Red Sox sign rookie Kristian Campbell to an eight-year, $60 million contract

The Red Sox barely had the ink dry on the Garrett Crochet extension on Monday night before announcing their next long-term deal with a franchise cornerstone player.

Boston announced an eight-year, $60 million extension for Kristian Campbell that includes a $19 million option, with a $4 million buyout for 2033 and a $21 million option for ’34, bringing his total deal to $96 million.

His deal includes a $2 million signing bonus, $1 million in 2025, $2 million in 2026, $3 million in 2027, $4 million in 2028, $6 million in 2029, $9 million in 2023, $13 million in 2031, and $16 million in 2032.

Campbell’s extension includes escalators based on MVP votes or All-Star selections, per The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier. If he wins the MVP, his salary will increase by $2 million next season.

A second or third-place finish in MVP voting would see his salary increase by $1 million, a fourth- or fifth-place finish would increase his salary by $500,000, and a sixth through 10th-place finish would result in an increase to his salary of $250,000 in the next season. He would also get a $200,000 escalator for an All-Star selection. His salary can jump by no more than $2 million in any given year during the length of his deal. 

Over the weekend in Arlington, Texas, MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported that the Sox and Campbell were in “deep talks” on a contract extension.

“They’re talking back and forth,” he said after his memorable 2-for-3 performance at Globe Life Field. “I know that for a fact. I’m not sure how close or not close it is, but we’ve had some communications on that for sure.

“I leave that to my agents and let them talk back and forth and work out what is gonna be done. We’ll listen, for sure.”

Campbell, who was set to hit free agency after the 2030 season, has a new deal that buys out his pre-arbitration and arbitration years.

The 22-year-old made the Red Sox Opening Day roster out of camp and has gone 6-for-16 with a homer and two doubles through five games.

The Georgia Tech alum experienced a remarkable ascent through the Red Sox system, achieving a .330/.439/.558 batting line with 20 home runs and 24 steals in 115 games across High A Greenville, Double-A Portland, and Triple-A Worcester. His season came to an end in early September after he went on the WooSox’ 7-day injured list with a lat strain.

Campbell played just 19 games at Triple-A, shot through the minors, and hit .286/.412/.486 to go along with two doubles, four home runs, 17 RBIs, 17 runs scored, four stolen bases, 13 walks, and 18 strikeouts.

Boston is still able to cash in on the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick at the end of the first round if Campbell either wins Rookie of the Year this year or ranks among the top three MVP finishers from 2025-27. Campbell's inclusion on the Opening Day roster and subsequent extension make the Red Sox eligible for the Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI) draft pick.

Craig Breslow has had a busy week extending Crochet and now Campbell to team-friendly deals.

“A strategy for being able to compete year after year is identifying the players that we have drafted and signed and developed internally, understanding who of those can be cornerstones of a run of success, and making the appropriate commitments to them and then supplementing that group via free agency or trade,” said Breslow. “That’s a recipe we’ll continue to embrace.”

"I told Brez ... "Congratulations.' Because it's not easy," said Alex Cora in Baltimore on Wednesday afternoon. "But I always said, it takes two to tango. And we've been able to secure some guys in this organization now that they are going to be huge for us. ... It's a good business decision. I think it's a good business model, too. And hopefully we can continue that. Secure more players."

RISKY BUSINESS

Crochet agreed to an extension on Monday night, locking down the left-hander for at least the next five seasons in Boston, potentially six years, if he doesn’t opt out of his deal following the 2030 season.

The deal is the second largest contract in Red Sox history given to a pitcher, behind David Price’s seven-year, $217 million deal signed prior to the 2016 season. Crotchet’s new deal is the largest for a pitcher with four years of service in MLB history.

The move to sign Crochet is a risk and one the team needed to make after years of low-risk, high-reward types or dumpster-diving free agent acquisitions.

Boston gave up top prospects to acquire Crochet this past December. People perceived Kyle Teel as the future franchise catcher, but Braden Montgomery has a higher offensive ceiling than Teel. Crochet is considered one of the game’s top left-handed pitchers; if the Sox had failed to lock him up long-term, it would have been a massive failure.

The Red Sox no longer have to worry about that, as Crochet is signed through his prime years.

The extension is risky; the Sox had no other choice but to make the deal. Given the club's organizational shortcomings in their pitching development program over the past few years, it became crucial to trade top prospects to secure a player of Crochet's caliber.

“There’s always risk associated with these types of contracts. I think we recognize that,” Breslow said during his Zoom call with the media following the team’s announcement of Crochet’s new contract. “At the same time, we’re talking about an elite starting pitcher who’s 25 years old and someone we believe will continue to develop and whose best days are ahead of him ... We’re looking not just at what he has done, but what we believe he’s going to be able to do. And when you couple the talent with just the commitment to being the best pitcher he possibly can, this is the type of bet that we’re excited to make.”

Boston knows the talent their new ace possesses, and they’ll have to go off of a small sample size to evaluate what type of numbers he can produce over the course of a full big league season. Crochet has one full season under his belt as a starting pitcher since he made his MLB debut in 2020. He’s logged just 224 innings in the bigs, with 146 of those coming last season.

The two sides were engaged in talks since the beginning of January; talks looked promising at first before it seemingly looked like Crochet was tabling talks, only looking to resume them in the offseason.

“I was thinking that there was a decent probability that we were going to need to pick up these conversations next offseason,” said Breslow. “Garrett had talked about not wanting conversations around an extension to be a distraction. We wanted to honor that.

“But [we] also felt like, as an organization, we needed to put our heads on our pillows at night feeling like we did everything we possibly could to keep this guy in a Red Sox uniform for as long as possible. And if that hadn’t been the case, then we needed to reengage.“

The Sox and Crochet’s team realized that common ground was on the horizon, allowing them to continue talks and ultimately sign the lefty to a long-term pact.

“Fortunately, I think we both recognized that there could be common ground here, and it wouldn’t take a ton, given all of the legwork that had been created,” said Breslow. “And so in the end, you know, we were able to get this over the line in a way that came together pretty quickly.”

Crochet will make $3.8 million this season; he’ll receive a $4 million signing bonus, a $24 million salary in 2026, and $28 million salaries for the 2027-30 seasons. The contract calls for him to earn $30 million in 2031. One key note from the Crochet deal is his ability to opt out and hit the open market after his age-31 season. The opt-out can be voided with the Red Sox getting a $15 million team option for the 2032 season if the southpaw suffers a significant arm injury that will keep him on the injured list for 120 consecutive days during the life of his contract, per Speier.

The Crochet deal locks down the Sox a front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher over the course of his prime big league seasons. It also sets the tone of the organization, showing their younger players the club is committed to extending their core talent.

“My hope is that this is another step in charting the course for sustainable organizational health, vying for division titles, for World Series championships year over year,” said Breslow. “[The deal] further cements where we are in terms of our competitive window, and we’re ready to make good and honor the commitment we have made to our fans over the last six months."

The Red Sox now have Crochet, Campbell, Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock and Ceddanne Rafaela extended for many years to come. Will Marcelo Mayer and Roman Anthony be next? Only time will tell.