5) Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco (six years, $35.56 million)
Bumgarner is a huge bargain, even if you don’t consider his iconic postseason exploits.
Signed in 2012 before his reputation of playoff dominance had ever really cemented itself, it turned out to be a stroke of genius for the Giants. In 2014, the year Bumgarner nearly single-handedly led the Giants through October to a third World Series title, the ace lefty made just $3.75 million. He’s seen his earnings go up to $11.5 million in 2017, and he’ll make $12 million each of the next two years, but that’s still a steal.
Bumgarner is a fixture in the top ten of NL Cy Young voting, has four straight seasons with an ERA under 3, and is a Giants legend already. The fact that he’s doing it on the cheap is just icing on the cake.
The bad news for MadBum is that he may have hurt himself in future negotiations, too.
4) Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs (seven years, $42 million)
Rizzo is one of the faces of the first Cubs title in over a century, and he’s doing it all for a discount price.
Two straight top-five showings in the MVP vote and a Gold Glove demonstrate how respected Rizzo is, and the numbers don’t lie: he was one of the sport’s best hitters in 2016, with a .292 average, 32 home runs, and a .385 ERA, the second year in a row of gaudy offensive numbers for the first baseman.
The Cubs knew they had a great talent in Rizzo, and they moved to lock him up early. They won’t be regretting it.
Rizzo led the Cubs to a World Series while making just $5 million. His salary jumped to $7 million this season and next, and will peak with a pair of $16.5 million team options for 2020 and 2021. By the end of those seasons, the Cubs will have profited from Rizzo’s prime. He is a steal for them.
3) Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona (five years, $32.05 million)
One of baseball’s most consistently underappreciated players is also one of its most underpaid. The two-time Gold Glover has a .300 career average and hits 30 homers a season, quietly putting up numbers out in Arizona while doing pretty much everything well. The guy even managed to steal 32 bases in 2016 despite lacking the profile of your average base-stealer.
Goldschmidt does it all and comes cheap, too. He’s making just under $9 million in 2017, rising to $11.1 million in 2018 and concluding with a $14.5 million team option in 2019, his age 31 season. Even that will be a bargain if he puts up his current numbers.
Goldschmidt is unquestionably one of the sport’s best first basemen, and the Diamondbacks have him playing his prime seasons for them at a discount when he could probably make $25-$30 million on the open market.
2) Chris Sale, Boston (five years, $32.5 million)
If you exclude Clayton Kershaw, Sale may well be the sport’s premier left-handed pitcher. He has posted a lifetime 2.99 ERA as a starter, even while pitching in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Chicago. Boston has fallen in love with him, and it’s no surprise when you see that he’s posted a 2.15 ERA while striking out 85 in 58.2 innings since joining the Red Sox in an offseason trade.
Sale got the White Sox a huge haul in the deal for reasons other than his dominant pitching. He’s making $12 million in 2017 and has two team options for 2018 and 2019, which will earn him $12.5 million and $13.5 million. Chicago took a chance on Sale despite there being questions about his durability, and it paid off — he could easily command twice that on the open market.
It’s not hard to understand why Boston had to part with two top prospects to bring him in — not only is he elite, but he’s doing it on the cheap.
1) Jose Altuve, Houston (four years, $12.5 million)
Altuve’s contract is so ridiculously affordable that one has to do a double-take when seeing it.
Is one of baseball’s most exciting, talented, and dynamic players playing out the 2017 season while making $4.5 million? Yes, as a matter of fact, he is. Sure, he’s due for a raise next season once his team option is inevitably exercised, but that will only take him to $6 million, with another $6.5 million to follow in 2019.
Altuve will get his eventually — he’s set to hit the open market in two and a half years, and he’ll get a truckload of money when he does. For now, though, this is a guy who has two batting titles to his name, offers 20-homer power, steals upwards of 30 bags a year, and is regarded as a top-notch defender. He is doing it all as the 11th-highest paid player on his team, making less money than such stalwarts as Nori Aoki, Tony Sipp, and Charlie Morton. No disrespect to any of them, but Altuve should probably be earning more than all of them combined.
This is a guy who could reasonably command eight times what he’s currently making if he were to become a free agent tomorrow, and nobody would bat an eye if he did.
