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The Tigers have announced that the infielder Jonathan schoop signed a two-year contract extension. Schoop was due to arrive in free agency this winter, but will now stay in Motor City until the 2023 season. Jon Heyman of the MLB Network (Twitter link) reports that Schoop will earn $ 15 million over the two-year contract, and the infielder may opt out of the deal after the 2022 season. Schoop will earn $ 7.5 million over each of those two seasons, according to Chris McCosky of The Detroit News. Schoop is represented by The Boras Corporation.
Schoop is in the middle of his second season in Detroit, having signed one-year free agent contracts (for $ 6.1 million in 2020 and $ 4.5 million this year) in each of the past two. between seasons. Considering the Tigers have rebuilt themselves, Schoop seemed like a logical candidate to be dealt in one of the final two trade deadlines, but the team instead pivoted and decided to keep Schoop as a building block.
In a statement released by the club, Tigers general manager Al Avila described Schoop as “a consistent professional since joining our clubhouse, and this is exactly the type of player we want to wear the Olde English ‘D’. His production on the pitch matches the value of his leadership with all of our players, and we look forward to that contribution to continue in the coming seasons. It’s a big step towards returning baseball to victory for our fans, and we know Jonathan will play a big part in it.. “
The opt-out gives Schoop some flexibility, and he won’t be 31 until October 2022. If he maintains his current figures until next year, it seems entirely possible that he is exercising this opt-out in seeking a longer term deal with the Tigers or another team.
Schoop hit .286 / .331 / .470 with 26 homers in 633 home plate appearances and 151 games with the Tigers – a well above average production (116 wRC +, 123 OPS +) over essentially the equivalent of a full season . Having only played second baseman in 2020, Schoop has seen more action as a regular first baseman this year, so Detroit has some flexibility in how they want to deploy Schoop in 2022 and beyond.
While there isn’t a lot of money at stake, there is certainly a token element in Schoop’s deal, as this is the first overtime for the Tigers since. JD Martinez was signed for a two-year deal (buying out his remaining arbitration years) in February 2016. As Avila’s statement indicates, the Tigers believe they are on the verge of ending their rebuilding, and even this season’s results are promising. After a brutal 9-24 start to the 2021 campaign, Detroit has since had a very strong 44-35 record, giving the club a chance to win their first victorious season since 2016.
That success seemed to change the equation for the Tigers, who had a fairly calm trade deadline and seemed more inclined to see how far they could go with the current roster, in order to give their young core a front- taste of victory. Given that team president / CEO Christopher Ilitch recently suggested that the team could increase the payroll and look to add “high impact players,“The 2021-22 offseason looks to be Detroit’s most exciting winter in some time, as the team likely has the payroll space to make several big additions. Scoop, Robbie grossman, and Miguel Cabrera are the only players signed during the 2022 season, accounting for $ 44.5 million in salary.
More soon…
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