{"id":677083,"date":"2026-04-16T18:22:46","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:22:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/677083\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:22:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T18:22:46","slug":"150-million-mlb-contract-after-17-games-plus-sacramento-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/677083\/","title":{"rendered":"$150 million MLB contract after 17 games, plus Sacramento playoffs?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB<\/a> newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

We have yet another big extension going to a rookie, but the established stars have also been putting on a show. I also found quite the story about an MLB umpire, and Ken says the A\u2019s are no longer going under the radar. I\u2019m Levi Weaver, here with Ken Rosenthal \u2014 welcome to The Windup!<\/p>\n

Big Deals: McGonigle lands latest rookie extension<\/p>\n

2026 has already seen a slew of extensions for young players who have yet to establish themselves as effective big leaguers. Consider these from just the last month:<\/p>\n

Then yesterday, the biggest one of all: 21-year-old Kevin McGonigle of the Detroit Tigers signed an\u00a0eight-year deal worth $150 million<\/a>.\u00a0It sort of makes sense that his contract would be bigger \u2014 he had more big-league experience than the other three prospects combined (all of 17 games).<\/p>\n

Jokes aside, McGonigle has not looked overmatched since making the Tigers\u2019 Opening Day roster. He\u2019s hitting .313 with a .905 OPS and more walks (12) than strikeouts (10). His extension means\u00a0three out of Keith Law\u2019s top four prospects<\/a> have now signed extensions (Griffin and Emerson are the other two, with Milwaukee\u2019s Jes\u00fas Made the lone exception).<\/p>\n

Ken wrote a few weeks ago\u00a0about the trend of extending prospects<\/a>\u00a0and why it\u2019s a practice that benefits both sides. With the signing of McGonigle, it\u2019s clear that trend isn\u2019t slowing down yet.<\/p>\n

More rookies: Could Sal Stewart be next? The\u00a0electric Reds rookie<\/a>\u00a0hit home runs Nos. 6-7 last night against the Giants.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcdd Ken\u2019s Notebook: A\u2019s could keep things interesting in AL West<\/p>\n

From my\u00a0latest notes column<\/a>:\u00a0<\/p>\n

A National League general manager, granted anonymity for his candor, recently offered this bold prediction:\u00a0The Athletics will win the AL West.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too early for fans to start making travel plans for West Sacramento in October \u2014 and for Major League Baseball, ahem, to start panicking about the logistics of playing postseason games in a minor-league park. But the GM reasoned that the Athletics\u2019 offense will be among the game\u2019s best. So, he figured, if the A\u2019s could just manage league-average pitching, they would stand a chance.<\/p>\n

The Seattle Mariners, despite their slow start, remain the division favorite. Entering Wednesday, Fangraphs gave them a\u00a049.4 percent chance<\/a>\u00a0of winning the West, with the Texas Rangers at 31.4 percent and the Athletics at only 8.8 percent. The A\u2019s, though, have yet to start hitting, ranking near the bottom of the league in runs. Their pitching, meanwhile, has been close to league average, at least in terms of expected weighted on-base average.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a long season. In both areas, the Athletics seem likely to perform to expectations. They\u2019re going to hit, that much seems fairly certain. Their pitching probably isn\u2019t as good as it looked when the A\u2019s went 5-1 in New York last week against the Yankees and Mets, winning three of those games by shutouts. But the early indications, at least, are encouraging.<\/p>\n

Signing free-agent starters is difficult for the A\u2019s, unless they overpay the way they did with Luis Severino (three years, $67 million) or take advantage of a soft market the way they did with Aaron Civale (one year, $6 million). But two trades president of baseball operations David Forst made for starters \u2014 which netted Jeffrey Springs, Jacob Lopez and J.T. Ginn \u2014 are looking good. \u2014\u00a0Ken Rosenthal, with\u00a0more MLB notes here<\/a><\/p>\n

More A\u2019s: Shea Langeliers\u2019 467-foot home run last night was\u00a0the longest in baseball this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dingers: Judge and Trout putting on a show<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often I find it necessary to write about the same series twice in a week. But what Mike Trout and Aaron Judge have done over the last three games has been pretty remarkable.<\/p>\n

We told you after Monday night\u2019s wild 11-10 result that it was only the fourth time in MLB history that multiple-time MVPs had hit multiple home runs in the same game.<\/p>\n

But then Tuesday night, Trout homered again. Then last night, Judge and Trout each homered\u00a0again.\u00a0That\u2019s four for Trout and three for Judge over the last three games against each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Judge mentioned in his postgame comments Monday, Trout has tended to perform well at Yankee Stadium. Going into last night\u2019s game (chaotic in its own right<\/a>, by the way), Trout was hitting .339 with a .694 slugging percentage and 1.112 OPS at Yankee Stadium. That\u2019s better than any other stadium*, if you set the minimum to 50 at-bats.<\/p>\n

