Marlins offer injured ace Jose Fernandez a $40 million extension
Conventional wisdom says a baseball team shouldn’t offer a contract extension to a pitcher in the middle of rehab from Tommy John surgery, but the Miami Marlins aren’t really a team of convention.
The Marlins have reportedly offered their injured young ace, Jose Fernandez, a $40 million contract extension for the next six years, according to CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman. The proposal comes with two years of club options that could keep him in Miami until 2023.
The Marlins, after locking up slugger Giancarlo Stanton to that $325 million mega deal, are now trying to sign their other young players to long-term deals. They’ve also offered contracts, per Heyman’s report, to outfielder Christian Yelich and shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, with another for outfielder Marcell Ozuna expected to come next.
Fernandez’s situation is the most interesting, though. He’s 22 and pitched only a season and a half at the major-league level before injuring his elbow. In that time, Fernandez proved to be a special talent who could command big money on the free-agent market when he gets there — should he continue to improve, of course.
Fernandez is Cuban and from Miami, so he’s extra important as a face-of-the-community-type player. He’s also repped by super agent Scott Boras, who understands all this and is never one to let players get less than their value.
The Boras factor swings the odds greatly against Fernandez taking the deal, but the Marlins might never have more leverage in contract negotiations with Fernandez than they do right now. He’s injured and there’s at least a morsel of uncertainty about what kind of pitcher he can be when he returns next summer. Forty million guaranteed dollars are at least worth thinking about over lunch.
There’s some precedence for a deal like this with a young ace: Madison Bumgarner signed a six-year, $35 million contract before his third full season with the San Francisco Giants. Chris Sale got a five-year, $32.5 million deal from the Chicago White Sox after pitching two and a half seasons. Both are looked at as bargains for their teams. And Boras doesn’t do bargains. Of the Fernandez offer, Heyman writes:
The proposal would guarantee that Fernandez would stay in Miami through all of his arbitration years plus two free-agent years. Additionally, if the team options are exercised in years seven and eight, it could potentially keep Fernandez a Marlin until he’s 30.
Marlins general manager Dan Jennings, speaking generally about the team’s efforts to extend these four valued young players, suggested the team has hope to surprise folks, as it did with the record Stanton deal.
“We’ve had some great exchanges. I feel like we’re moving in the right direction,” Jennings said.
Jennings didn’t suggest any particular pessimism, even in the case of Fernandez — though he understands that historically, star clients of Scott Boras don’t sign up to long deals early. Boras, who has a history of very few long-term deals for the very best talents (Carlos Gonzalez and Carlos Baerga are two rare clients who did sign long deals early), declined comment. Jennings, meantime, showed a characteristically hopeful stance.
“We’ll get it done. We’ll get it done with Scott, too; we’ll just have to rassle a little harder,” said Jennings, using his down-home Alabama phrasing.
Rasslin’? If Fernandez returns to form — he has a 2.25 ERA in 36 starts, and won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 2013 — negotiations with Boras could be more like mixed martial arts.
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
