The Seattle Mariners made waves on Tuesday when they signed top prospect Colt Emerson to a record-setting eight-year, $95 million contract extension. Teams are increasingly locking up talented young players before they reach free agency, and the Philadelphia Phillies would be wise to consider extending a few of their youngsters now.
5 Philadelphia Phillies extensions the team should already consider
Otto Kemp
Phillies fans collectively rolled their eyes this past offseason at the mention of utilityman Otto Kemp, seeing as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had touted the 26-year-old as a transformative member of the offense. While Kemp may be miscast as a difference-maker in the heart of the order, the Point Loma Nazarene University product acquitted himself well during his rookie year, posting a 234/.298/.411 slash line across 218 trips to the plate.
Kemp bounced between first, second and third base, and has added left field to his skillset as Brandon Marsh’s platoon partner. He may not be a particularly gifted defender at any position, but being able to fill in almost anywhere while providing right-handed pop is a valuable addition to the Phillies’ lefty-heavy lineup.
Seeing as Otto Kemp signed with the Phillies as an undrafted free agent and will be under team control for at least five more seasons, it wouldn’t be shocking to see him jump at the chance to lock in life-changing money at a bargain rate for the Phils. Something in the neighborhood of former Chicago Cubs jack of all trades David Bote’s five-year, $15 million deal (with a pair of cheap team options) should be enough to get a deal done.
Locking up Kemp for dirt cheap wouldn’t be a massive needle-mover for the Phillies, but it’s always nice to have cost-effective depth around. If Dombrowski and crew are right, and he turns out to be more, then it might just be a steal.
Justin Crawford
Rookie centerfielder Justin Crawford has defied critics at every step of the way in his baseball career, riding a high groundball rate and elite contact ability all the way to the big leagues this year. The 2022 first-round pick has taken over as the Phillies’ everyday centerfielder, and has impressed greatly through the first week of the season, even driving home the walk-off run on Wednesday.
It remains to be seen if the rest of the league will adjust to Crawford, or if he'll remain as effective as he’s looked thus far, but as of now he’s looking like the real deal. Crawford profiles similarly to the Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan as a hitting machine tablesetter who provides solid outfield defense. Phillies fans have often pointed to Kwan as exactly what the club’s boom-or-bust offense needs, and if they have even a reasonable facsimile of that guy in Crawford, then the club better lock him up fast.
Tooled-up young outfielders have been getting massive extensions in recent years, as the likes of Jackson Merrill, Corbin Carroll, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Julio RodrÃguez have all signed nine-figure deals before reaching arbitration. Crawford isn’t on the same level as those superstars, but he could earn himself something along the lines of Michael Harris II’s eight-year, $72 million pact.
Andrew Painter
Wunderkind right-hander Andrew Painter is all the rage in Philly right now, as the 22-year-old absolutely shoved in his big league debut Tuesday night. The longtime top-100 prospect appears to be in the fast lane to ace status, and as a result could earn himself a bundle.
The Phillies have no problem paying their pitchers, as they already have big money on the books for Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo. Committing to Painter long-term would be a bit of a gamble given his recent injury issues, but could pay off in spades if he ascends to dominance as expected. Hunter Greene, a similarly electric, yet fragile, hurler secured a six-year, $53 million guarantee from the Cincinnati Reds a few years back, which could serve as the blueprint for a Painter extension.
Aidan Miller
2023 first-rounder Aidan Miller has skyrocketed up prospect rankings over the past two years, and has planted his flag as a top-25 prospect in the entire sport. Interestingly enough, two of his infield brethren who signed long-term pacts this week may have shed some light on what it would take to lock Miller up for the long haul.
The notoriously stingy Milwaukee Brewers agreed on Tuesday to an eight-year extension worth a shade over $50 million with young shortstop Cooper Pratt. That very same day the Mariners made history by agreeing to an eight-year, $95 million deal with shortstop Colt Emerson, a record for a player yet to make his MLB debut.
Aidan Miller falls almost perfectly in between those two suddenly wealthy youngsters, being barely a year older than Emerson and just a hair younger than Pratt. Emerson sits at a lofty seventh in MLB.com’s top-100 prospect rankings while Pratt stands at 62, with Miller sandwiched between them at number 21.
If those two deals are any indication of a potential Miller signing, then it would stand to reason that the 21-year-old would fall somewhere around the $75 million mark for eight years of his services. That’s not a bad chunk of change for a kid who’s never spent a day in the big leagues, but if he turns into the franchise-altering star the Phillies are hoping for, it’ll be worth every penny.
Francisco Renteria
Let’s get crazy to finish things off. What if the Phillies decided to extend a player that has yet to appear in a single affiliated game for the franchise? Tantalizing outfielder Francisco Renteria just recently signed with the club for $4 million out of Venezuela, and has all the tools to become a lethal five-tool threat in the big leagues.
At only 17 years old, Renteria is still a ways away from making an impact for the big league club, but it could turn out to be a stroke of genius to lock him up now. To this point, the youngest player in history to sign an extension was the Milwaukee Brewers’ Jackson Chourio ahead of the 2024 season, who agreed to eight years and $82 million as a 19-year-old.
In fairness, Chourio was on the cusp of the big leagues and had demolished the minors to that point, making the Brew Crew incredibly confident that he could hack it in the majors. Renteria, on the other hand, has yet to see a pitch in minor league ball, but held his own against grown men in the Venezuelan majors as a 15-year-old.Â
The crux of this wacky proposal rests with Major League Baseball’s upcoming labor negotiations, and the chaos that will most likely ensue because of it. Players and owners will be at each other’s throats trying to claw away as much money as they can, and there’s a decent chance the players secure major gains for future salaries. If that does come to pass, who knows how much Renteria could make if he blossoms into the superstar the Phillies envision years from now?
The Phillies could get ahead of the curve by locking in a potential star for what could be a bargain rate years from now. If they risk offering Francisco Renteria something like $50 million now, it could turn out to be peanuts by the time he’s the next great Phillie.