The Cubs have signed Starlin Castro to a contract extension that will keep the 22-year-old shortstop under contract for the remainder of his 20s. The team officially announced a seven-year extension that covers Castro's four arbitration seasons and at least three seasons of free agent eligibility. Paul Kinzer of Wasserman Media Group represents Castro, whose seven-year deal includes $60MM in guaranteed money.
Castro has posted a .276/.311/.418 batting line with 12 homers in 540 plate appearances this season. Despite his youth, he already has three full seasons of MLB experience and was on track to go to arbitration for the first time this offseason. As a super two player, he has four seasons of arbitration eligibility.
The deal locks Castro up through 2019, which means he and prospects Jorge Soler and Gerardo Concepcion are the only Cubs players under contract beyond 2014. Soler's nine-year, $30MM contract extends through 2020 and Concepcion's five-year, $6MM contract extends through 2016.
Castro will receive a $6MM signing bonus before earning $5MM in 2013 and 2014, $6MM in 2015, $7MM in 2016, $9MM in 2017, $10MM in 2018 and $11MM in 2019, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports (Twitter links). If Castro finishes in the top five of the MVP voting twice over the life of his contract, his 2019 salary and the value of his $16MM option will each increase by $2MM. All told, the maximum value of his contract including escalators would be $79MM over eight years.
The eighth-year option includes a $1MM buyout that is part of the $60MM guarantee, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The deal doesn't include a no-trade clause, Heyman reports (on Twitter).
Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com first reported that the sides reached an agreement after David Kaplan of CSNChicago.com first reported that the two sides were working on a long-term deal. Post by Ben Nicholson-Smith with Zach Links and Steve Adams. Photo courtesy of US Presswire.
“I love Starlin Castro” – Ozzie Guillen
nice
Not bad. Looks like a very good extension. Well done Cubs.
Not bad….an average of an 8 MIL raise per year over his current 500K+ salary.
Very good deal for both sides, but especially the Cubs…very good value.
this is awesome. great deal for both sides.
I really like this deal. We get him through his prime years, and we are not paying him to be a superstar. As long as he a 3-4 WAR a year player (which he basically is) this is solid value. If he can put the tools together and have a couple of 5-6 WAR seasons this could be a great value. So we are basically paying him to be as good as he is now for 7 years rather than paying for potential, nice deal by Jed and Theo!
Not only does it lock him in with the club for a little longer, but It allows the cubs to pay him more now when they have some money to spend, as opposed to later when they will be trying to add pieces through free agency to complete the team.
Guys its safe to Buy his jersey!! he will be here for a long time! :)
I did the same thing when the Cubs signed Soriano for 8 years. I just hope no one notices his name on the back of the jersey when I wear it.
Yeah. I always give dirty looks to people wearing them. Although, he has been playing pretty good ball the last couple of years. We don’t have to watch the bunny hop in the outfield and swinging at sliders hitting the dirt 15 feet in front of him.
I ordered a Nate McLouth jersey 2 days before he was traded to the Braves. I was PISSED! HAHA
I do not think the Cubs will regret this, but it’s kind of weird how a guy with a .307 OBP gets $60M these days. LOL
even with the .309 obp this year he still has a career rate of .333 with a .343 mark coming into the season. At his age, man he could be a beast in a couple of years for the position.
His decrease in OBP can be attributed to his decrease in BABIP. Nothing to worry about.
.309 and its been getting worse every year.
I’m sure it has nothing to do w/ losing talent around him in the order, huh?
Actually, I’d doubt it. With talent behind him in the order, he’d get pitched to, ie, fewer walks. Now that the talent is “going away,” they would theoretically be pitching AROUND him, ie, more walks.
If he can maintain his current level of production, it still makes him an above average SS and an aav of 8.5MM is not bad for that.
He’ll live and die by BABIP, but if he starts going 20/20 annually, that’s a valuable commodity to have or to trade.
Good deal for both sides, I wouldn’t be surprised if he slugs 500 a couple years, you can tell the raw power is starting to come into play.
Considering he’s still years from his offensive prime, potentially, the sky seems the limit for this one.
Good extension for a young player and it looks as if Castro’s “attention lapses” haven’t been as bad as they were.
Good move Cubs…well played! Lock these kids up early when they have demonstrated high level talent. Next they need to lock up Samardzija and Rizzo in another year or two.
Samardzija and Castro are overrated. The Castro deal does seem fair. Samardzija is already basically locked uo through arbitration.
Yes, the kid who is 22 and led the NL in hits last year is overrated. The Cubs are almost dead last in the league, give em a break!
Who out there is overrating Samardzija?
Solid move. He was about to get real expensive via arbitration. The Cubs potentially saved themselves 20mil plus over the length of the contract.
If I were him I would have asked for less years or more money. Shortstops that can hit and field are a rarity nowadays.
If they find one than can field. casto can hit, cant field.
Wow…really good deal for the cubs. Castro too; he’s taken care of for life. I love it when teams do this. If you are going tonplay a player for the future, it makes sense to invest the years and money to a 22 year old, not a 34 year old.
This deal looks stellar today. Can’t imagine how great this deal will look as inflation raise contracts in year to come. I really love to see the kids gets paid. This and Matt moore’s contract will look beyond brilliant even at the end.
If this information is correct then the Cubs made off with about $20-$25 million in savings. Great move by Thed and congrats to Castro for making that talent pay off. Now take a walk or two!
So am I the only one that wonders if Starlin Castro’s listed age is his real age?
1. He’s from the Dominican Republic, which is the country that has had the most problems with players lying about their ages.
2. He was major league ready at age “20”, which is uncommon.
3. He hasn’t shown significant improvement between ages “20” and “22”.
He’s still a solid player no matter what, but if his real age is higher
than his listed age that changes what you can expect of him going
forward.
I am guessing there are plenty of folks speculating about whether this is his “real” age for any of the reasons you stated. However unless someone informed can provide tangible evidence to the contrary what choice do we have but to go with it?
Personally, at this point I am much more interested to see how Castro will progress from here and what value he will provide along the length of his contract. Time will tell.
Yea, just ignore the massive strides his defense have made and his ability to hit for power this year. Those aren’t improvements.
Have you seen him before? He still looks like he’s 18.
I know 30 year olds that look like they’re 18. Doesn’t really mean anything.
solid evidence.
Castro’s ISO by the years:
2010: .108
2011: .125
2012: .142
I’d say that’s pretty noticeable improvement. His next homer will be his 13th on the season after entering 2012 with only 13 in his career.
If that’s the case, then it’s still a good contract, not a steal.
It’s reasonable to see Starlin Castro, if he would be 24-25, to still be able to improve. And then the contract wouldn’t be extending into the really bad years anyway (beyond 35).
Seems like a steal for the cubs? anyone agree? disagree?
60M guaranteed for 7 years… for an “almost” elite shortstop through his prime years? Yes I know, his OBP is garbage, good, but far from great fielding… but the dude flat out hits. Seems like a steal for the Cubbies… if they waited any longer (yes, in years) the deal could of been out of reach, or too expensive.
Absolute bargain. Wow.
What happens to the “Trade Starlin” crowd for now?
if Castro turns out like Soriano…another player who the Cubs can’t move if they want to
true…
A Longoria like deal for a player with about a tenth of Evan’s talent.
evan longoria wishes he had this contract.
Well they got rid of Zambrano so he have to replace him with some sort of cry baby who’s not even that good. GO CARDS!
And here I thought this was a troll-free zone…
you mean you couldn’t notice his incessant clapping and bright red shirt from a mile away?