Written by Joe Messineo at No Coast Bias
Of all of the free agents on the market in this 2015-16 Major League Baseball offseason, OF Jason Heyward might be the most intriguing. Heyward is incredibly young for a free agent – at just 26 years old, he’s the kind of player that even conservative teams might consider giving a long-term deal to. There’s even room for the hope that he might continue to develop.
Even if Heyward doesn’t improve much, though, there’s plenty to like about him. He hit .293/.359/.439 last year with the St. Louis Cardinals. His power numbers aren’t mind-blowing (he hit 13 home runs last year, though he once knocked 27 in a season with the Braves), but he’s a superb situational hitter who makes use of the whole field.
As the most talented available position player in a league that is seeing ever-larger long-term contracts, Jason Heyward clearly stands to make a ton of money this offseason. But how much is he worth, and how much will he get?
How Much Jason Heyward is Worth
Knowing exactly how much Heyward will be worth in the coming years isn’t easy – if it were, there would no debate about how much to pay him. But there are a couple of things that we can do to try to estimate his value.
One way we can do this is to look at other contracts to similar players. Right away, here’s the problem: recent signings are particularly comparable to Heyward. That’s because Heyward is so young.
Still, let’s try to get a ballpark idea. Jacoby Ellsbury got about a $21 million average annual value on his contract a couple of years ago, and he’s both less valuable and older than Heyward. Miguel Cabrera has the highest AAV in baseball right now ($31 million). Giancarlo Stanton makes $25 million a year on average. Of these guys, Heyward’s value is probably most comparable to Stanton’s, so from this we’d figure he’ll make somewhere around (or north of) $25 million/year for the length of his deal.
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