Charlie Blackmon Extension Signaling a New Trend
Regardless, Blackmon is entering his age 32 season and given the way this past winter's free agent market panned out, more and more players are starting to become leary about hitting free agency and not getting full value for the skills they possess. That could have very well been the case for Blackmon and it was smart on his part, as well as his agent's part, to get a deal done before free agency hit.
Of course Blackmon could have waited and earned a lot more come free agency, but none of us truly know how the market would have panned out or what type of offers he would have received. If this past winter's free agent market was any indication, Blackmon probably would have been lucky to get a 3 or even 4-year deal worth more than $60-$70 million dollars because so many teams are skeptical about giving long-term deals anymore and have turned the page over to younger players.
It's also interesting to note that recently, Blackmon, switched agents from Sports One Athlete Management over to ACES. Throughout the years, ACES has developed a reputation of not only being aggressive in terms of trying to get the most money for their clients like many agents are, but an agency that strives to get an extension done prior to a player hitting free agency. That's what happened in this case.
When you look at the rest of baseball, the industry seems to be heading in a direction where teams are attempting to lock up players at a younger age when they are the most affordable and players are seemingly willing to follow suit. For instance, during Spring Training, Charlie Blackmon mentioned that he would love to sign a long-term extension to stay with the Rockies and in Mile High City. There have been numerous accounts of players saying that as of late and it doesn't appear likely that's going to stop anytime soon.
For many teams, front offices have developed the notion that it is no longer conducive to have one or two players signed to max dollars for 6, 7, or even 8 years which then in turn ends up affecting how much money they can spend during each of those years. Rather, now the new way of thinking is to spread out the payroll more with team friendly deals that include opt-outs, give younger players and prospects the chance to prove themselves, and if they prove themselves enough, stay committed to them for the long-term.
In addition, during Spring Training, we saw extensions being signed pretty regularly which is the case every year, but there were also some extensions that were offered but later turned down by the players and their agents simply because they wanted to bet on themselves. Anytime a young player is offered an extension, you have to be on the player's side regardless if they take the extension or not. Sometimes when a player is in their early-to-mid 20's and are poised to hit free agency around 27, 28, or 29, it is worth waiting because then they are more likely to cash-in and get max value.
Overall, the biggest takeaway from all of this is that the game has shifted to a point of thinking where once a player gets to their early-to-mid 30's there is a huge drop in production. At least that's what teams are starting to believe in and what analytics are starting to tell them. When you account for a higher risk of injury and the potential of an older player being less effective than a younger player, then you can see why there is the shift in thinking. Whether all of that is true or not, has yet to be decided however.
Either way, it's not possible to tell how this deal is going to work out for the Colorado Rockies, but Charlie Blackmon will benefit and it's obvious that the Rockies and Blackmon have a good thing going. Why break that up and take more money to play with a team that you have no interest in playing for come next winter?
There's no point to that way of thinking and that's exactly why Charlie Blackmon, the Rockies, and Blackmon's agent, ACES, decided to get a deal done now before it was too late to get max value.
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