Seattle Mariners, Felix Hernandez Finalize Historic Contract
By Josh Hill
There was some last minute drama that arose concerning Felix Hernandez and his massive contract offer from the Seattle Mariners, but the drama proved to be false. Hernandez and the Mariners cleared up any issues they had over an elbow concern and both sides have officially finalized a deal that will keep th former Cy Young winner in Seattle for the next seven years.
“I think it’s a great thing for the Seattle Mariners,” Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said. “It’s a great thing for Felix Hernandez, and looking forward to this guy being here for a very long time, obviously.”
A new conference is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at which the deal will be officially announced. Hernandez will be getting a $175 million contract which is the largest in baseball although exact details within the contract have not yet been released.
The two sides seemed to have agreed upon the deal last week but a lingering elbow issue in Hernandez’s pitching arm caused some major concern over the last few days. There were rumors that the deal was going to be blown up due to the injury concern, but general manager Jack Zduriencik remained adamant that Hernandez and the Mariners were going to finalize the deal they had agreed upon.
While not all the details of the new deal are known, we do know that Hernandez’s new deal absorbs the finals two years of his current contract, which are worth roughly $40 million combined. King Felix will then get an additional $134 million meaning his total dollars are more than CC Sabathia’s record $161 million contract with the Yankees and his $25 million average salary is more than Zack Greinke is getting in his deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
To put into perspective how inflated contracts have become for top pitching targets on the market, less than a decade ago Barry Zito received a then-record deal from the San Francisco Giants which was worth $126 million which is roughly $50 million less than what Hernandez is set to make.
The Mariners are paying a hefty price to keep Hernandez in Seattle, but if he continues to perform the way he’s been performing in recent years, it will end up being money very well spent.