Mariners may have screwed up Angels' future payroll with their latest extension

The Seattle Mariners are trying to make things hard on the Los Angeles Angels in more ways than one. On paper, the Mariners are likely going to finish ahead of the Angels in the 2025 American League West standings, and their recent contract extension with their catcher will force the Angels to make a large financial commitment to their's sooner rather than later. Per ESPN's Jeff Passan, Cal Raleigh just received a six-year, $105 million extension. If Logan O'Hoppe can somehow outplay Raleigh in 2025, the Angels will have to seriously consider a similar extension for their team leader and potential face of the franchise catcher.

When you factor in their bodies of work and projections moving forward, O'Hoppe is probably in line to get a contract somewhere between Alejandro Kirk's new deal and Raleigh's. O'Hoppe's ceiling is quite high, but Raleigh is such an underrated player and the gap between him and O'Hoppe is quite large as of now. He has received AL MVP votes the past couple of seasons, and won a Gold Glove last season as well. When you compare O'Hoppe and Raleigh's 2024 seasons, Raleigh had the superior bWAR, OBP, SLG, OPS, OPS+, as well as more home runs, RBIs, and hits (O'Hoppe only surpassed Raleigh in batting average). Raleigh's pitch framing also ranked in the 98th percentile of catchers, and he is the straw that stirs the Mariners' elite rotation and bullpen.

Mariners could have just forecasted the Angels' next big move with their latest extension

The Angels might have waited too long to extend O'Hoppe, as the Kirk and Raleigh deals set the market pretty well for O'Hoppe. Perry Minasian comes from the Atlanta Braves organization that is known for locking up their core players to team-friendly deals when they are young and unproven. O'Hoppe is still young and relatively unproven, but all signs are pointing to him breaking out in a major way this season given all the resources now at his disposal.

Will the Angels try and acquire a massive whale in free agency while their core players are on their rookie deals, or will they simply extend O'Hoppe and Zach Neto ASAP and build from within primarily? Not to mention guys like Nolan Schanuel, José Soriano, Jack Kochanowicz, and Ben Joyce. With Tyler Anderson and Kenley Jansen becoming free agents after the season, and Robert Stephenson, Jorge Soler, and Anthony Rendon set to come off the books after the 2026 season, the Angels will have a new wad of cash burning a hole in their pockets soon. Where they spend that open payroll will be a massive tell as to how they will operate the rest of Perry Minasian's tenure.

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