Star shortstop Corey Seager and the Texas Rangers are in agreement on a 10-year, $325 million deal, sources familiar with the situation tell ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Seager, 27, batted .295/.364/.501 with 100 home runs in 609 games from 2016 to 2021 and established himself as one of the sport’s premier offensive shortstops, but he also missed extended time on multiple occasions.
Seager combined for 12.9 FanGraphs wins above replacement from 2016 to 2017, fifth most among position players, but underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in May of 2018, then arthroscopic hip surgery three months later. The latter seemingly contributed to a relatively down year in 2019, in which Seager posted an .817 OPS despite accumulating 44 doubles.
The COVID-19-shortened season in 2020 marked Seager’s revival. He batted .307/.358/.585 with 15 home runs in 52 regular-season games, then won the MVP award for both the National League Championship Series and the World Series, batting a combined .347/.439/.816 while helping the Dodgers capture their first championship in 32 years.
Seager got off to a slow start in 2021, batting .265/.355/.425 through his first 36 games, then fractured his right hand on a hit by pitch on May 15 and missed nearly 11 weeks. Shortly after returning in late July, however, Seager began to turn his season around, ultimately posting a 1.019 OPS with 28 extra-base hits over his last 56 games.
Seager’s season-ending slash line, of .306/.394/.521, helped validate him as one of the sport’s most competent hitters, particularly from the left side. His minus-five outs above average since the start of 2020 rank 28th among 39 qualified shortstops, but evaluators view Seager as a reliable shortstop who was further boosted by the Dodgers’ astute defensive positioning.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez contributed to this report.
