I have never agreed with the sentiment that contract negotiations should occur after the season. Of course, there are times when the situation dictates delaying negotiations or becomes such a media distraction to the clubhouse. But extending current players approaching the end of their contracts midseason is just good business.This is advice the Los Angeles Dodgers should listen too and avoid another Trea Turner catastrophe.
Julio Urías is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023 season. It would be wise for the Los Angeles Dodgers to resign him long-term right now. The former 20-game winner is turning 27 in August. He is just hitting his prime. The next three years are likely to be his best years.
Urias’s career so far has everything you look for in a franchise player — 20 game-winner, a 98 percent strikeout per innings rate, a low walk-to-strikeout ratio, and he is a Warren Spahn Award winner.
Watch his craftiness and pitch mix below.
Julio Urías messing with timing and arm slots pic.twitter.com/C0ldXE308i
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 14, 2023
He is accomplished, reliable, healthy, and a fan favorite. As a starter, Urías rivals Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela in wins per season but with a better strikeout-to-innings rate.
Resigning Urías to an eight-year, $184 million contract right now would be a massive victory for the Dodgers. The Dodgers will be contenders all season, so any thought of dealing him before the trade deadline should be dismissed. If the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t get a deal inked by the end of the season, the rest of the league will pull out their checkbooks for Urías.
Urías needs to be a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers for life
Looking at some comparable contracts being handed out over the past few years, $27 million per year over nine years isn’t unreasonable or unrealistic. However, the time to resign Urías is right now, before he puts up a Cy Young-worthy year. Fortunately, like the Dodgers, he started the season slow but has started to warmed up, despite Thursday night’s poor outing.
So far, through four starts in May, he is 2-1 with 18 strikeouts and a WHIP of .097. If he continues this level of production, has his best season, and becomes a Cy Young candidate, then $200 million will seem like a fairy tale, and Urías could be a member of the San Diego Padres next year.
The clock is now ticking and the price tag on Urías is going up each game.