Dodgers' enemy finally lands long-term 'star' with sneaky midseason extension

It looks like the Dodgers' rivals up the coast are still trying to make up for yet another embarrassing offseason. They signed Jung-hoo Lee to a six-year, $113 million deal, but he went down with a labrum surgery with just 37 games under his belt. They got incumbent NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell; while that's worked out for them as the season's progressed despite an ugly April through June, he has a player option for 2025 that he very well may re-up.

The other big signing in the mix was Matt Chapman, a late addition and Scott Boras client like Snell, on another one-year deal ($18 million), complete with player options for 2025 and 2026 and a mutual option in 2027.

It's easy enough to surmise that none of Boras' clients were happy with his dealings on their behalf — Jordan Montgomery even dropped him after he signed a one-year deal just two days before the start of the season — which might be why Chapman got Boras to make a play that's not usually part of his playbook.

On Wednesday night, Jeff Passan broke the news of a six-year, $151 million extension for Chapman, which omits all of the options from his original deal.

Matt Chapman, Giants agree on a six-year, $151 million contract extension

While an extension under Boras representation is not unheard of, it's widely known to be rare. He did negotiate an extension for Jose Altuve in February, making Altuve a lifelong Astro, but that sort of felt inevitable.

Chapman's extension was anything but. He's stayed healthy and had a pretty good year for the Giants, with a .247 average, .778 OPS, 22 homers, and 69 RBI through Wednesday. But he's also already 31, and there was no way he was going to be able to get $25.16 million annually, and for that long, from any other team.

Boras usually likes to have his clients test out free agency instead of pushing for extensions, but Chapman wasn't going to get a better deal than this from anyone else. It's definitely a win for Chapman and Boras, but it's a tremendous risk for the Giants. There are very few players who stay in the game into their late 30s and still remain effective, and in just a few years' time, the Giants could very much be asking themselves what they were thinking when they shelled out that much money to a career .241 hitter.