The Miami Marlins did quite well for themselves in the offseason, acquiring players such as Mat Latos, Dee Gordon and Martin Prado to complement their $300 million slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Now, they've made another savvy move before the regular-season gets rolling.
The Marlins are finalizing a new contract with 23-year-old outfield Christian Yelich, according to Yahoo Sports' Jeff Passan. The deal buys out his arbitration years plus his first two years of free agency and keeps Yelich in Miami through at least the 2021 season. In all, it's a seven-year deal worth upward of $49 million with the potential for more.
Yelich was a first-round draft pick for the Marlins in 2010. He debuted in the big leagues in 2013, but played his first full season in 2014 and made quite an impression. He hit .284/.362/.402 with 54 RBIs and 21 stolen bases. He also played gold-glove defense in left field, and was second on the team with 4.3 WAR, according to Fangraphs. Only Giancarlo Stanton (6.1 WAR) was more valuable to the team.
After the Marlins signed Stanton to his monster extension in November, word was the Marlins also wanted to lock up some of their pre-arbitration players to help with cost certainty.
Yelich was a prime target. He only figures to get better and more valuable, while baseball salaries only figure to rise. It's always a risk when you circumvent the arbitration process with a long-term contract full of guaranteed riches, but everything we've seen from Yelich so far makes us believe the Marlins will get their money's worth.
Sure, he'd have been a cheap player before hitting arbitration in 2017, but after that, if Yelich had progressed like many expect, he would have gotten expensive. It's all a guess at this point, but Yelich could have earned close to $50 million in just his three arbitration years.
Who knows what the going rate would have been for Yelich when he hit free agency in 2020, but we know enough to see that by this contract could very easily be a steal for the Marlins by then.
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