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2 hours ago
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The formerly Oakland, currently Sacramento, future Las Vegas Athletics have the face of their franchise.
His name is Nick Kurtz, and his 2025 Rookie of the Year season took MLB by storm.
Now, the question before a new season is whether Kurtz might get a long-term contract extension sooner rather than later.
The New York Post's Jon Heyman shared the latest on Kurtz extension possibilities in a new article.
Heyman writes that the Athletics have offered around $130 million to Kurtz, but that a deal is considered unlikely at the moment.
With Opening Day less than a week away, Kurtz may decide to play this out for a while.
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It's tough to put a price tag on Kurtz after such an immense season.
Still just 23 years old, Kurtz hit .290 with a 1.002 OPS that included 26 doubles, two triples and 36 home runs. Kurtz drove in 86 runs in 117 games, including a night on which he hit four home runs in one game.
Kurtz came up as a promising hitter and then exceeded even those expectations by becoming one of the best hitters in baseball almost immediately.
The big lefty takes a bit of a risk by not signing a nine-figure deal now, simply because that creates the possibility that he regresses and doesn't keep that offer on the table.
On the flip side, though, if Kurtz continues to hit the way he did as a rookie, he'll eventually get an even bigger payday.
It's a calculated move by Kurtz, and for now, it sounds like he'll go into the new season without a new deal.
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