A farewell to Christian Walker

Even though Christian Walker turned down the Diamondbacks’ qualifying offer, there was still hope expressed in some quarters that a longer-term contract to remain in Arizona could be negotiated. That now appears to have been extinguished, with the reports today that Walker has signed a three-year, $60 million contract with the Houston Astros. That deal is just about in line with expectations: indeed, it’s exactly what MLB Trade Rumors projected (although in contrast to some bigger deals, which significantly went past what was anticipated). Given he turned down $21.5 million from Arizona, greater than the AAV for which he signed, it appears that the price was less an issue than contract length.

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