{"id":659600,"date":"2026-04-02T21:40:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:40:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/659600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:40:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:40:16","slug":"sal-stewart-reds-open-to-extension-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/659600\/","title":{"rendered":"Sal Stewart, Reds Open To Extension Talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The annual crop of spring\/early-season extensions is still ongoing, and while the Reds and young slugger Sal Stewart<\/a> haven\u2019t yet had any substantial talks about a deal, Stewart tells Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer<\/a> that he\u2019s open to discussing a long-term pact. President of baseball operations Nick Krall voiced mutual interest when asked by Wittenmyer, though he gave standard caveats about asking price and finding a middle ground that works for all parties. To this point, there have not yet been substantial talks between the two sides.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m definitely open to it,\u201d said Stewart, noting how well the organization has treated him to this point in his career. \u201c\u2026I\u2019m open to it because they took a chance on me when I was young, and I want to do it for this city. This city means a lot to me, and they\u2019ve become my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since being called to the majors as a 21-year-old late last season, the now-22-year-old Stewart has done nothing but hit. He\u2019s taken 84 plate appearances, ripped seven homers and four doubles, and mashed to an overall .311\/.393\/.649 batting line. He\u2019s walked more than he\u2019s struck out this season and has an overall 11.9% walk rate to a 21.4% strikeout rate. Stewart has posted sensational batted-ball metrics in his young career, averaging a comical 95.5 mph off the bat with a 19.6% barrel rate and a 55.4% hard-hit rate. He shouldn\u2019t be expected to sustain those Aaron Judge<\/a>\/Kyle Schwarber<\/a>-esque levels, but plenty of big league hitters aren\u2019t physically capable of even fluking their way into that type of batted-ball quality over a stretch of 24 games.<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, Stewart looks the part of a middle-of-the-order slugger \u2014 precisely the type of hitter Cincinnati has struggled to develop in recent years. The former third baseman is being given every opportunity to run with the Reds\u2019 primary first base job, and so far, the results speak for themselves. Stewart has already positioned himself for a quality payday, based on recent precedent for early-career extensions. Would the Reds pony up a competitive offer? That much remains unclear.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt always depends on where each side is and what each side is looking for,\u201d Krall said on the possibility. \u201c\u2026You have to find the right number for the club and the player to have it make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

As MLBTR\u2019s Contract Tracker shows<\/a>, the Reds haven\u2019t given been especially active on the extension front in recent seasons. They signed backup catcher Jose Trevino<\/a> to a two-year deal guaranteeing him $11.5MM when he was on the doorstep of free agency, but that\u2019s quite a different situation than the one in which Stewart finds himself. The only time in the past decade that Cincinnati has come to terms on a long-term deal extending club control over a pre-arbitration player is Hunter Greene<\/a>\u2018s six-year, $53MM deal signed about three years ago. They\u2019ve made other overtures, including a club-record offer<\/a> to shortstop Elly De La Cruz<\/a> last spring that didn\u2019t come to fruition. Joey Votto<\/a>\u2018s 10-year, $225MM deal is the largest in franchise history.<\/p>\n

[Related: Largest contract in franchise history for every MLB team<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Stewart, coincidentally, is represented by the same agency as Votto. He and his team at MVP Sports Group won\u2019t be seeking an arrangement of that magnitude, but recent precedent can provide some context on what Stewart might reasonably command.<\/p>\n

Again using MLBTR\u2019s Contract Tracker<\/a>, there have only been eight extensions over the past decade for position players with between one day and 171 days (one day shy of a year) of major league service time. Those deals range from Ceddanne Rafaela<\/a> (another MVP client) signing at eight years and $50MM to Julio Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> landing a 12-year, $210MM contract in Seattle. Four additional extensions for players with zero big league service include Detroit\u2019s Colt Keith<\/a> (six years, $28.6MM plus three options), Milwaukee\u2019s Cooper Pratt<\/a> (eight years, $50.75MM plus two options), Milwaukee\u2019s Jackson Chourio<\/a> (eight years, $82MM plus two options) and Seattle\u2019s Colt Emerson<\/a> (eight years, $95MM plus one option).<\/p>\n

Stewart\u2019s offensive upside is considerably greater than that of Rafaela, meaning he could reasonably expect larger arbitration paydays and thus a larger guarantee on the contract. Conversely, Rodriguez had close to a year in the majors by the time he signed his deal. He\u2019d already made the 2022 All-Star team and was the clear frontrunner in an AL Rookie of the Year race he\u2019d eventually win with 29 of 30 first-place votes.<\/p>\n

Landing between those two extremes would make sense. The Orioles got catcher\/first baseman Samuel Basallo<\/a> to sign for eight years and $67MM near the end of the 2025 season, just days after he\u2019d first been summoned to the majors. Corbin Carroll<\/a> had roughly the same number of games and plate appearances as Stewart when he signed for eight years and $111MM, though he was a more well-rounded prospect who offered huge baserunning\/defense value on top of his bat. Stewart is more of a bat-first prospect, but the early returns on that bat are hard to ignore.<\/p>\n

Aside from the previously mentioned six-year deal for Greene, the Reds don\u2019t have much on the long-term books. Greene is signed through 2028 with a club option for 2029. He\u2019s guaranteed a total of $41MM from 2026-28, or $60MM through 2029 if the option is exercised. Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes<\/a> is signed through 2029 but for a more modest total of $36MM (including the buyout on a 2030 option). No one else is is signed beyond the 2027 season. Closer Emilio Pag\u00e1n<\/a> and the aforementioned Trevino are the only players even guaranteed anything for 2027 \u2014 and Pag\u00e1n could opt out following the current season.<\/p>\n

That leaves the Reds on the hook for a total no greater than $42MM in any of the next four seasons. Obviously, there are arbitration salaries that\u2019ll factor in to increase that number, and future trades and free agent acquisitions will also alter that bottom line. For the time being, however, there\u2019s no financial roadblocks in place for a Stewart deal, especially considering that the early seasons of an extension would probably come with minimal salaries. Since contract extensions typically (albeit not always) mimic a player\u2019s would-be earning progressions throughout arbitration, Stewart\u2019s salary probably wouldn\u2019t begin to really climb until after the very end of the club\u2019s control windows over Greene and Hayes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The annual crop of spring\/early-season extensions is still ongoing, and while the Reds and young slugger Sal Stewart…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,6513],"class_list":{"0":"post-659600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-sal-stewart"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116337287233218708","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}