This has already been mentioned on the site this afternoon. Well done to everyone who's been so on the ball!
When we discussed this in early February, I anticipated the Twins signing Scott Baker to a three-year contract. Pitchers in general are larger health risks than position players, meaning their long-term contracts carry more financial risk. So when a mid-market team like the Minnesota Twins start talking about signing one of their young starters to a multi-year deal, was I about to suspect a possible five year deal? No. No, I was not. In fact, this is exactly what I expected:
2009: $1,250,000
2010: $2,000,000
2011: $2,900,000
As it turns out, the Twins did something just a bit more reasonable than what I anticipated they'd do, and bought out Baker for 2009 as well as his arbitration years of 2010 - 2012. On top of that, they added an option for 2013 at what should be a very fair price.
This summer will be Baker's age-27 campaign. For his service with the Twins to this point, he hasn't been rewarded with the peanuts my wannabe GM self would have offered. No, the Twins signed Scott to a four-year, $15.25 million dollar deal. With the 2013 option worth $9.25 big ones, that's a total of $24.5 million. Let's compare that to a pair of deals that belong to a couple of other young starters, Paul Maholm of the Pirates and James Shields of the Rays.
|
Year |
Scott Baker |
Paul Maholm |
James Shields |
|
2009 |
$750, 000 |
$3,500,000 |
$1,500,000 |
|
2010 |
$3,000,000 |
$4,500,000 |
$2,500,000 |
|
2011 |
$5,000,000 |
$5,750,000 |
$4,250,000 |
|
2012 |
$6,500,000 |
$9,750,000* |
$7,000,000* |
|
2013 |
$9,250,000* |
-- |
$9,000,000* |
|
2014 |
-- |
-- |
$12,000,000* |
* = Denotes Option Year
Maholm, 27 like Baker this year, is a year in front of Scott in terms of service time. Comparing what Pittsburgh gave him to what Minnesota gave Baker, the difference over each player's arbitration years is only $750,000. Shields, also 27, is making a bit less over his three arbitration years but also has three years of options worth $28 million dollars.
Year-to-year in comparison to his peers, this is a good deal for Baker and for the Twins. Financially as a whole, this is a deal with a lot of inherent risk, but multi-year contracts almost always carry that burden. The hope, as always, is that the security and investment pays off.