10:14am: Tim Brown and Gordon Edes of Yahoo report that the deal is for $161MM over seven years (which would top Johan's average annual value).
The deal has an opt-out clause after the first three years, which are worth $69MM. The 31 year-old Sabathia will make his opt-out decision after the 2011 season with four years, $92MM remaining on the deal. He would have to buck the opt-out trend (or renegotiate) to make this more than a three-year, $69MM deal for the Yankees. That is not necessarily a bad thing for them.
Gotta say, if CC performs SO well that he wants to opt out of the remaining four years, that'd be great. Great that the Yanks got three great years. Great that they could be out of the balance of the deal which is where the risk lies. Of course, if he underperforms, well, all bets off.
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2 comments:
Couldn't agree more. I love the opt-out because, as you said, the risk lies in those later years. The only thing that troubles me a bit about this whole deal is that the Yankees are throwing EVERYTHING at CC. They're even talking no-trade clause now (which seems kind of silly since I can't imagine anyone taking on this contract but the Yankees). I know it sounds contradictory to what fans usually want from the mgmt of their teams but it just seems a little...well...weak on their part. If CC needs so much convincing to come to NY, he must have doubts about coming here and that's not what we want. God forbid he's, oh, I don't know,2-5 with a 5 ERA by the end of May, there's gonna be trouble.
Maybe I'm just a pessimist. :)
Not a pessimist, Dino. It's only natural to look at his April 2008 and project it to April 2009 and wonder. Of course, he righted the VERY LARGE ship and had an incredible year.
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