Cleveland Guardians must follow ChiSox model, extending George Valera

A few days ago, I wrote a little about the Cleveland Guardians looking at the potential trade of Shane Beiber, and that got me thinking about players the Guards may want to try and extend.

I threw out the name of Cal Quantrill because he still has three years of club control remaining and while he’s shown great improvement over the last year, he’s far from Bieber-esque.

Basically, it’s come down to the ability to get him signed. Quantrill hasn’t enjoyed the success of Bieber, therefore Cleveland may be able to get him signed. Bieber, meanwhile, looks like he’s priced himself out of the club’s long-term future.

That got me thinking of another name the diehard fans know well: George Valera. He’s yet to play in a major league game, but the Guardians should think very seriously about extending the power-hitting outfielder.

The White Sox recently blazed the trail on this, giving center fielder Luis Robert a six-year, $50 million contract in Jan. 2020, months before he would make his big-league debut. He earns an average annual salary of $8 million. He has club options for 2026 and 2027 that could him $20 million annually. Those are the potential big pay days, but the point is the White Sox have an out. If Robert becomes one of the best players in baseball by that point, Chicago will be happy to pay him.

Add it all up and the White Sox have Robert under control though his age 29 season.

Robert battled some injuries last season, but when he plays, he’s an excellent player. All-in-all, it doesn’t look like a bad deal right now.

The Indians set the trend back in the early 1990s by buying up a player’s first year or two of free agency. It was a model copied by other clubs, but now looks to be outdated, as more and more players bet on themselves for a taste of the free agency apple.

Unless your name is Jose Ramirez, the Guardians can’t afford to play that game and must figure out a way to protect home-grown talent.

Of course, a contract like this comes with great risk, but the White Sox had to be sure that Robert would at least be a good MLB player.

Valera was a part of the stellar 2017 international signing class. He’s at Double-A Akron right now, where he’s batting .281 (.879 OPS) with eight home runs. He’s just 21 years old. He’ll probably get to Columbus by season’s end.

When that promotion comes, the Guards should seriously thinking about locking up a potential franchise cornerstone for the rest of his 20s.