Sunday, January 21, 2007

Phillies Extend Utley

From "Utley agrees to seven-year, $85M extension" at ESPN.com:

Chase Utley might be the best second baseman in the National League. Now, the Phillies are paying him as such.

Utley and the Phillies agreed to a seven-year, $85 million extension Sunday, avoiding salary arbitration. The extension covers the final three arbitration seasons for Utley and his first four seasons of free agency. The deal is contingent on Utley passing a physical.

First crazy minor-league deals, now the next repercussion from this off-season's free-agent spending frenzy: locking up homegrown players (e.g., Vernon Wells) before they're eligible for free agency.

This deal could be a bargain for the Phillies—or Utley could be the next Adrian Beltre.

UPDATE: MLB Trade Rumors lists a few of Utley's PECOTA comps and notes:

PECOTA only has the next five seasons projected, but it says Utley is worth $95 million over those seasons alone.

2 comments:

Steve Sax said...

Nice Muttley picture. Let the Phillies' Laff-A-'Lympics begin!

Orel said...

More proof that Wikipedia makes the OED look like a pamphlet: Laff-a-Lympics.