Sometimes international signings are a game-changing part of a team’s strategy. While there are likes of the New York Yankees who regularly discover diamonds, some teams strike gold quite rarely. One of the biggest examples remains Juan Soto and how the Washington Nationals discovered him. However, now even the Chicago Cubs have found a massive slugger of their own in Christopher Morel.

The 24-year-old Dominican star has electrified the major leagues since his debut in 2022. With multiple home runs and club records in his name Morel’s future looks brighter than ever. However, his contract doesn’t really explain just how big of a spark plug this young man is turning out to be. With just a minor league deal in place, speculations have been ripe regarding the North Siders possibly extending his stay. While those speculations haven’t turned into reality yet, one can understand the salary and impact of Morel on this Cubs squad.

Christopher Morel’s journey to MLB

The Cubs initially signed Morel out of the Dominican Republic for just $800k in 2015. One could see that isn’t a lot of money, especially now when the million mark gets crossed quite easily. However, this was a huge amount for Christopher Morel at the time. Then from 2017 to 2022, Morel spent his time honing his craft in the minor leagues. 

Obviously, Morel only made a minor-league salary during that time. Slowly the slugger began to enter the limelight due to his outstanding performances. The Cubs too began to wonder whether they had a potential superstar in their hands. It was that belief that led to the North Siders including the young player on their 40-men roster in 2020 to protect Morel from the Rule 5 draft. This belief became even more clear in 2022 when the Cubs recalled him to the major leagues. 

MLB debut, immediate impact, and growth in earnings 

While experts questioned the young man’s ability to adjust to the major leagues, Christopher Morel exploded with a home run in his first at-bat. From then on he appeared in 113 games in his rookie campaign and hit 16 home runs with 47 RBI. Morel’s MLB debut also led to him getting more salary. According to Spotrac in 2022 Morel’s salary was $543,286. That grew to $561,295 in 2023. 

Morel became part of history in 2023. The highly passionate and energetic slugger hit a Cubs record 9 home runs in his first 12 games of that season. That instantly catapulted Morel to stardom with the Chi-Town fans loving every second of their Dominican wonder. However, surprisingly despite all of these great performances, Morel’s contract remained quite low. 

As of 2024, his salary is nothing more than the Major League minimum. This means Christopher Morel is earning around $767,000 in 2024. While that is a lot of money, Morel still hasn’t locked in a life-changing big money deal yet. However, that has raised speculation – could the Cubs be giving Morel an extension soon?

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Is extension a possibility for Christopher Morel and the Chicago Cubs?

While the Cubs can pull off what the Arizona Diamondbacks did with Corbin Carroll and sign Morel to an extension, the team doesn’t seem in a rush. Their lack of urgency isn’t surprising, after all, their control over Morel runs till 2028. In fact, the star isn’t even eligible for arbitration until 2026. As a result, the team might want to delay extension talks for some time. 

However, one cannot ignore that Christopher Morel is improving by leaps and bounds. It’s proven by the fact that he hit the Cubs’ first grand slam of 2024. As a result, would signing Morel count as a risky bet or an opportunity cost? As of now, it’s the latter that makes more sense. But then there’s another caveat to this. 

Most players don’t like signing extensions because it could delay their free agency. So what looks like a fair value now becomes an underpay later (for example – Alex Bregman’s extension with the Houston Astros). But then Morel’s situation is quite different. Since his arbitration is still 2 years away, the 24-year-old hasn’t earned any life-changing amount yet. And without an extension, he’ll have to wait even more to see the results of his hard work.

As Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation said – “It’s possible, in Morel’s case, he’s just looking to translate his last two years of success into some life-changing guaranteed dollars.”  Perhaps that could be it. Could Morel be another Anthony Rizzo for the Chicago Cubs? That’s certainly a question that could be swirling soon around the North Side’s management.

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