Tigers sign Colt Keith to a 6 year extension

[caulfield12]

https://www.mlb.com/news/tigers-sign-colt-keith-to-6-year-extension

[South Side Hit Men]

Detroit is my pick to win the division. 79 wins likely clinches the title, same as the 2023 threshold.

Its why it’s so heartbreaking merely  mediocre level White Sox ownership, front office and manager could have had an AL Central dynasty throughout this decade.

[Chicago White Sox]

5 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Detroit is my pick to win the division. 79 wins likely clinches the title, same as the 2023 threshold.

Its why it’s so heartbreaking merely  mediocre level White Sox ownership, front office and manager could have had an AL Central dynasty throughout this decade.

Minnesota won 87 games last year.

[Lip Man 1]

5 hours ago, South Side Hit Men said:

Detroit is my pick to win the division. 79 wins likely clinches the title, same as the 2023 threshold.

Its why it’s so heartbreaking merely  mediocre level White Sox ownership, front office and manager could have had an AL Central dynasty throughout this decade.

White Sox had plenty of chances before this decade and always failed to do so. Every team in the division, even Kansas City had a run...but not the biggest market team in it. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

[caulfield12]

Tigers (4)
13. Max Clark, OF (ETA: 2026)
22. Colt Keith, 3B/2B (ETA: 2024)
25. Jackson Jobe, RHP (ETA: 2025)
60. Jace Jung, 2B/3B (ETA: 2024)

With the No. 3 pick, the Tigers were virtually guaranteed to take one of the Big Five in the 2023 Draft class and went with Clark -- an Indiana prep outfielder with plus-plus speed, a strong arm and a left-handed swing that plays to all fields. Much closer to the Majors, Detroit has developed Keith and Jung into a pair of infield sluggers with plus power, and the pair should impact the MLB roster at some point this summer. Jobe might have the highest ceiling of the group as a potential ace with multiple 60-grade pitches and plus control. The only thing holding him back is potential durability after he missed much of the first half last year with lumbar spine inflammation.

MLB.com

 

Since when was Indiana a prep baseball powerhouse?

Tigers Guardians and Twins all  better positioned with farm systems right now.

 

Schulz pretty much has to be Randy Johnson Lite...and Montgomery something close to Robin Ventura.

Edited January 28 by caulfield12

[nrockway]

I like this guy but I'm surprised to see him get a contract before his debut. looks like he'll play 2B, I thought he was more of a 3B/1B.

[WhiteSox2023]

38 minutes ago, nrockway said:

I like this guy but I'm surprised to see him get a contract before his debut. looks like he'll play 2B, I thought he was more of a 3B/1B.

There’s always a risk of this guy busting, but many posters here think Bryan Ramos is a sure-fire starter in the future and Keith’s minor league numbers blow his away.

Edited January 29 by WhiteSox2023

[southsider2k5]

18 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

There’s always a risk of this guy busting, but many posters here think Bryan Ramos is a sure-fire starter in the future and Keith’s minor league numbers blow his away.

Literally no one has called Ramos "a sure-fire starter".

[WhiteSox2023]

11 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Literally no one has called Ramos "a sure-fire starter".

I guess when people talk about the Sox positional prospects, they mainly just mention two guys (Montgomery and Ramos) and I have seen people putting both in potential future lineups, but you are probably right.

Edited January 29 by WhiteSox2023

[caulfield12]

Scouting grades: Hit: 60 | Power: 60 | Run: 40 | Arm: 50 | Field: 45 | Overall: 55

The Tigers selected Keith in the fifth round of the shortened 2020 Draft and talked him out of an Arizona State commitment with an above-slot $500,000 signing bonus. Injuries -- including to his right shoulder in 2022 -- limited him to only 113 games over his first two full seasons, though he did stand out in the Arizona Fall League in '22. Finally healthy for much of 2023, Keith broke out with a .306/.380/.552 line and 27 homers in 126 games between Double-A and Triple-A. His 68 extra-base hits and 280 total bases ranked third and fifth among Minor Leaguers, respectively. In January, the Tigers rewarded him with a six-year, $28,642,500 contract extension with club options through 2032.

