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All the cool kids seem to be signing long-term deals with their current franchises, avoiding free agency.
Today, it was a Cubs player’s turn, and not the Cubs player you expected:
David Bote has signed an extension through 2024 w 2 club options
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) April 3, 2019
This part makes this even more interesting:
Bote initiated the talks, per Theo
— Jesse Rogers (@ESPNChiCubs) April 3, 2019
We don’t have numbers yet, but assuming this doesn’t include Bote’s 2019 pre-arb contract, that’s a five-year deal that could be a seven-year contract if the options are exercised. It means the Cubs are quite confident that Bote is going to become a key contributor over the next few years.
David Bote has played in 78 major-league games and is hitting .246/.327/.410 in 223 plate appearances, with six home runs. That, of course, includes this home run that you can never see enough:
I’ll have more on this later including updating this post with contract numbers when they are available.
But my first reaction — and maybe this is only a hot take, but it’s the first thing I thought of — this might spell the end of Addison Russell’s tenure as a Cub.
More to come. The game preview that would usually post at 4 p.m. CT today will instead post at 4:30 p.m. CT.
UPDATE: Here are the numbers, quite reasonable:
David Bote's contract is valued at $15 million over the next five seasons, beginning in 2020, according to a source familiar with the deal.
— Patrick Mooney (@PJ_Mooney) April 3, 2019
Poll
David Bote’s contract extension...
This poll is closed
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61%
Yea!
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6%
Nay!
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31%
Meh