At 25 years of age, Buster Posey already has a Rookie of the Year award, a National League MVP and a National League batting title under his belt. The young phenom has helped propel the Giants to a pair of World Series titles, and according to Hank Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Giants expect to discuss a "blockbuster" extension with Posey at some point this spring (Twitter link).
In 308 Major League games, Posey has a .318/.384/.503 batting line with 46 home runs. A Super Two player, Posey is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason and won't hit free agency until 2017. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects a $5.9MM salary for Posey in his first go-around with arbitration.
Posey currently has two years, 161 days of Major League service time. However, as the reigning NL MVP and a two-time World Series winner, he's in line for considerably more than players like Robinson Cano, Jay Bruce and Joe Mauer received when they signed extensions with two-to-three years of service time.
Given his projected 2013 salary of $5.9MM, Posey's four arbitration years could likely be bought out for somewhere in the $36-40MM range. Marquee players like Evan Longoria and David Wright each recently received roughly $17MM per free agent season in their extensions. If Posey's free agent years command a similar price (which would seem fair for both sides), an extension could approach the $136-138MM range that Longoria and Wright signed for. Of course, that's dependent on how many free agent years GM Brian Sabean would be able to secure for the Giants.
Posey is represented by Jeff Berry of CAA Sports, who has recently worked out significant contracts for clients such as Mark Buehrle, Jake Peavy and John Danks, among others. An extension for Posey, however, figures to be substantially larger.
Thanks to Ben Nicholson-Smith for contributing to this post.