(*OK, it\u2019s his\u00a0second\u00a0best, but the first is Coors Field.)<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s one thing to go back to a place where you\u2019ve had success and take a slow, cap-tipping victory lap. This doesn\u2019t appear to be that, for Trout. After last night, his OPS this year is .945, and he has six home runs in 18 games.<\/p>\n

The sport is better when Mike Trout is good. And by good, I really just mean\u00a0healthy. Seeing the 34-year-old trading blows with Judge has been a lot of fun.<\/p>\n

Fortunately for all of us, there\u2019s one more game in this series, today at 1:35 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

More Yankees: Last night\u2019s walk-off highlighted\u00a0Jos\u00e9 Caballero\u2019s needed bravado<\/a>\u00a0in the Bronx.<\/p>\n

Caught Stealing: The one ump justified in throwing a punch<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve written before in this space about how umpires \u2014 and police officers, teachers, parents and anyone else in a position of authority \u2014 are necessarily held to a higher standard in heated situations.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve found one potential exception (though it was still a bad idea).<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0this story from CBS News<\/a>, MLB umpire Brock Ballou was the victim of an alleged attempted robbery while he was in Philadelphia to work a Diamondbacks-Phillies series earlier this month. According to the story, the perpetrator \u201capproached Ballou from behind in the 1600 block of Walnut Street, stole Ballou\u2019s phone while the umpire was looking at directions and then ran off.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, Ballou could have shrugged it off, but opted to give chase, which was certainly a decision. Once he caught the suspect (!!!), there was a physical altercation, and it sounds like it didn\u2019t go particularly well for Ballou. From the article:<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestigators said when Ballou tried to take his phone back, the suspect punched him several times in the head. \u2026 \u2018They ended up on the ground, at which time the victim struck his head, causing injury,\u2019 (Capt. Jason) Smith said. \u201cThe male continued his assault, violently punching him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the injuries weren\u2019t too serious \u2014 Ballou worked the game the next night and was behind home plate two nights later. Further, the suspect left the phone behind when he fled. So \u2026 success?<\/p>\n

Handshakes and High Fives<\/p>\n

A few more notes on Jackie Robinson Day yesterday \u2026<\/p>\n

Jason Jones spoke to Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, about how the MLB\u2019s celebration\u00a0helps bridge conversations<\/a> between the two leagues.
\nSome of\u00a0yesterday\u2019s uniform combos<\/a>\u00a0were\u00a0just not great<\/a>. Feels like we could honor Robinson in each team\u2019s usual color, no?
\nI had never heard this story before, but on the first Jackie Robinson Day, back in 1997, the Secret Service apparently\u00a0threatened to shoot Mr. Met<\/a>. So that\u2019s \u2026 something.<\/p>\n

The ABS strike zone is\u00a0proving to be smaller<\/a>. Walks are way up. Will MLB make adjustments to the system?<\/p>\n

The Cubs\u2019 pitching situation means they had\u00a0better be right about Edward Cabrera<\/a>, says Patrick Mooney.<\/p>\n

Eno Sarris has an\u00a0updated starting pitcher ranking<\/a>\u00a0for all you fantasy baseball folks.<\/p>\n

Tatsuya Imai might not be adjusting to life in Houston all that well, but\u00a0Toronto hasn\u2019t been a problem<\/a> for Kazuma Okamoto.<\/p>\n

What a night for Jackson Merrill vs. the Mariners. Not only did he\u00a0rob Julio Rodr\u00edguez of a home run<\/a>, but his RBI single capped a five-run ninth inning, as the Padres\u00a0walked it off, 7-6<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I need you to see this slide by Javy B\u00e1ez:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

For\u00a0the first time since 2021<\/a>, Shohei Ohtani pitched but\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0take any at-bats as the DH. The Dodgers might wanna try that again; Ohtani gave up one run on two hits, striking out 10 in 6 innings, and erstwhile DH Dalton Rushing hit a grand slam to put the game out of reach as the 14-4 Dodgers beat the Mets 8-2.<\/p>\n

Two months after firing union head Tony Clark, the MLBPA has\u00a0fired two more officials<\/a>\u00a0following an internal investigation.<\/p>\n

Did not intend to reference lobbying on consecutive days, but you\u2019ll be very unsurprised to hear how much\u00a0gambling companies are spending to influence elections<\/a>.
Most-clicked in our last newsletter: A lot of you were curious about Brad Lidge\u2019s new career \u2014\u00a0he\u2019s an archaeologist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb Love The Windup? Check out\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Windup Newsletter \u26be | This is The Athletic\u2019s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2288],"tags":[5,53,2328,2304,4,2305,2303],"class_list":{"0":"post-677083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-detroit-tigers","10":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","11":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-mlb-playoffs","14":"tag-mlb-postseason"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116415787130065410","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677083","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=677083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}