Using a quick and short left-handed swing, the Mississippi native does a nice job of marrying quality contact rates with noticeable impact at the dish. He elevates well and rarely expands the zone, leading to the high slugging percentages and extra-base-hit rates. With Triple-A Toledo, he maxed out with an exit velocity of 110.1 mph and slugged a 473-foot homer (per Statcast) that ranked as the fifth-longest in the International League last season. Higher EV's and more tape-measure shots (473+ feet) should be in his future as he grows more comfortable getting through long seasons.

The Tigers moved Keith -- a below-average runner with a stocky frame -- from third base to second on a near-full-time basis by mid-August last season out of the belief his reaction times and throwing motion work better at the keystone. He’d be a bat-first player at either place, but there is a clear lane for Keith to seize a spot in the Majors and join Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene as homegrown premier talents in Detroit.

 

mlb.com  

[southsider2k5]

Also this is a joke of a deal.  No idea why he signed this.  $5 million in his 5th and 6th seasons?  Then his option years too?  That's awful for the kid.

 

[WhiteSox2023]

You’re right.  No big guaranteed payout for any single year at the end of the deal and those buyouts are tiny.  That’s better than Hahn’s contracts and is ridiculously team friendly.  Sure doesn’t seem like the kid is all that confident in his abilities, but I guess he is now set for life regardless of what happens.

Even if he doesn’t pan out as a starter, that isn’t horribly overpriced for a bench bat that can play 2B and 3B.

Edited January 29 by WhiteSox2023

[caulfield12]

2 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Also this is a joke of a deal.  No idea why he signed this.  $5 million in his 5th and 6th seasons?  Then his option years too?  That's awful for the kid.

 

Has a prospect outside the Top 20 or Top 30 ever gotten a contract like that without playing much or at all?

Singleton with the Astros and 1B White with the Mariners come to mind right away...

[WhiteSox2023]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/01/tigers-sign-colt-keith-to-six-year-extension.html

Keith is represented by Munger English Sports Management.

They aren’t Boras, that’s for sure.

[southsider2k5]

Let me put it this way, Leury Garcia got more per year on the open market.  That's mediocre utility player money in MLB these days

[reiks12]

39 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Also this is a joke of a deal.  No idea why he signed this.  $5 million in his 5th and 6th seasons?  Then his option years too?  That's awful for the kid.

 

Theres a chance he never does anything in MLB. You are set for life before your 30th birthday. Id make the deal too

[southsider2k5]

5 minutes ago, reiks12 said:

Theres a chance he never does anything in MLB. You are set for life before your 30th birthday. Id make the deal too

He must think he is going to be out of the league in 3 years.

[WhiteSox2023]

8 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

He must think he is going to be out of the league in 3 years.

He’s just 22 now so by the end of the guaranteed money, he’ll either have been good enough that the Tigers will pick up the big option years or they will buy him out and he’ll be able to enter free agency at a relatively young 27 years old.  But I agree with you that it’s surprising he didn’t get at least one guaranteed year at the end of the contract worth big money like $10 million or so, rather than them  all being non-guaranteed options.  That is usually the payoff for signing these team friendly deals way early in one’s career.

Edited January 29 by WhiteSox2023

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Minnesota won 87 games last year.

How many wins did they need to clinch the division?

[South Side Hit Men]

3 hours ago, Lip Man 1 said:

White Sox had plenty of chances before this decade and always failed to do so. Every team in the division, even Kansas City had a run...but not the biggest market team in it. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

The Royals are the only other team in the division to win a World Series over the past 29 seasons, They are also the only team besides the White Sox to have not won consecutive division titles, only winning one (2015 - their World Series Championship season). The Sox won four division titles, but zero consecutive titles.

Consecutive American League Central Division Titles (1995-2023)

• Five: Cleveland Guardians (1995-1999) - Two American League Pennants
• Four: Detroit Tigers (2011-2014) - One American League Pennant
• Three: Cleveland Guardians (2016-2018) - One American League Pennant, lost World Series Game 7 in Extra Innings
• Three: Minnesota Twins (2002-2004) - One Division playoff series win over Oakland.
• Two: Minnesota Twins (2009-2010) - Zero Playoff Success, would have been three if the White Sox didn't take the Blackout Game.
• Two: Minnesota Twins (2019-2020) - Zero Playoff success, generously including 2020 as a "season" or "title".

