Chapman’s FA contract with San Francisco was officially announced on the 4th (Korea time), and joined Scottsdale Stadium where spring training was held to train. The joining press conference will be held at the same venue on the 5th.
Chapman’s terms of contract were a $2 million down payment and $16 million annual salary this year, with $17 million player option ($2 million buyout), $18 million player option ($3 million buyout) in 2026 and $20 million mutual option ($1 million buyout) in 2027.
If he becomes an FA without exercising his player option after the end of this season, he will have a one-year, 20-million-dollar contract. If he gives up the player option after next season, he will have a two-year, 38-million-dollar contract, if he does not implement the mutual option after the second season, 54-million-dollar contract for three years, and up to 73 million-dollar contract when implementing the mutual option in 2027.
In fact, it is a very disappointing contract for Chapman, who chose to return to the FA. As the third FA batter to be evaluated after Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger of the Chicago Cubs, he had high expectations for a large-scale contract with Scott Boras as his superagent. He entered the market expecting more than 100 million U.S. dollars.
After the FA market opened, major media outlets such as Major League Trade Rumors (MLBTR) and NBC Sports predicted Chapman’s contract to be $150 million for six years, but the actual guarantee amount was $54 million for three years, just over a third of the expected ransom.
The U.S. daily USA Today Sports reported that Chapman, who recently signed an FA contract, suffered a huge defeat while playing a waiting game. He turned down 125 million dollars from the Toronto Blue Jays last year and 150 million dollars from the Oakland Athletics in 2019, but signed a three-year, 54 million-dollar contract with San Francisco. He is far from the 150 million dollars he wanted at the start of the FA season.
Chapman hit 249 at-bats (145 hits in 583 at-bats) with 36 homers and 91 RBIs in 156 games in 2019, ranking sixth in the All-Star and Gold Glove as MVP of the American League. After that season, he was offered a 10-year, 150-million-dollar contract extension by Oakland. At that time, Chapman had four seasons left until the FA, and Oakland offered a 10-year contract to keep him afloat for a long time, but the player refused.
It aimed for a bigger contract by raising its value enough by the time of the FA, but it didn’t work out as it wanted. Its defense remained at the highest level in the league, but its batting productivity continued to decline. Last year, Toronto offered a $125 million contract extension for four to five years, but it refused to do so, betting on the FA season but failed again.
He had a batting average of 240 in 140 games (122 hits in 509 at-bats) with 17 homers and 54 RBIs in the OPS.755, failing to make a clear rebound. He received the gold glove in the AL third baseman’s category for the fourth time in his career, but as his batting performance did not improve, his value in the FA market also did not increase. Boras led negotiations for the FA due to a long-term battle, but eventually surrendered during the exhibition game in March. He thus opted for a three-year contract that included two opt-outs, effectively, a one-year FA return.
Chapman, who turned down two major contract extension contracts and is embarrassed, is a very weak contract. However, given that he was reunited with San Francisco’s coach Bob Melvin for five years from 2017 to 2021, he deserves high expectations for his return to the FA. Melvin wanted him, too. Zaidi said that Melvin’s presence in the lineup will be a great boost to his team.
BY: 토토