No new extension talks have occurred between the Mariners and their 26-year-old ace, Felix Hernandez, according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter). The right-hander's current contract covers the 2013 and 2014 seasons after which he'll be eligible for free agency.
GM Jack Zduriencik recently told Greg Johns of MLB.com that he hopes to keep Hernandez in Seattle long-term. The GM declined to publicly discuss whether the sides had had extension talks with the Octagon client.
Hernandez, the 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner, turned in another elite season in 2012. He started 33 games and pitched 232 innings, surpassing the 230-inning mark for the fourth consecutive season. He struck out nearly a batter per inning (8.7 K/9) while inducing ground balls (48.9% ground ball rate) and limiting walks (2.2 BB/9) and home runs (0.5 HR/9). As one of the game's top pitchers, Hernandez could ask for an annual salary approaching $25MM on an extension.
4 playoff games in one day, 4 teams potentially moving on to the next round, one of the most exciting days of the baseball season so far.. no no lets tweet about felix hernandez.
Heyy come on now, MLBTR isn’t a baseball recap website lol Cut’em some slack!
I was talking about Heyman…
Well, this is awkward…
Trade rumors, not Sportscenter.
Jason A. Churchill directly contradicts this in a tweet that MLBTR ignored.
Best and most consistent pitcher in baseball the past few years. Mariners cant let him get to free agency.
It seems prudent for Seattle to let at least one more year of his contract play out before committing huge dollars over a long period of time to a pitcher. Make no mistake, Felix is still one of the best in the game, but he’s thrown an awful lot of innings at a relatively young age and his velocity has declined for six straight years now. I hope it means nothing, though, because he’s on pace for some seriously HOF-worthy numbers if he continues close to his current pace for another 7-8 years.
Velocity can decline all it wants, dude can pitch.
It’s crazy how his velocity has declined but his K/9 ratio and BB/9 ratio has all gotten better almost each season.
Maybe he just learned he doesn’t always have to throw as hard as he can to be effective?
I haven’t seen the charts..but is he getting better movement with decreased velocity? That has been the case in the past with others.
There’s nothing crazy about it at all. His average fastball velo is still good, slightly topping 92 this year. Pitchers with that type of velocity and command of as many pitches as Felix has are typically very successful. My point was that if his velocity continues to decline, he can run into problems within another few years…and that since he’s still under contract for another two seasons, it wouldn’t really be a bad thing for Seattle to wait one more year to negotiate that extension.
If I’m wrong, great. I’d love to see Felix ring up win #200 and strikeout number 3000 sometime around 2019 in a Seattle uniform.
He went from being a thrower to being a pitcher, same thing this year with Chapman, he’s no longer throwing 105 but he still dials it up to 100/101 when he has to & as a result he’s walking far less batters
I’d go 8 / $230m.
Have you gone mad!?
what makes you think I’ve gone mad?
Because that is an absurd contract for a pitcher , even of Hernandez’ stature.
28.75 million/yr – Why go that high if you dont have too?
Because I think they might have to. He’ll only be 28 when he becomes a free agent. How many pitchers are as good as him at that age? And that’s as high as I’d go, that’s obviously not where I’d start. I’d probably start at 8 / $180.
You have missed my point…. I not saying that he does not deserve the money…. I am simply saying they might not have to pay that much. If 8/230 is offered, he signs that deal without hesitation. But when the last two big contracts to pitchers were 5/122 (Sabathia) and 5/120 (Lee) you have gone way pass “fair market value” interms of years, overall dollars and AAV. SEA could offer that same 8 year contract at 200 million (25 million a year) and gain a ton a flexability for the ordganization. And the King would still be the riches pitcher is basesall in terms of contract length, overall dollars, and cost per year. There is simply no need to spend a extra 30 million dollars if a team doesnt have too for a huy that has stated for the longest “i want to remain in SEA for my entire career”.
I dont see how he could even pass up 6/150/25 either…. Giving even more flexability to the M’s.
Based on the history of his tweets about rumors like these, Heyman is usually wrong. As a Mariners fan, I got really excited when I read this was by Heyman. Especially since Churchill tweeted the complete 180 two days ago.
They should wait one more year. I doubt considering his consitent great performance that they will save money doing it two years before. Give it a year if he still performs great lock him up for the rest of his career. If he regresses, then you have a tough decision to make or you just save some millions.
So you would pass if he has 1 bad year? Now I know why you are not a GM. Considering the crappyness of the M’s over the past years the chances of him having a so so year are high. You sign him long term regardless barring a setback like an injury.
This must clearly mean they want to trade him.
felix still has 40.5 left for next two years so i say he gets 4 years 100 mil with 1 option year at 25 mil with 5 mil buyout
Yankees are looking forward to seeing him on the open market in 2015. They’ve been after him a long time, and if all goes as planned with the 2014 luxury cap, they’ll be looking to spend big that offseason