The Dodgers have locked up catcher Will Smith to a long-term extension.
Smith will remain in Dodger blue for the next 10 years, the team announced Wednesday.
The Post’s Jon Heyman reported that the deal is worth $140 million.
The length of the contract makes it the longest for a catcher in MLB, researcher Sarah Langs reported, and the total value of the deal is the third-largest for a catcher ever, with only Joe Mauer’s eight-year, $184 million deal and Buster Posey’s nine-year, $167 million contract coming in ahead of Smith’s.
The Dodgers backstop, who turns 29 on Thursday, had been slated to become a free agent after the 2025 season.
Discussions, which had been on and off the past few years, then heated up after the Dodgers returned from their opening trip to South Korea, according to MLB.com.
The length of the extension provides the Dodgers with some luxury tax benefits that mean the contract will count for around $14 million a year against Los Angeles’ competitive balance tax payroll, ESPN reported.
And that is especially important now that the Dodgers have four players on contracts that are at least 10 years in length, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Mookie Betts inked to 12-year deals and Shohei Ohtani on a 10-year contract.
On an already stacked Dodgers roster, Smith could be easy to miss after the star-studded names of Ohtani, Betts, Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, and Clayton Kershaw, but the catcher has developed into one of the best in the big leagues.
Smith is a career .263/.358/.484 hitter with 91 home runs and 308 RBIs, appearing in his first MLB All-Star game last season.
He hit .261 with a .797 OPS in 2023 while recording 19 home runs and 76 RBIs.