I'm not sold on Rafaela yet so an eight year commitment this soon doesn't make me giddy. But if he lives up to the expectations everyone seems to have for him, that's a solid contract. If the article is correct, it buys out two free agency years. Assuming a conservative track through arbitration, he was probably looking at $750K, $800K, $900K, $4M, $8M, $12M through 2029. That makes the last two years roughly $12M each. Not too bad. The biggest benefit to the Red Sox is pulling those later year hits forward, taking a ~$6M hit now to not take a ~$12M hit in 2029. Could prove helpful at that point.