Looking at Lawrence Butler’s Contract Extension

There is some swing-and-miss in Butler’s profile. However, the power played in the second half, and Butler has room for growth to become a 25-30 home run ritter. After all, Butler put up strong numbers in only 451 plate appearances last year.

Butler is the second A’s outfielder to receive a pre-free agency extension before Opening Day 2025. Brent Rooker got one, which bought out his arbitration-eligible deals.

Per reports, Lawrence Butler’s deal is for seven years at $65.5MM. It buys out Butler’s last two years of pre-arbitration, plus the three arbitration years and two additional ones (2032 is a club option). Butler will reportedly receive $800,000 in 2025, with the rest of money spread out over the final six seasons.

Analysis

If one’s looking for comparables on Butler’s deal, there’s not many to work with, at least as far as outfielders are concerned.

Butler’s contract is more comparable to Ezequiel Tovar, who’s currently on the second year of a seven-year, $63.5MM deal he got after his first full season (Butler’s first full season came in 2024). The two had different first full seasons, as Tovar slashed .253/.287/,408 (.695 OPS) while playing excellent defense.

Tovar exploded in 2024, hitting 26 home runs and leading the NL in doubles (45).

From 2017-24, only seven outfielders in that span had a 20+ HR & 15+ SB season, plus a .800+ OPS (min. 400+ PA) in either their first or second year. One of those names is Lawrence Butler, with the other six being Ronald Acuna Jr. (twice), Julio Rodriguez (twice), Corbin Carroll, Spencer Steer, Jackson Merrill, and Nolan Jones.

Jackson Chourio, with a .791 OPS in 2024, narrowly missed ont on making this list — for now.

Butler’s deal is not as big as the eight-year, $100MM extension Acuna Jr. received after his rookie season in 2019, nor the eight-year, $111MM extension that Carroll received four years later.

Jones, Merrill, and Steer are still on pre-arbitration deals.

However, the key isn’t so much the luxury tax — which the A’s don’t need to worry about for some time — but rather ensuring their core is locked in as the competitive window begins to open.

The money at the back end of the deal will likely — once details become public — to compare former 20-20 outfielders like Cedric Mullins ($8.725MM) and Randy Arozarena ($11.3MM) are making in 2025. Although, with Butler’s upside, the deal could save the A’s significant money, especially when taking inflation into account.

For reference, corner outfielders who’ve produced 25+ HR and .800+ OPS over the last four seasons, like Bryan Reynolds ($13.3MM AAV), who will make $15.25MM over the last four years of his deal and Teoscar Hernandez ($19.3MM AAV) did well for themselves.