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Marlins sign OF Christian Yelich to seven-year extension

By Stanford Crissey

Jun 10, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich (21) hits a two rbi single during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 10, 2014; Arlington, TX, USA; Miami Marlins left fielder Christian Yelich (21) hits a two rbi single during the seventh inning against the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
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Marlins lock up young outfielder Christian Yelich

As it turns out, despite spending pretty much all the money in the world on Giancarlo Stanton this offseason (not an exact figure), the Miami Marlins weren’t done locking up outfielders to extensions.

The team has reportedly agreed to a seven-year pact with promising young outfielder Christian Yelich, worth up to $63 million. The deal buys out the 23-year-old Yelich’s arbitration years, as well as two years of free agency.

Here’s Yahoo’s Jeff Passan with the details:

Yelich is coming off his first full season in the major leagues (he played a partial season in 2013). He had an impressive on-base percentage of .362 and slugged .402 last season, playing outstanding defense all the while. According to Fangraphs’ WAR, he was the second-most valuable Marlin in 2014, behind only Stanton.

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Now admit it: of all the teams you expected to go on a spending spree this offseason, the Miami Marlins were probably last on that list.

And for good reason: penny-inching owner Jeffrey Loria has a long, long history of fielding the cheapest team possible so he can rake in money, only spending it so he can get a publicly funded stadium.

But here we are, and not only have the Marlins signed a player to the largest contract in baseball history (outfielder Giancarlo Stanton’s $325 million mega-deal), but they also brought in Dee Gordon, Dan Haren, and Martin Prado this offseason (though Gordon and Haren came at the cost of top prospect Andrew Heaney).

Now, the Gordon/Haren deal may not have been a smart one (Gordon steals a lot of bases but might not actually be that good, and Heaney might be better than Haren this year), but the Yelich extension appears to be a smart use of the team’s money, which they suddenly seem to have plenty of. Yelich is a former first-round pick who plays stellar defense and only figures to get better as the deal goes on, which is more than you can say of most free agent signings.

Now hopefully the Marlins don’t ditch all these contracts at the end of the year. They have been known to do that a time or two.

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