Report: Felix Hernandez to get 7-year, $175 million deal with M's
SEATTLE (AP) - Felix Hernandez and the Seattle Mariners are working on a $175 million, seven-year contract that would make him the highest-paid pitcher in baseball, according to a person with knowledge of the deal's details.
The person spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been completed. USA Today first reported the deal.
Seattle would add $134.5 million of guaranteed money over five years to the contract of the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, whose current agreement calls for him to receive $40.5 million over the next two seasons.
Hernandez's total dollars would top CC Sabathia's original $161 million, seven-year contract with the New York Yankees and his $25 million average would surpass Zack Greinke's $24.5 million under his new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hernandez's new money would average $26.9 million over five years, which would tie him for the second-highest average in baseball with Josh Hamilton and Ryan Howard behind Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million).
Hernandez agreed to a $78 million, five-year contract in January 2010 and has earned an additional $2.5 million in escalators and $300,000 in bonuses. He is due $20 million this year and $20.5 million in 2014, which would be superseded by the new deal.
Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said he could not comment when reached on Thursday, and Hernandez's representatives didn't immediately return messages.
If the deal is finalized, it would leave Detroit's Justin Verlander and the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw as the most attractive pitchers eligible for free agency after the 2014 season. Tampa Bay's David Price is eligible after the 2015 season.
Hernandez has become the face of Seattle's struggling franchise, transforming from a curly haired 19-year-old who wore his hat crooked to one of the most dominant and exciting pitchers in baseball. Known as "King Felix," he became the first Seattle pitcher to throw a perfect game in a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay last August.
His fiery enthusiasm on the mound and his willingness to first sign a long-term deal in 2010 have endeared him to fans in the Pacific Northwest who have gone more than a decade without seeing postseason baseball.
Hernandez, who will turn 27 on April 8, is 98-76 with a 3.22 ERA in eight seasons with the Mariners. He won a career-high 19 games in 2009 when he finished second in the Cy Young voting then won the award a year later when he went just 13-12 but had a 2.27 ERA and 232 strikeouts.
Hernandez appeared to be making another Cy Young push last year before going 0-4 in his last six starts, which left him at 13-9 with 223 strikeouts.
His career record would be even better if he didn't play with one of baseball's worst offenses. Seattle had the lowest batting average in the major leagues in each of the last three seasons. Hernandez has taken 10 losses during that span when he's given up two earned runs or less.
For his career, Hernandez has allowed two earned runs or less in 141 of 238 starts, but the team is only 99-42 in those games due to the offensive problems.
Locking up Hernandez long-term won't solve all of the problems that have left Seattle looking up at Texas, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angles in the AL West for most of the last 10 years. The Mariners have tried to address some of those issues this offseason by trading for Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse to provide more punch to go along with young prospects Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Jesus Montero, who have all shown flashes early in their careers.
But should the deal be finalized, the Mariners at least have the security of knowing who'll be at the top of their rotation for most of this decade.
The person spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because the agreement has not been completed. USA Today first reported the deal.
Seattle would add $134.5 million of guaranteed money over five years to the contract of the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, whose current agreement calls for him to receive $40.5 million over the next two seasons.
Hernandez's total dollars would top CC Sabathia's original $161 million, seven-year contract with the New York Yankees and his $25 million average would surpass Zack Greinke's $24.5 million under his new contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Hernandez's new money would average $26.9 million over five years, which would tie him for the second-highest average in baseball with Josh Hamilton and Ryan Howard behind Alex Rodriguez ($27.5 million).
Hernandez agreed to a $78 million, five-year contract in January 2010 and has earned an additional $2.5 million in escalators and $300,000 in bonuses. He is due $20 million this year and $20.5 million in 2014, which would be superseded by the new deal.
Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik said he could not comment when reached on Thursday, and Hernandez's representatives didn't immediately return messages.
If the deal is finalized, it would leave Detroit's Justin Verlander and the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw as the most attractive pitchers eligible for free agency after the 2014 season. Tampa Bay's David Price is eligible after the 2015 season.
Hernandez has become the face of Seattle's struggling franchise, transforming from a curly haired 19-year-old who wore his hat crooked to one of the most dominant and exciting pitchers in baseball. Known as "King Felix," he became the first Seattle pitcher to throw a perfect game in a 1-0 win over Tampa Bay last August.
