The Athletics have been signing players to contracts in the lat few months and finally appear that they are taking the next step in their rebuild. Late Thursday night, it was announced that the team has agreed to a massive seven-year contract extension with right fielder Lawrence Butler. This could now be a cornerstone for the franchise to build around as they adjust to a new ballpark and the team is in a bit of a flux. Let’s take a closer look at this contract extension and what it means going forward.
Lawrence Butler Signs Massive Extension with Athletics
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on Thursday night that the Athletics and right fielder Lawrence Butler agreed to a seven-year, $66.5 million contract extension with one club option. This is a move that a handful of teams have done as to buy out a player’s arbitration years with a guaranteed contract as Butler was making the league minimum this season. This is now officially the second-largest contract that the franchise has given out as Luis Severino’s $67 million contract still surpasses this total.
Lawrence Butler has played in 167 career games at the majors between 2023 and 2024 and has a .250/.300/.456 slash line. While it might not mean much in the grand scheme of things, he is one of the players having an incredible Spring Training up to this point. He has shown the ability to hit for power with 26 career home runs and can run well with 18 stolen bases without being caught.
This contract extension allows the Athletics to showcase to the rest of the league that they are in a window to improve and expect Butler to be a part of the team going forward with a contract that allows the team to project his salary over the seven years.
The Athletics have been making moves throughout the last few months as they also inked star slugger Brent Rooker to a five-year, $60 million extension in early January. In terms of Lawrence Butler, this equates to a $9.5 million average annual value and is going to be a contract that the team can trade off of in a few years if they decide to go in a different direction. However, contracts like this can age incredibly well and help create a sense of belonging to a franchise that will be playing its games at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California for the next three seasons.
