On Thursday, the Oakland, I mean Las Vegas, scratch that, I mean Sacramento, whoops, The Athletics, put some finishing touches onto what has been a fantastic offseason for the club, inking one of their brightest young stars to an extension. That young star comes in the form of outfielder Lawrence Butler, who broke onto the scene in 2024 and is now going to be tied to the franchise for years to come.
The 24-year-old Butler showcased true 5-tool potential last season with a slash line of .262/.317/.490 for an .807 OPS and a 131 OPS+ to go along with 22 homers, 57 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases. Given his age and the belief that the Athletics have in him to continue to develop and become an even better player, as his late season breakout in 2024 would suggest, the team may have just secured a true superstar for the next 8 seasons at the cost of only $65.5 million.
After agreeing to this deal, Butler is going to be bought out of all of his arbitration years, as well as his first 2 seasons of free agency, and he will not hit the open market until 2032 at the earliest, when the A's have a club option for him. By then he will be 30-years-old and could easily be chasing a massive deal if he continues to preogress at this rate.
So what does this mean for the Washington Nationals, you might ask? Well, I wrote earlier this week about reported contract extension discussions between the team and agent Scott Boras surrounding young outfielders James Wood and Dylan Crews, although those reports were unconfirmed. If the Nationals were to seek an early extension for James Wood, it could look similar to the framework laid out by the Butler deal, although Butler's 125 games played last season exceed Wood's 79, they have a lot of similarities to their game.
Crews is a bit more interesting to project, as since he was only in the big leagues for a short sting last season, he is going to have rookie eligibility in 2025 and could find himself in great position to take home NL Rookie of the Year honors. I wrote earlier this week about Jackson Chourio's extension with the Brewers before he even played a game in the big leagues, and while his deal exceeded the value of Butler's, there are multiple examples of young stars being locked up for different values.
The one obstacle? While Butler's deal was negotiated by CAA Sports, Crews and Wood are repped by MLB super agent Scott Boras and the Boras Corporation, who is absolutely notorious for having his clients reach free agency in order to maximize their value on the open market, such as Juan Soto this offseason. That has been the name of Boras' game for many years now, and getting an extension done with either Wood or Crews before they reach the open market would be a blessing, although it appears unlikely.
However, it is not impossible, as Boras did successfully negotiate on Stephen Strasburg's behalf for multiple contracts to have him remain a National for life, including an extension in 2016. The bottom line is that Butler's extension could easily serve as at least a baseline for what Wood or Crews could get if they discussed an extension in the near future in order to buy out their arbitration years and perhaps a few years of free agency, but we are in wait-and-see mode at this time.
Do you think the Nationals will try to replicate what the A's did with Lawrence Butler? As always, please let me know on X, @DCBerk.