Ian Kinsler (five years, $75MM), Carlos Santana (five years, $21MM) and Brandon Phillips (six years, $72.5MM) are the latest star players to sign long-term extensions. Here's more extension chatter from around MLB…
- The Indians have spoken to the representatives for Justin Masterson about an extension, but the sides appear to remain far apart, MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian tweets. Talks seem to be on hold for the time being. Tim Dierkes suggested in January that a four-year deal in the $27MM range could work for the Indians and the Randy Rowley client.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs shows that the aging curve for second basemen is pretty steep, but says the Kinsler contract was a deal worth doing for the Rangers.
- Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer has the year-to-year breakdown for Santana's deal (on Twitter).
- Mike Axisa explains that the Santana extension doesn't provide the Indians with a substantial discount in a piece at FanGraphs. However, the Indians did extend their control over the catcher.
Really like how Masterson has completely changed his angle of delivery on the mound to become a much better pitcher and also more effective vs LH batters. His 1st start this year was a thing of beauty, though only watched a few tid bits of it here and there, he was game on..
At almost 4m this season and next year as a 4th year player, Indians won’t be able to afford this guy much longer and end up moving him fast if they don’t lock him up and they already don’t have much for the fans to see as it is. It would be a poor move on their part to just let his situation ride when they have such a fine talent and make yet another bad business decision.