The Rockies and the Infielder Ryan McMahon agreed to the terms of a six-year contract extension that will guarantee McMahon $70 million, tweet ESPN’s Jeff Passan. McMahon is represented by Wasserman.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reports the specific financial breakdown (on Twitter). McMahon will earn $5 million this year, $9 million in 2023, successive salaries of $12 million in 2024-25, and $16 million in 2026 and 2027. If he finishes in the top five in MVP voting at in any of the next three years, he would earn the right to opt out of the contract after the 2025 campaign. If he finishes in the top five in MVP voting in 2025, he would have the option to opt out after 2026.

Prior to entering into this new six-year pact, McMahon was eligible for arbitration for the second time in his career and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $5.5 million this coming season. The contract buys out his final two officiating seasons and four potential free agent seasons. There’s no way to know exactly what McMahon would have earned in 2022-23 via arbitration, but using that projection and a ballpark estimate for the 2023 season, the contract pays McMahon around $13-14 million. per free agent season. The terms roughly match some older agreements we’ve seen for infielders with more than four years of service, including Brandon Belt (six years, $79 million) and Brandon Crawford (six years, $75 million – also negotiated by Wasserman).

McMahon, 27, had the best season of his career both at the plate and with the glove in 2021. The former second-round pick batted .254/.331/.449 with 23 homers, 32 doubles, a triple and six stolen bases (in eight attempts). Park-adjusted metrics like wRC+ (95) and OPS+ (98) both estimated McMahon’s overall contributions with the bat to be a bit below league average, but given the strength of his glove work, it has always proved very valuable.

McMahon not only provided the Rockies with versatility, recording 368 innings at second base and 842 innings at third base – he did it while playing both positions at award-worthy levels. McMahon recorded a whopping nine defensive runs saved in just that small sample of 368 innings at second base, and he put up 13 DRS in the hot corner despite not playing a full slate of games there. Virtually every metric one could prefer agreed that McMahon was exceptional with leather; he recorded Ultimate Zone ratings of 6.1 and 2.9 at third and second base, respectively, while Statcast credited him with 10 over-average outs at third base and two more at second.

It’s easy to imagine that with a full season of hot corner games in 2021 – Brendan Rodgers he is expected to occupy second base, with a free agent signee Jose Iglesias take the reins at shortstop and Kris Bryant playing mostly left field – McMahon could find himself bringing home gear for that defensive excellence. He was a Gold Glove finalist in 2021, though the man who stands in his way is a very familiar face: longtime teammate and five-time Platinum Glover Nolan Arenadonow with the cardinals.

Like any long-term deal, the signing is not without risk for the Rockies. While McMahon’s solid defense and solid walk rate (9.9% in 2021; 10% in his career) give him a high floor, the offensive gains made in 2021 will need to be sustained for the deal to go through. favor of Colorado.

McMahon supported his production by finally reducing some pronounced withdrawal issues that had dogged him throughout his tenure in MLB. From 2017 to 2020, McMahon has sniffed in 30.8% of his board appearances – including a career-worst 34.2% in the shortened 2020 match roster. That rate has dropped to a much more manageable level of 24.7% in 2021. McMahon has always had the power and knack for making hard contact, so as long as he can drop the punches, there’s good reason to believe he can continue to be reasonably productive. bat – at least against the right-handed throw. Southpaw McMahon has cut just .229 / .312 / .353 against lefties in 2021 (173 plate appearances) and is a career .239 / .310 / .433 hitter against opponents in the same hand.

The Rockies underwent a front office shakeup at the start of the 2021 season, firing longtime general manager Jeff Bridich and elevating director of scouting Bill Schmidt to interim general manager. Rather than conduct a search and search for outside candidates, owner Dick Monfort instead removed the “interim” tag from Schmidt’s title before the season was even over.

Schmidt, who has led the Rockies’ scouting department since 1999, quickly got to work making sure several members of Colorado’s roster would stay put. Trevor’s Story had apparently decided to move on before the end of the year, and the Rox were unable to swing right Jon Gray in the extension talks. However, they also managed to negotiate long-term agreements for Antonio Senzatela (five years, $55 million), receiver Elias Diaz (three years, $14 million) and now McMahon – plus re-signing first baseman CJ Cron before it even hit the market (two years, $14.5 million). This group now joins the team’s flagship addition, Bryant, within a restructured core of the Rockies.