Marlins, Yelich sign 7 Year, $49.5 Million Deal

[Namaste]

Offseason thread is closed so....

Frisaro reporting that Marlins are close to signing Yelich 7/$40 million.


One time it.

[Nick]

Make it so, mother fuckers.

[emkayseven]

Worthy of its own thread.

[marlinsfan24]

Mike Lowell was the first one with the news. Credit him!

[Bobbob1313]

So.... something like 1-1-2.5-5.5-8-10-12 for Yelich's contract would make sense? For a guy who just turned 23 and had a 4.3 WAR last season.

BaseballProspectus.com's (generally pessimistic) projections have Yelich at 17.4 WAR for the next 7 seasons. So, $2.3m/win, on the low side.

[sports24/7]

How many free agent years would that buy out? Seems like a pretty damned good deal.

[lou]

According to MLB.com's Joe Frisaro, the Marlins are nearing a seven-year extension with Christian Yelich.
Frisaro adds that the deal will be worth more than $40 million guaranteed. Yelich wasn't going to be eligible for salary arbitration until 2017, so it's an aggressive -- although potentially rewarding -- early-career extension for the Marlins. The 23-year-old outfielder batted .284/.362/.402 with nine home runs and 21 stolen bases in 144 games last season and also won a Gold Glove for his defense. He has the look of a future star.

McCutchen/J. Upton/etc. got mid 50s. Anything in the $40s is good with inflation. Yelich could have some great WAR years if the defense holds, so this is potentially great.

[Erick]

This is great. Not used to moves like this from the Marlins.

[xeysz]

I felt we were one more move away from finishing the offseason. Locking up Yelich now is the perfect "compromise"!
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The image is broken

[lou]

So.... something like 1-1-2.5-5.5-8-10-12 for Yelich's contract would make sense? For a guy who just turned 23 and had a 4.3 WAR last season.

BaseballProspectus.com's (generally pessimistic) projections have Yelich at 17.4 WAR for the next 7 seasons. So, $2.3m/win, on the low side.

I think that is a little light year to year, but randomly add $4-6 million however you want over those 7 and call it a deal.

If I was crafting a $45 million dollar deal for Yelich, and knowing they would have paid Shields up to $15-18 this season..

2015 - $12 million
2016 - $2.5 million
2017 - $5.5 million
2018 - $7 million
2019-2021 - $6 million each

Deflect the living shit out of it in 2015, and be able to afford an extra player when he, Stanton, and Fernandez are in prime years, and early arb/club controlled for Kolek, Realmuto, Romero, Nicolino, Urena, etc.

This is a good opportunity to use present money to help future teams.

Plus, present value of money might lower overall annual salaries as its worth more.

[emkayseven]

This move is gigantic. Can't overstate how much I love it. Yelich's floor prevents this from ever being an albatross contract, I think.
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Jeff Passan @JeffPassan 5m5 minutes ago
Source: Christian Yelich's seven-year, $49.5M deal with the Marlins includes one club option. Deal is being finalized. @JoeFrisaro 1st.

7/49.5 with an option is still baller
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MLB Trade Rumors @mlbtraderumors 9m9 minutes ago
@JonHeymanCBS says #Marlins promise Yelich $49.5MM - 2nd-largest deal ever for player w/under 2 service years.

[marlinsfan24]

So it could be a 8 year deal with the option? I love that.

[Mainge]

Peter Gammons chimes in on potential Yelich deal:

https://twitter.com/pgammo/status/578228323257561089

This is pretty big. This is how actual MLB franchises operate. I like that.
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$50 million is a little different than $40 million but still seems pretty good

[lou]

-0- problems with $49.5 for 7.

And if there is a pure club option or frontloaded somewhat, even better.

Might be best offseason club history.
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Passan says club option $15 million.

31 year old Yelich for $15 million could be a bargain. Still a prime year and that's not a terrible annual.

I'm honestly a little surprised Yelich's agent is OK having him be a free agent at 32? Hard to get a mega deal. Would think 1-3 years less would be the sweet spot, but whatever.

A+

[emkayseven]

as to what his agent is thinking, I think the thought is probably that he could end up Hermidaing, and more generally that players with Yelich's skill set (corner OF, limited power, mid range speed) don't generally get big deals anyway