If he doesn't take that next step this is still a player I'd love to have at $3.8m per. There's no thought of walking away or trading him. Many of us were hoping for a five year deal.
It always seemed to me like he's a guy who was never a candidate for a 5 year long-term sort of deal. Because he has the potential to be even more, so at that kind of term...i'm sure he'd want at least $5-6M+. Which...if he
doesn't take another step, that starts to become a problem.
As for walking away or trading him toward the end of that deal. Obviously he's young and full of upside right now, so that's not going to enter the conversation. But if he's still more or less the same player 2-3 years from now, plateaued in development...it's fine at $3.8M for sure...but assuming he's looking for more $$$ on his next deal...that becomes something a team ought to take a long hard look at.
Crucially, it still only takes him to that last ditch RFA situation. Which can be awkwardly leveraged in favour of the player...but still retains team control to really figure out what they want to do with him. If he's still just sort of teetering on the cusp of "core player" status, but not able to take that next step...asking $6M+.
But the three year term gives Columbus all the time in the world to figure out if he's got another level he's capable of, or if "this is it" - as a sort of ~20-25G scoring ~40pts Cy Young style winger. Where if he doesn't develop further, maybe they can still just find a way to keep him at a cheaper rate long-term and decide to do that anyway.