The Mariners and Felix Hernandez made "a bit" of progress on a five or six-year deal, tweets Jon Heyman of SI.com. The two sides will work towards a one-year deal first before resuming talks on a deal that would buy out some of Felix's free agent years.
Hernandez, 24 in April, will likely become a free agent after the 2011 season. A five-year deal would buy three free agent years out and a six-year deal would buy four of them out. Josh Johnson just agreed to a deal that will pay him $13.75MM for each of his first two free agent years, but Hernandez would presumably be looking for more, since he has more major league success to his name at a younger age.
6 years, $100M should get it done.
After Josh Johnson signed, I hope the M’s lock up Felix and the Twins lock up Mauer…then all the Yankee and Red Sox fans can shut up and stop proposing ridiculous trades that will never happen.
I wish SD would lock up Gonzales too. Can’t understand how owners are averse to paying young stars.
I agree with you and I hope that Felix and Mauer get locked up and I’m going to be optimistic. I hope the Twins and Mariners are too.
Is there anything sadder than a superstar wasting their years on a team that is never going to win the WS? So glad Doc Halladay is out of Toronto. Small markets – let your stars spread their wings and fly! lol
maybe waiting 80 years for a title… Seattle is not a small market team…
Touché sir.
I just really like when FAs go to where they “have the chance to win”. Youth and talent is fleeting. Chase that ring.
So what your saying is that M’s players should go play for Oakland because Oakland has more World series appearances and wins then Boston?…Strange logic.
That’s a pretty wild interpretation of what’s been said. Do you imagine the 25, 50, 75 year old successes of a franchise to be a reliable indicator of success in the immediate future? (Does anyone?)
On the other hand, do you imagine there is no way to determine the probability of different teams success in the immediate future? Unless you do, you probably understand the idea, despite his sloppy expression of it.
A preference to play on a team that has a strong chance to make and contend in the playoffs is more or less assumed for every player. Prioritizing this preference over other things — loyalty to current club included — is a good thing, he says.
I don’t notice anything strange or offensive about that “logic”.
That’s a pretty wild interpretation of what’s been said. Do you imagine the 25, 50, 75 year old successes of a franchise to be a reliable indicator of success in the immediate future? (Does anyone?)
On the other hand, do you imagine there is no way to determine the probability of different teams success in the immediate future? Unless you do, you probably understand the idea, despite his sloppy expression of it.
A preference to play on a team that has a strong chance to make and contend in the playoffs is more or less assumed for every player. Prioritizing this preference over other things — loyalty to current club included — is a good thing, he says.
I don’t notice anything strange or offensive about that “logic”.
If I don’t have to hear, “Bowden, Lars and 2 prospects for Felix” anymore, I’ll be a happy man.
It’s about time teams start investing in their stars. It’s also about time the vaunted Red Sox actually develop their own stars and stop buying them. They accuse the Yankees of doing it, but they are just as bad. I think the Yankees actually have more home grown players on the major league roster than the Red Sox.
I could hear no better news that Felix, Mauer and Adrian Gonzales all resign with their clubs for solid contracts.
If baseball really wants to survive, teams are going to have to pony up the dollars in order to stop being also rans.
Youkilis, Papelbon, Lester, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Buccholz, Bard.
I’d like to see Hernandez, Mauer, Gonzalez, Pujols et al sign with their current clubs too; and I don’t like any of the foolish comments made by Red Sox fans, either. But a foolish comment is exactly what “it’s about time the Red Sox develop their own stars” is.
Youkilis, Papelbon, Lester, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Buccholz, Bard.
I’d like to see Hernandez, Mauer, Gonzalez, Pujols et al sign with their current clubs too; and I don’t like any of the foolish comments made by Red Sox fans, either. But a foolish comment is exactly what “it’s about time the Red Sox develop their own stars” is.
I completely agree although I think that there are teams who do build their organization the right way such as the A’s, Marlins, Twins, etc… but I think Baseball is doing great and one of the things that makes it great is hearing proposals and rumors…It just makes the game of Baseball more interesting but I have to 100% agree with you when it comes to Red Sox prospects being discussed by fans in order to get Adrian or Felix or whoever it may be. Players like Gonzalez, Felix, and Mauer on small market teams are also what makes Baseball so great!
I completely agree although I think that there are teams who do build their organization the right way such as the A’s, Marlins, Twins, etc… but I think Baseball is doing great and one of the things that makes it great is hearing proposals and rumors…It just makes the game of Baseball more interesting but I have to 100% agree with you when it comes to Red Sox prospects being discussed by fans in order to get Adrian or Felix or whoever it may be. Players like Gonzalez, Felix, and Mauer on small market teams are also what makes Baseball so great!
im gonna assume his contract will be an AAV of 18MM. for roughly 5 years..that would mean he could still test the FA market when he is like 29..just when he would be in his prime and could get a CC Sabathia type deal sense he is actually better than Sabathia.
If they’re working on the 1-year deal first and are still discussing that, then they haven’t made ANY progress on a long-term deal. I don’t know what to think at this point. I have a feeling that Jack Z hasn’t offered a decent long-term contract yet (probably no more than 5 years, 70 mill). If he had, Alan Nero (Felix’s agent) would see that things are close and try to get it worked out.
I can’t argue with Jack Z’s bargaining abilities. He’s gotten us quite a few guys at a cheaper price than they’re worth. But when it comes to Felix, I kind of just want Jack Z to shoot straight and start him off with decent sized deal (i.e. 5 years, 80 mill) so they’ll know we value him, want him back, and aren’t trying to insult him.
shoot…give him 110 over 6 for all I care…just get it done M’s!
Hey Ben, why will Felix “likely” become a free agent after 2011? That’s an awfully impudent thing to say. You have no idea what will happen. He could sign with Seattle… he could be traded to another team and sign with them. All signs have pointed to him signing long term in Seattle.
6y 96m seems reasonable….
I hope a long term deal gets done. We need Felix feeling comfortable, and happy in Seattle so he can perform at the high level he is capable of. Who knows if things go well this year maybe even Cliff Lee will decide to stick around.