Minor League Ball Gameday: Monday, March 26th, 2018

Good afternoon everyone and welcome to the Minor League Ball Gameday discussion thread for Monday, March 26th, 2018.

The big news in prospectland Sunday came from the Philadelphia Phillies, who signed rookie second baseman Scott Kingery to a six-year contract with three additional team option years. The contract is worth a reported $24,000,000 guaranteed.

Put another way, they are committing to him as a franchise cornerstone and only for the (potentially) incredibly cheap price of just $4,000,000 per year for the first six years. The three option seasons are worth an additional $42,000,000 according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

Kingery has been terrific this spring (.392/.415/.725 in 51 at-bats). He has nothing to prove in the minors, having hit .304/.359/.530 with 26 homers and 29 steals between Double-A and Triple-A last season.

Personally I am quite high on him, rating him the Number 26 prospect in baseball. If he comes close to reaching his potential, Kingery will be a gigantic bargain for the first six years of the contract. Beyond that we can’t say, since we have no idea what the salary structure of MLB will look like eight years from now.

Obviously this is a great move for the Phillies.

Whether or not it is a good move for Kingery depends on your point of view. He’s trading future earning potential during his arbitration years for financial security now. It is something of a gamble but there are so many things that can derail a baseball career that I think this is understandable. Even a top prospect can suffer a career-limiting injury or simply not develop as anticipated.

What do you guys think?