Dodgers: Corey Seager Reportedly Turned Down Contract Extension from LA

Corey Seager officially signed with the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Soon after, AM570's David Vassegh informed listeners that for a while now, he had been

Corey Seager officially signed with the Texas Rangers on Wednesday. Soon after, AM570's David Vassegh informed listeners that for a while now, he had been holding onto some insider information. Apparently, before the 2021 season began, Seager rejected an eight-year, $250 million contract extension from the Dodgers.

Here's what the Dodger Talk host had to say.

“The Dodgers were pursuing Seager all the way back to Spring Training. Corey Seager turned down an eight year, $250M extension in spring training.”

In a separate discussion on AM570, Vassegh said that the Dodgers' failure to retain the 2020 World Series MVP wasn't due to a lack of effort.

“Sources close the Seager camp had indicated to me that the Rangers were being extremely aggressive in their pursuit…the Dodgers were in there as well. Just not to the point that the Rangers eventually went to pry him away from Los Angeles.”

It’s easy to see why Texas agreed to a 10-year, $325 million deal with Seager; among qualified shortstops, he owns the second-highest OPS since 2015 (.870), wOBA (.368), and wRC+ (132) behind only Fernando Tatis Jr. So, basically, Seager was the top-hitting shortstop in this year's free-agent market.

Losing a player of Corey Seager's caliber is never easy even with Trea Turner, who should be moving back to his natural shortstop position, as a solid backup plan. The franchise's run of success has been built on mostly homegrown talent like Seager. While there's no doubt that this will continue to be the case, Andrew Friedman is not known to be shy about trading for players, like Trea, that can make a difference. He has, however, shown that whatever deals are in the works, he'll keep information close to the vest.