Konnor Griffin grabbed all the headlines Wednesday afternoon when news broke that his promotion was imminent and that Pittsburgh was deep into contract talks with the 19-year-old shortstop, who ended up signing for nine years and $140 million, beating Colt Emerson’s days-old record for a player who hadn’t debuted ($95 million) by a healthy margin but surrendering two years of free agency in comparison to the one that Emerson signed away. Tough to dislike this one for either side, I think. We’ve seen recently that these kinds of deals can be torn up and rewritten if both sides are happy with their situation. By which I mean the fear that a young player will get ripped off in this kind of transaction feels overblown. If he really does outperform the contract, he could probably get a healthy raise in exchange for another year of free agency, which is what you’d want to do anyway if you’re building a family and enjoying your life where you’re living it.
