Austin Barnes reportedly signs 2-year, $7 million extension with Dodgers, which makes sense

The future of Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes seems to be settled after he recently inked a two-year, $7 million extension with the team. Due to being a free agent after the season, it looked as if his eight-year tenure with the team might’ve been in doubt, but he’ll probably make it at least a cool decade now.

Catcher Austin Barnes and the Los Angeles Dodgers are in agreement on a two-year contract extension, according to sources familiar with the situation.

— Robert Murray (@ByRobertMurray) July 3, 2022

Austin Barnes will make $3.5M per year as part of the two-year, $7M deal, source says.

— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) July 4, 2022

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Update: It’s official.

The Dodgers agreed to terms with Austin Barnes on a two-year contract through the 2024 season.

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 4, 2022

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In 1242 career PA, Barnes has a .224/.334/.356/.690 line with an 86 OPS+, which is about what is expected of him now. Aside from an outlier in 2017 when he posted a .895 OPS, he has been roughly fringe-average for a catcher offensively, and pair that with his near-elite receiving/framing skills (across all metrics) and his familiarity with the Dodgers coaches, pitchers, and just the way things are run, he’s an ideal backup whose role in the clubhouse might get bigger soon due to the assumed impending departure of another leader in Justin Turner.

Barnes is currently making $2.6 million in 2022 on a deal he previously signed for two years and $4.3 million that covered his last two years of arbitration. Free agency is a bit different, but now he gets basically a million dollar pay raise over the next two at $3.5 million, which seems very reasonable and makes this a rather common sense move for the Dodgers.

Glad to have the guy stick around.

Barnes, every year in the playoffs: pic.twitter.com/nHP0xn8Ott

— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) October 29, 2020