Unnatural and rough on the body.
So will he or won’t he be effective?
AlienBob
They gave him Jim Paxton’s money and save a couple million. Great job! The M’s are smoking the off season by making player upgrades without spending either payroll or prospects to get it done. The Rangers should take a lesson,
Ron Tingley
That’s an insane amount of money for someone who barely had any pro innings and a major arm injury under his belt. Good for em
Deleted Userr
Chalk another win up for A. J. Preller!