The Rays have on many occasions been willing to sign promising early year players longer term, paying them more in team controlled years in exchange for some cost control in at least a few free agent years. Contracts with Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, James Shields, Chris Archer, Kevin Kiermaier and Brandon Lowe all followed this pattern.
But the player in question was never twenty years old, the number of years was never double digits, and the total dollar amount has never hit $200 million.
So when press reports about Wander’s contract, which could be for as long as 12 years and worth up to $233 million, baseball pundits reacted.