Major League Baseball wants Kyler Murray’s star power.
Murray, the Heisman Trophy-winning Oklahoma quarterback who was a first-round draft pick of the Oakland A’s, is in the process of deciding which sport to play and reportedly wants $15 million to play baseball.
Under normal circumstances, that wouldn’t fly: Major League Baseball (like the NFL) has rules that prevent recently drafted players and teams from renegotiating contracts. But Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that MLB is willing to allow the A’s to negotiate a lucrative big-league contract for Murray, if that’s what it takes to get him to play baseball.
Although that might seem unfair to other teams, and to other young players who aren’t afforded the same luxury, it’s easy to see why MLB would bend over backward for Murray: He’s one of the brightest young stars in American sports, and it would be a coup for baseball to lure him away from football. Murray would sell plenty of tickets to minor league games, and when he makes it to the majors he’d draw plenty of television eyeballs. Baseball wants to get Murray away from the gridiron and on the diamond, and is willing to show him the money to do it.