You can criticize the White Sox all you want about their failed pursuits of premier free agents, but you can’t argue against their track record of signing young prospects to extremely team-friendly deals. That continued on Wednesday, when news broke of Eloy Jimenez’s new eight-year contract that could be worth up to $77.5 million.
Eloy Jimenez’s deal when finalized will be 8 years, $77.5 million. The deal includes a $2.5 million signing bonus. #WhiteSox
— Jesse Sanchez (@JesseSanchezMLB) March 20, 2019
Jimenez, who was traded to the White Sox in 2017, still hasn’t taken a MLB at-bat, but he’s reportedly getting $43 million guaranteed over the first six years of the new deal with the White Sox. The contract also has two option years that make it $75 million over eight years.
The $43 million guaranteed is a new record for a players with no service time in the majors.
Eloy Jimenez's $43M deal with the Chicago White Sox will smash the record for players with zero service time. It's the third such deal ever consummated. The first was Jon Singleton's $10M deal with Houston and the second Scott Kingery's $24M deal with Philadelphia last spring.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) March 20, 2019
Jimenez can make an additional $2.5 million if he wins the MVP award.
Eloy Jiménez’ contract includes $2.5 million bonus if he wins an MVP award.
— Dionisio Soldevila (@dSoldevila) March 20, 2019
So, the White Sox basically bought out Eloy’s arbitration years and one year of free agency. Without a deal, Jimenez would have been a free agent after the 2025 season. Now, he’ll be with the White Sox through the 2026 season.
Again, the White Sox are experts at inking players to these kind of deals.
#WhiteSox historically have not spent big $, but getting young talented players to sign team friendly extensions has worked out well:
Sale 5 yrs $32.5m in 2013
Quintana 5 yrs $26.5m in '14
Eaton 5 yrs $23.5m in '15
Anderson 6 yrs, $25m in '17
Abreu out of Cuba 6 for $68m— Josh Frydman (@Josh_Frydman) March 20, 2019
It’s a great day for Eloy Jimenez, the White Sox and White Sox fans. They just can’t stop here, though, because as you see in that breakdown of other affordable deals from 2013-15, the White Sox failed to surround a pretty solid base to their roster through free agency.
So, pretty good signing with Eloy. But the only way to maximize his value is to go out and continue to surround him with more talent.
Hector Gomez was the first to break the news of Jimenez finalizing a deal with the White Sox.
