Detroit Tigers Should Give This Young Star Colt Keith-Type Contract

The Detroit Tigers would be wise to get this budding star under a long-term deal before the opportunity passes by.

From left, Detroit Tigers left fielder Riley Greene (31), center fielder Parker Meadows (22) and right fielder Wenceel Pérez (46) celebrate 3-0 win over Cleveland Guardians at Game 3 of ALDS at Comerica Park in Detroit on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Tigers recognized something in Colt Keith before he even played in a Major League game.

Last offseason, Keith was the organization’s No. 2 prospect and was in line to join the team to start the season. The Tigers made him an unprecedented offer from their standpoint — a six-year contract with options.

Rookies usually have six years of team control when they start their careers. The first three years are at the league minimum. The next three years are arbitration years, which usually sees a jump in salary based on performance.

The Tigers opted to commit to Keith for the long term. He signed a six-year, $28 million deal, per MLB.com. That’s not all.

Keith received a $2 million signing bonus. The Tigers also added club options and escalators from 2030 to 2032 that could make the deal worth as much as $82 million for nine years.

The 23-year-old received financial security. The Tigers got a team-friendly contract. Keith responded with a solid rookie season — .260/.309/.380/.689 with 13 home runs and 61 RBI.

It is still a risk, but both sides saw it as a risk worth taking. The Tigers have a player that could, per MLB.com, get a similar type of deal.

MLB.com wrote a piece on 14 players that are top extension candidates in 2025. One selected to that list was Tigers slugger Riley Greene.

He was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 MLB draft out of Hagerty High School in Oviedo, Fla. He made his debut in 2022 and has steadily put up productive numbers. That culminated in his All-Star season in 2024.

He slashed .262/.348/.479/.827 with a career-high 24 home runs and 74 RBI. He played in 137 games, also a career high and was a key reason why the Tigers executed a nearly unprecedented turnaround to make the playoffs.

Greene is a candidate for an extension because he’s about to enter the arbitration stage of his career. Many teams, including Detroit, have used extensions to try and balance security for the player with controlling costs in arbitration.

If Greene’s power numbers continue to rise, he will make more money in arbitration. But the odds of an arbitration hearing become more likely. So do the chances of losing him in free agency once he’s eligible in 2029.

An extension for Greene won’t look quite like Keith’s. In fact, it’s likely to be more lucrative since he has MLB experience already. But a long-term deal for Greene is worth exploring. He’s a key part of Detroit’s turnaround and its future chances of winning a World Series.