Pirates might’ve just set the price for Cardinals extension talks with JJ Wetherholt

St. Louis Cardinals fans errupted on social media on Tuesday after a report dropped that the organization is looking to sign star rookie JJ Wetherholt to a long-term extension. Now a brand new report is giving fans, and more importantly, the organization, a good idea of what that contract may look like.

ESPN's Buster Olney reported that the Pittsburgh Pirates and top prospect in all of baseball, Konnor Griffin, are deep into negotiations on a long-term deal, and we actually have some real numbers to consider when it comes to their negotations. The Pirates offers to Griffin so far have been closer to the eight-year, $111 million extension that the Arizona Diamondbacks gave to Corbin Carroll back in 2023, while Griffin's camp is looking for a deal closer to what the Boston Red Sox gave Roman Anthony last year, which was $130 million over eight years.

Based on this reporting, it sounds like it's a matter of when, not if, this extension gets done between the Pirates and Griffin, and that will lay the groundwork for the Cardinals to get a long-term deal done with Wetherholt as well.

The Pirates negotations with Konnor Griffin gives the Cardinals the framework for a JJ Wetherholt extension

The Carroll and Anthony extensions have been helpful comps for fans as they've thought about what a potential Wetherholt extension could look like, and now that those are the numbers that Griffin is looking at, it should put Wetherholt's potential extension into some real numbers now.

For the Cardinals, and eight year deal or longer makes the most sense, as it gives them cost certainty with Wetherholt for his years of team control and then buys out two free agent years. There would likely be escalators in the deal based on performance and potential awards, but anywhere between that Carroll deal and Anthony deal makes a ton of sense.

When Carroll signed his deal with the Diamondbacks, he was a top two prospect in all of baseball, and had a little bit of Major League service time under his belt after a late season call up. Anthony also had a bit of Major League experience under his belt when he received his extension, and he was the number one prospect in the sport at that time.

Wetherholt has been ranked as a consensus top five prospect in the sport in one of the deeper groups of prospects we've seen in years. In most other years, Wetherholt may be a top three prospect in the sport, so I think getting an extension similar to what Carroll and Anthony received makes a ton of sense. I would guess he gets a little bit less than Griffin due to Griffin's super-duper-star potential, but they should be in the same ballpark.

For Wetherholt, an extension now would guarentee him big money for years to come, still allow him to hit free agency in his early 30s, and committ to being the face of the Cardinals rebuild. Wetherholt has already impressed fans immennsely in his MLB debut, and a getting an extension hammered out would buy a lot of good will with the fanbase. We'll continue to monitor the situation and see if they can get a deal done soon.