The contract that the Phillies signed with Scott Kingery is the kind of shrewd accounting move that can pay enormous dividends a few years from now, when payroll space is at a premium and Matt Klentak is reckoning with the inflated cost of chasing marginal wins. The deal, which will reportedly pay Kingery $24 million over six years before a trio of team options that can buy out his first three years of free agency for a total of $42 million, was a no-brainer for a couple of reasons:
1) The risk is absurdly low
Let’s start with the worst-case scenario.