At least Detroit had a sense of urgency to win a championship during Michael Ilitch's final years (died after the 2016 season).

Jerry's top priority the past six years:

• 2019: Getting Harold Baines into the BBHOF.
• 2020: Cancelling as many regular season games as possible.
• 2021: Fielding Tony La Russa as White Sox manager to "right a wrong".
• 2022: One last stab at killing the MLB Players Union via owner lockout.
• 2023: Hiring Chris Getz, like La Russa without a legitimate job search, to "win now".
• 2024: Finagle one final stadium out of taxpayers.

[southsider2k5]

31 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

He’s just 22 now so by the end of the guaranteed money, he’ll either have been good enough that the Tigers will pick up the big option years or they will buy him out and he’ll be able to enter free agency at a relatively young 27 years old.  But I agree with you that it’s surprising he didn’t get at least one guaranteed year at the end of the contract worth big money like $10 million or so, rather than them  all being non-guaranteed options.  That is usually the payoff for signing these team friendly deals way early in one’s career.

If he is even an OK regular he is leaving 10s of millions on the table and not even getting a double digit salary or 7th year for it.

[caulfield12]

At only 20 years old, he was hitting .301 with nine home runs at High-A West Michigan before injuring his shoulder last week. Keith’s injury won’t require surgery, but he will miss a significant amount of time. The Tigers hope he can return at some point this year, perhaps in the Arizona Fall League. 

Garko: It’s definitely tough just because of the year he was having. Age-to-league is sort of the number we always talk about. He’s 20 years old, and he really was dominating that league as one of the youngest players in the league. It’s a setback. It’s something he’s gonna have to work through. But I think the bat at that age, that high of a league, is definitely something we’re really excited about. It’s a real left-handed bat. Where he’ll play in the field (2B or 3B), we’ll see. He also was getting much, much better at third base, which was as exciting to see as the offensive numbers.

 

theathletic.com

 

Injuries (maybe something only he knows about) might be somewhere in the back of his mind.  Obviously he has had to pass a physical recently for the Tigers. 

Also, he has to have noticed all the Tigers' pitching prospects going down to injury and both Greene and Torkelson struggling in different ways their first two years in the majors as well.

Edited January 29 by caulfield12

[Bob Sacamano]

1 hour ago, reiks12 said:

Theres a chance he never does anything in MLB. You are set for life before your 30th birthday. Id make the deal too

If he sucks, he’s making less than $5M AAV as a backup IF. It’s a fine gamble for a team.

[caulfield12]

I remember Salvador Perez signing something like $7 million for 5 years...that was one of the worst of all-time, but understandable for some families in the Caribbean.  And that was after he had already proved his worth at the major league level, albeit briefly.

The Royals later ripped it up and gave him a much more commensurate deal.

 

Monday, Jan. 25. In 2012, the Royals signed Perez to what became one of the most team-friendly contracts in baseball. He'll earn $7 million through the first five years, and after that, he has three club-option years worth a combined $14.75 million, per Baseball-Reference.com.

Edited January 29 by caulfield12

[southsideirish71]

4 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

Since when was Indiana a prep baseball powerhouse?

 

Travel Baseball has made strides in the last 15 years in the Midwest for quality of baseball.  Indianapolis hosts quite a bit of very good amateur travel tournaments.  The Indiana Bulls, Canes Midwest amongst a laundry list of programs that are out of that area.  A lot of these teams are of a good quality and compete in the same tournaments that the powerhouse orgs do across the board.  The AABC, the Cincy Flames tournament in Cincy, Kernels in Iowa, lots of great baseball outside of just playing at PG/PBR in Georgia.  The only one that is completely different is Jupiter in the fall or the Area Code games.  Those are basically allstar games.  

Edited January 29 by southsideirish71