All quiet on extension front as Sal Stewart's value rises with award

LAS VEGAS – Sal Stewart’s Rookie of the Year award brought good news and bad news for the Cincinnati Reds this week.The good news is that thanks to new rules in the game meant to disincentivize service-time manipulation the Reds get an additional draft pick between the first and second rounds.The not-so-good news: The price just went up on the inevitable extension talks with the hard-hitting, 22-year-old All-Star.Reds GM meetings 4 great free agent fits for Cincinnati Reds as MLB's GM meetings openFour months after the Reds inked Stewart’s pal, Reds ace Chase Burns, to a $105 million, seven-year extension, the Reds and Stewart still had not engaged in talks about an extension for the 32-homer rookie slugger, sources said.And the meter continues to run after Stewart became the franchise’s ninth player to win the National League Rookie of the Year award, with Stewart also a finalist for a prestigious Silver Slugger award. Those winners are announced next week.The tangible upside for the team — beyond possibly earning a few more ticket sales in marketing the “award-winning” Sal — is the Prospect Promotion Incentive draft pick that figures to be a top-40 overall pick between their first- and second-round picks.That’s because of a 2022 rule that rewards teams for promoting prospects closer to the beginning of a season rather than wait long enough with their better prospects to assure an additional year of club control before free agency.That delay of less than two weeks led to players such as Kris Bryant and Maikel Franco to file union grievances a decade ago against their teams for service-time manipulation that delayed their free agency. Bryant won a Rookie of the Year award in 2015 after being kept in the minors the first eight games of that season, which meant an additional six years before he was eligible for free agency.How potentially valuable are the additional supplemental picks?Stewart was selected 32nd overall in 2022 – as an additional compensation pick for the Reds for losing Nick Castellanos as a free agent.This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: All quiet on extension front as Sal Stewart's value rises with award