ARZ extends Justin Upton; 6 yrs./$51.25M

[TooLiveBrew]

Link

Buys out two of Upton's FA seasons (here's the link to Cot's D-Backs page)

[crewcrazy]

The crazy thing is he'll still be a free agent when he's 28.

 

Great deal for the Diamondbacks, locking him up while he's starting to hit his stride. I'm sure with all the worries about paying off that deferred money owed to the 2001 team that there were some concerns this wouldn't be possible.

[Yeti73]

Good deal for the D-Backs. Love to see teams doing this, but not clear why Upton agreed to it. With arby rates going so much higher, why not just stick to that?

[bball123h]

If something horrible happens and Justin Upton's career ends today, he still gets paid the entire $51 million. Financial security for life, plus the possibility of another huge payday later.

[Ennder]

Good deal for the D-Backs. Love to see teams doing this, but not clear why Upton agreed to it. With arby rates going so much higher, why not just stick to that?

Because he saw what happened with his brother career and he knows that he has been injury prone so far in his career so could easily not earn more than this. This is a risky move by Arizona but obviously could bring back a huge reward so it is probably the right move to make.

[NievesNoNO]

Good move for both. Upton gets rich now. Although he was probably all ready set for life; I didn't realize he had a $6 million signing bonus. The team buys out 2 years of arbitration and free agency probably at a discount rate for a potentially great player.

 

The other thing it does is if they decide down the road that they'd like to try and trade him for whatever reason he'll pretty much fit into any team's budget.

[homer]

Good move for AZ but I'm still really confused as to why they gave up Scherzer.

[Invader3K]

Deals like this are going to become more and more common. Teams are seeing a better value in paying up on their younger guys while they are good and have upside, versus spending on veterans and overpaying for mediocrity and declining years.