3:01pm: Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes reports (on Twitter) that the deal is worth $42MM, and the two option years could raise the value to $65MM.
12:49pm: The Nationals and Gio Gonzalez have agreed to terms on a five-year contract extension, the team announced. The deal runs through 2016, with club options for 2017 and 2018, and comes less than a month after the Nationals sent four prospects to the Athletics to acquire Gonzalez. The southpaw is an ACES client.
Gonzalez, 26, was eligible for arbitration for the first time as a Super Two this winter. Our projections pegged him for a $4.2MM salary in 2012. The extension will cover all four of Gonzalez's arbitration years plus one free agent year. With the two club options, the Nationals have potentially bought out three of the southpaw's free agent years.
Despite owning the rare distinction of being traded three times before making his big league debut, Gonzalez has emerged as one of the game's best young hurlers in recent years. He's coming off his strongest season to date, having recorded a 3.12 ERA and 8.8 K/9 in 32 starts. Despite leading the league in walks, the lefty earned his first All-Star berth and set a career high with 202 innings pitched.
When we looked at Gonzalez as an extension candidate last April, we mentioned that similar pitchers like Jon Lester, Ricky Romero, and Yovani Gallardo had signed five-year contracts worth approximately $30MM in recent years. Those deals also covered the pitchers' last four years of team control plus one free agent year, however none qualified as a Super Two. Gonzalez figures to command a slightly higher guaranteed salary, and MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith believes $38MM or so is fair (Twitter link).
With Jordan Zimmermann and Stephen Strasburg under team control through 2015 and 2016, respectively, the top of the Nationals' rotation is set for the next half-decade. The club still has six unsigned arbitration-eligible players as our Arbitration Tracker shows: Tyler Clippard, Jesus Flores, Tom Gorzelanny, John Lannan, Mike Morse, and Zimmermann.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post. Photo courtesy of Icon SMI.
Inevitable
I wish Gio was still with the A’s :(
im sure you wish alot of players were still with the a’s
But instead they have Coco Puffs
don’t worry, you’ll be REAL happy in a couple of years when Peacock is in the majors…
I think Peacock can be ready this season, so is Milone I think.
Wow, didn’t see that happening, Thought they would at least wait and see how he is first. He is just first year art.
AND WHAT ABOUT ZIMMERMAN!!!!! and ZIMMERMANN
I’d wait on Zimmermann, but then, I’d wait on Gonzalez as well.
But Zimmerman, regardless of the cost, should’ve been done first. (Especially since 2011 was a down year for him).
why would he sign an extension coming off of a down season?
Was not expecting this. Stras, Zimmerman, and Gio is going to be a good top three, and they’ll all be there for a while.
Not surprised, but I think they rushed into this too fast. I would have waited a year for this just to see how he does in Washington, and even then I would have made Zimmermann/Zimmerman a priority.
Good move for a team on the verge of being a contender in a few years
If they get Fielder then this year.
I totally agree Matt… right now, they could win close to 90 games and contend for the Wild Card… Fielder would put them in position to contend for the NL East title & more…
Nah, I think people are overrating them a bit. If they sign Fielder I’d call them contenders, but right now they’re behind the Phillies and Braves on paper. It’s getting close though….
The Phillies are getting older, with Howard out and the division getting better anything can happen.
With double wild card, its about being better than the Marlins, Giants, and Cardinals. I’d put the Nats above all 3 of those teams, even without Fielder.
If they get Fielder watch out!
Why were they in such a hurry to do this?
Better now than after Cy Young award-winning season.
why would strasburg’s season influence gio’s value
really looking forward to SS’s return.
Yeah not a Nats fan but SS is special, and a truly elite pitcher like Verlander is a joy to see unless hes pitching against your team.
Totally agree. Easily one of my favorite pitchers to watch.
And, as a fan of an AL team, I don’t really have to worry about him pitching against my team.
Rizzo so frequently overpays…..I hope it is a reasonable contract. Guess we’ll know very shortly as it is likely to leak or be announced today or tomorrow.
I assume it will be similar to Romero’s, Buchholz, Cahill’s contracts?
Gio is arbitration eligible though, while Romero and Cahill were still on their renewable contracts. I’d guess Gio will get another million or two.
no way. Super two, coming off of career season, I expect much more.
I’m thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of 5/$45M.
I’ll take the under.
Wow, almost spot on. Nice guess!
good guess
greats move by nats this guy will be a star in the next couple of years
As a Nats fan, I would be willing to have both teams prosper from the Gio trade.
+1/2St.
they should at least try him out first before they sign him to an extension.
Nicely done Nats, now the trade looks just great! If he’s able to maintain velocity throughout the contract and cut down on walks, he’s a very solid starter/very solid sign!
Really starting to fear the Nats. The NLEast has become an amazing division. My Marlins will be a good team baring health, and the Nats could really put it together this year, they have the talent. I personally just hope Gio maintains his high walk rate and wildness. if he puts it together i am going to hate seeing this Miami native in Miami.
NL East is certainly going to be a lot tougher this year than the past few. Have to think the Marlins still have one more signing in the works though. Phillies are going to continue to give everyone fits, Nats are developing into beasts, Marlins are upgrading, and Braves, although standing pat, have created flexibility on the team to address issues as they come up.
Gotta think those 2 club options are worth close to $30 mil…
Ollie Redux
Gio has put up more good seasons out of 3 than Ollie put up in his entire career.
