Marlins and outfielder Jorge Soler agreed to a three-year, $36 million contract, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.Twitter links). Soler has opt-out clauses after each of the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Solera represents MVP Sports.
According to FanSided’s Robert Murray, Soler will earn $12 million in the first year of his contract.link to twitter). Provided he doesn’t back out of the deal, Soler should earn $15 million in 2023 and $9 million in 2024. Various incentives based on playing time could boost this salary significantly in 2024 as Soler will receive an additional $500k for reaching 350-plate appearance and 400-PA thresholds and then a $1 million bonus for reaching 450 PA , 500PA and 550PA.
The deal represents the second big free agent winter spend for the Marlins, who also signed Avisail Garcia to a four-year, $53 million contract before the lockout. Miami entered the off-season with a stated need for outfield assistance and roster expansion, and that need has now manifested itself in the addition of two players who have hit 154 homers since the start of the 2019 season.
Soler led the AL with 48 home runs during that 2019 campaign, one of the highlights of the 30-year-old’s erratic eight-year run in majors. Both sides of Soler’s experience were on display in 2021 when he started the season hitting just .192/.288/.370 with 13 homers in 360 games with the Royals.
However, after the Braves picked up Soler at the trade deadline, the switch seemed to have flipped. Soler went on to hit .269/.358/.524 with 14 home runs for 242 PA for his new team, and then surpassed that in the World Series by batting .300/.391/.800 with three more long balls during 23 PA in the Fall Classic. When Atlanta won the championship, Soler was named World Series MVP.
There was a lot of interest in Soler on the open market this winter as the Braves were interested in a reunion and clubs like the Rockies, Padres joined the Marlins as well-known slugger fans. MLBTR ranked Solera #25 on our list of the top 50 free agents of the winter and correctly predicted Solera’s real-life three-year, $36 million contract. (Anthony Franco went further and even chose Solera to sign with the Marlins.)
The challenge for any interested club, of course, was to figure out how much to bet for a player whose performance had been on and off over the years. Following the same logic, Soler and his reps obviously wanted a solid deal that wouldn’t sell the outfielder for years to come if he returned to that 48-home pace. The two opt-outs provide some flexibility in both cases, as if Soler does enjoy a big 2022 season, he could test the market again next winter.
If Soler had only really been the Marlin for one season, the team might have opted for flexibility given the ongoing uncertainty in center field in Miami.
Not all….