10:07pm: The Red Sox made a formal extension offer to Pedroia over the All-Star break, tweets Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com. He quotes the source as saying that the "ball is in their court," apparently referring to Pedroia and his advisers. Edes notes that the offer could exceed $100MM, though he bases that figure on the ballpark figures reported earlier by Passan.
5:15pm: The Red Sox are in long-term extension talks with star second baseman Dustin Pedroia, reports Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports. According to Passan, the prospective deal would make Pedroia — a client of ACES — the game's highest-paid second baseman (at least until Robinson Cano gets a new contract).
While Passan says that the parties picked up their talks over the All-Star break, after having previously explored an extension during the spring, WEEI.com's Rob Bradford reports that discussions have taken place over the course of the first half of the season. Progress has recently been made, according to Bradford's sources.
Pedroia's current contract runs at least through next season, and includes a team-friendly $11MM option for 2015. Nevertheless, Passan says, the sides are motivated to make a new deal. He writes that the parties still are working through the length and value of the deal, but are talking in terms of a five to six year deal with an annual salary of around $20MM.
Such a deal would likely be the largest ever given to a player manning the keystone position. The second basemen currently setting the salary bar in terms of average annual value are Ian Kinsler ($15MM for 2013), Dan Uggla ($12.4MM), and Chase Utley ($12.1MM). Those three are also among the all-time list of second basemen in terms of total guaranteed money, although in a different order. Utley has received the largest total contract at $85MM, followed by Kinsler ($75MM), Brandon Phillips ($72.5MM), and Uggla ($62MM).