So a contract that is potentially 7/65? Wow. Those two extension years are way smaller than I would have imagined.
y would gonzalez sign this lengthy of a contract? He’s going to average less than $10 mil a year. until he’s 32 33. I understand the security that is attractive for this contract but if you have confidence in yourself as a pitcher which im sure he does you’re leaving a lot of money out on the table for his prime years…?
Probably because 42 million dollars is more than enough to retire luxuriously? Even after taxes. What are you going to do with 100 million dollars? there comes a point where being guaranteed to be getting enough money to never have to work again is worth more than possibly getting enough money to be island owning rich.
He’s one arm injury away from having to return to the workforce in 10 years.
Suddenly makes me wish the Dbacks would have pulled the trigger on the proposed deal that would have landed him in the desert.
It’s similar to the contracts several other pitchers in similar situations have signed, so it’s not like it’s uncommon. Plus he was under team control for four guaranteed years either way (it sounds like it does add two option years though), and this gives him a lot more certainty than going year to year with one year deals or even arbitration.
I agree MaineSox, but those pitchers are normally alittle younger so they can cash in at least one more time.
Actually that’s not really the case.
Assuming they all have their options exercised their ages at the start of the year following their current contract expiring are as follows: Cahill 30yo, Gallardo 31yo, Lester 32yo, Danks 32yo, Romero 32yo, Buchholz 33yo. If both of Gio’s options are picked up he will be 33yo, which is at the high end of the spectrum, but it’s only one year older than three of the six other players, and the same age as Buchholz.
(I included Danks because the age and years of control are similar, but he gets paid twice as much money as any of the rest of them over the course of their respective deals, so he doesn’t really fit as far as the money part of the contracts go. Still don’t understand that deal.)
Uh if somebody offered you 42 million dollars would you turn it down. The dude is set for life now.
If I thought that I could reasonably get $75M or $100M or more if I chose a different route, and accept some of the risk myself, maybe I could pass up an offer of security… but if you are asking about me, no, I could not turn down $42M, but I don’t have Gio’s talent.
Wow, I really thought the extension years would be for ALOT more, nice contact for the Nats.
I’m glad we told Buehrle to pound sand. Gio at 7/65>>>>>>>Buehrle at 4/58
While I agree, Gio did cost us 4 prospects as well.
true true good point
Peacock and Cole are the only ones I’ll miss. Norris was never going to play in a Washington Nationals jersey and Milone throws 85.
You mean Peacock and Cole I assume?
Whoops, yeah thats what I meant
Holy crap, the Nationals got a steal.
Not as big of a steal as you think. Those include his 4 arbitration years, hence he isn’t getting paid market value for every year making it look like a steal. It’s a good deal, but not a “steal”.
The real “steal” part potentially comes in those team option years. If he pitches poorly, they cut him and say thanks and simply accept that they overpaid only slightly through his arbitration years to be a competitive team. If he pitches to expectations, those option years will be substantially below market value. If there’s no sort of limited NTC in this contract, the Nats are REALLY sitting pretty.
This seems like a cop-out but it really is impossible to say how good this deal is at this point: if he pitches really well for the length of his deal this will end up looking like a steal because he would have got major raises through arb, but if he pitches really poorly this ends up looking pretty bad because he probably never would have even reached his average salary through arb.
That’s just the way things are with these kind of deals though, the team is taking a chance on a potential overpay and the player is taking a chance on a potential underpay, while both get stability and cost certainty.
Yep. It’s the classic security deal for a young pitcher. It’s good for both sides. Sure, he could have risked it and gone to arb and potentially made a few million more, but in the end what is $65M vs $75M? But then again, Pujols lost some credibility in StL. by taking money over legacy. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why players fuss so much over their multimillion dollar contracts. It seemed like Pujols liked StL., and they just won the WS, he definantly should have stayed for the sake of baseball at least. It’s way to difficult for teams to retain their superstars in today’s game. A la Pujols, Fielder, and soon to be Votto.
I have a hard time faulting Pujols (arguably the best player in the game right now) for going for the most money, and it’s especially difficult if you believe what Larussa recently said about it.
huh?
I am a Nats fan but we have to be kicking ourselves after seeing Pineda go for what he went for. Gio will cost $42M over the next 5 years, while Pineda will cost about $15M over that time and very likely offer better performance. I know that Harper was not (and should not) have been available, but you have to wonder if the package of players they moved for Gio couldnt have gotten Pineda.
gio = left-handed
phillies = left-handed
pineda = right-handed
not every player has the same value in every place
Gio > Pineda.
Pineda only has one year of work, so he comes with more risk. Also, its somewhat obvious that the Mariners were looking for one elite hitting prospect. Outside of Harper (and maybe Rendon, although he’s not on the level of Montero), the Nats don’t have that.
True, plus we cant trade Rendon until a year after he signed
This deal will end up being a bad deal, no pitching contract has ever worked with a 5 or long year deal. Anaheim’s signing of CJ will be a regret as well. For Anaheim is WS or bust because the Pujols deal is so bad.
Felix? Haren? Shields? 5+ year deals that don’t look like busts.
It’s the free agent ones that look disasterous; this one is not.
The guy is 26. Not 31. This deal will be fine. You see quality #3 pitchers get that type of money, and Gio is at least a solid 2