Here's a look at the multi-year deals teams handed out during the 2009 portion of the offseason. We're only including guaranteed multi-year deals for free agents. That means we're not counting one-year deals with club options (e.g. Juan Uribe), multi-year deals covering arbitration years (e.g. Chris Iannetta) or international free agents (e.g. Noel Arguelles). Here's the list of multi-year contracts so far:
- The Red Sox signed John Lackey to a five-year $82.5MM deal.
- The Mets agreed to sign Jason Bay to a four-year $66MM deal with a vesting option that could bring the value of the contract to $80MM.
- The Mariners signed Chone Figgins to a four-year $36MM deal.
- The Brewers signed Randy Wolf to a three-year $29.75MM deal with a club option for a fourth season.
- The Braves signed Tim Hudson to a three-year $28MM deal.
- The Angels signed Bobby Abreu to a two-year $19MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Placido Polanco to a three-year $18MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Mike Cameron to a two-year $15.5MM deal.
- The Nationals signed Jason Marquis to a two-year $15MM deal.
- The Cubs signed Marlon Byrd to a three-year, $15MM deal.
- The Astros signed Brandon Lyon to a three-year $15MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Marco Scutaro to a two-year $12.5MM deal.
- The Giants signed Mark DeRosa to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Orioles signed Mike Gonzalez to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Giants re-signed Freddy Sanchez to a two-year $12MM deal.
- The Angels signed Fernando Rodney to a two-year $11MM deal.
- The Mariners signed Jack Wilson to a two-year $10MM deal.
- The Cubs signed John Grabow to a two-year $7.5MM deal.
- The Brewers signed LaTroy Hawkins to a two-year $7.5MM deal.
- The Royals signed Jason Kendall to a two-year $6MM deal.
- The Nationals signed Ivan Rodriguez to a two-year $6MM deal.
- The Red Sox signed Tim Wakefield to a two-year $5MM deal.
- The Dodgers signed Jamey Carroll to a two-year $3.85MM deal.
- The Blue Jays signed John McDonald to a two-year $3MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Brian Schneider to a two-year $2.75MM deal.
- The Phillies signed Ross Gload to a two-year $2.6MM deal.
- The Phillies agreed to sign Danys Baez to a two-year deal worth an undisclosed amount.
So half of the teams in baseball have signed players to multi-year deals so far (for a total of 26 moves), but the Red Sox, Mets, Mariners, Brewers and Braves are the only teams to guarantee $20MM or more to a free agent so far this offseason. There's still lots of time, but the Yankees are noticeably absent from this list.
Lots of unsigned players are in position to command multi-year deals. Matt Holliday leads a group of free agents that also includes Adam LaRoche, Miguel Tejada, Adrian Beltre, Johnny Damon, Miguel Olivo, Bengie Molina, Rod Barajas, Yorvit Torrealba, Joel Pineiro, Jon Garland, Vicente Padilla and Jose Valverde.
