Rougned Odor signed a six-year, $49.5 million contract extension with the Texas Rangers last week, in what’s actually a team-friendly deal for Texas. While the 23-year-old is seeing a massive increase in his immediate salary, he’s likely leaving a bit of money on the table long-term as The Comeback’s Alex Putterman explains:
Assuming he maintained or improved upon his 2016 production, he would have been in line for some nice salary boosts over three years of arbitration, then a big payday when he became a free agent in 2021 at age 27. Now he won’t hit the market until age 29 or 30, which will likely limit his ability to cash in. Instead of making a little money now and a lot later, he’ll make a moderate amount for the next six or seven years.
And perhaps some perks tossed in by the Rangers helped sway the power-hitting second baseman to sign the deal:
As part of Odor's deal, the 2B, who raises horses in spare time, will get two elite horses. Nice touch horse 🐴
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 30, 2017
These are in fact the horses that sealed the Odor deal. This is not a joke pic.twitter.com/O0Ka03RXRb
— Evan Grant (@Evan_P_Grant) March 30, 2017
Yes, for real. Odor is very passionate about horses, so the Rangers gave him two horses as part of the new contract. Rangers general manager Jon Daniels and Odor talked about the unique contract details at the team’s press conference on Thursday (via Rangers.Com):
The oddity arose when the team owners suggested to Daniels that Odor’s passion for horses might make for a unique negotiating chip. The young Venezuelan is planning on buying land in Texas, and the ownership team thought maybe a couple of horses might be a good ranch-warming gift.
“It’s our policy when we make a contract offer, we copy the player on it,” Daniels said. “So Rougie has these big numbers in front of him, and he has a poker face. Nothing changed. Then I slid my phone across with a picture of the horses on it, and he said, ‘Hey, can you send that to me?’ His eyes lit up, and I thought, ‘All right, maybe we have a chance.'”
“I have a passion for horses,” Odor said. “I love horses. It’s one of my hobbies, being around the horses.”
Perks in big baseball contracts are certainly nothing new. Jon Lester’s six-year, $155 million deal with the Chicago Cubs includes a hotel suite on the road and private air travel for up to 25 hours per year. David Price’s seven-year, $217 million deal with the Boston Red Sox includes the ability to purchase eight premium tickets for all Red Sox games. Masahiro Tanaka’s seven-year, $155 million deal with the New York Yankees includes several perks, such as four first-class airline tickets between New York and Japan.
But two horses? That’s a new one.
Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller actually wrote a feature last August that had more on Odor’s passion for horses. The article explains how Rougned is even known by his uncle Rouglas as a “Venezuelan cowboy”:
“He’s a Venezuelan cowboy now playing for Texas,” Rouglas Odor says of his nephew, chuckling. “That’s what he is. A Venezuelan cowboy.
“He likes horses. He likes cows. He likes bulls. He likes animals. That’s a lot of the reasons why he loves Texas, because you can find cowboys in Texas, and he loves hanging around them.