His fiery enthusiasm on the mound and his willingness to first sign a long-term deal in 2010 have endeared him to fans in the Pacific Northwest who have gone more than a decade without seeing postseason baseball.
Hernandez, who will turn 27 on April 8, is 98-76 with a 3.22 ERA in eight seasons with the Mariners. He won a career-high 19 games in 2009 when he finished second in the Cy Young voting then won the award a year later when he went just 13-12 but had a 2.27 ERA and 232 strikeouts.
Hernandez appeared to be making another Cy Young push last year before going 0-4 in his last six starts, which left him at 13-9 with 223 strikeouts.
His career record would be even better if he didn't play with one of baseball's worst offenses. Seattle had the lowest batting average in the major leagues in each of the last three seasons. Hernandez has taken 10 losses during that span when he's given up two earned runs or less.
For his career, Hernandez has allowed two earned runs or less in 141 of 238 starts, but the team is only 99-42 in those games due to the offensive problems.
Locking up Hernandez long-term won't solve all of the problems that have left Seattle looking up at Texas, Oakland and the Los Angeles Angles in the AL West for most of the last 10 years. The Mariners have tried to address some of those issues this offseason by trading for Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse to provide more punch to go along with young prospects Dustin Ackley, Kyle Seager and Jesus Montero, who have all shown flashes early in their careers.
But should the deal be finalized, the Mariners at least have the security of knowing who'll be at the top of their rotation for most of this decade.
Mariners to Sacramento for kings any day
With your crown came....40 year-old Raúl Ibañez.
Who would play a game for fun? I thought that was the original intent.
Yanno? I LOVE our sports teams. Love baseball AND football. I respect our players that work their butts off to get where they are because it takes a LOT of hard work and dedication to be the best. It sure would be nice to be able to afford to take my family to a game or two to root on the home team, but I just can't afford it. I'm glad SOME people can, because if they couldn't, these insane salaries wouldn't get paid, and our sports teams would die out. I mean.......who would really play a GAME for FUN? That's nuts.
Is it any wonder that there are less and less people going to games as they continue raising the ticket prices to cover these glory boy's high priced salary's? Pretty soon Bill Gates will have a hard time buying a ticket to a game.
I'm glad the M's locked Felix in. We may not be the best team in MLB but we have the best pitcher. Go M's and good luck Felix in the upcoming season.Â
When is football season starting?
@MikeinMonroe Only 70 days till the Draft. Seahawks pick 25th :)
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Wow we have the homeless, the mentally handicapped, the many children that don't know where their next meal or bed is coming from! I could go on and on! This is just so wrong that one man gets so much money! Just not right.....
 @angeldove I bet the people who complain about such "economic injustice" aren't police officers, teachers, or social workers, and they likely aren't voicing their complaints for altruistic reasons.
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No, I think they are doing it because they are jealous because someone else has a lot of money while they have almost nothing, and they probably have no one to blame for that but themselves.
"Good Lawd dats à lots of moneh!" Well deserved though.
Kewl Beans
He/his arm won't last 7.
Oh well.
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It's good to know where my cable bills go.
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeet deal for playing really well at a kids game.Â
I want to be his newest best friend.
*yawn*
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Seattle has a baseball team???
 @quinoline2 It's as boring as watching the golf channel or the grass grow.Â
I like it when players say they love the game so much they'd play for free. Yeah right.
Sweet deal Felix, to bad its with the Mariners king of the bottom dwellers...
Umm okay, so now we can't pay for a good offense, great job management. I look forward to mediocrity as usual over the next 7 years
 @BluefireJaguar They have one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB, just got out from underneath Figgins and Ichiros horribly inflated contracts, have three pitchers in the minors who are projected to be outstanding pros, have some very young position players who had fairly productive 2012 season and will only get better, and brought in a couple of better than average batters....I'm not sure what else you want them to do. They can't sign free agents when there are no good free agent to sign.
Poor Felix.. He'll never see post season baseball in his career. What a waste.Â
 @BravesPackersCougzSounders You have very strange team allegiances.
Who wants to bet he has 2 good seasons, the Mariners go nowhere, and then the Yankees buy out his contract?Â
 @lakeview The Yankees are realizing that all of the talent they paid big bucks on in recent years is getting old and no longer putting up superstar numbers. Few clubs will pick up those salaries and the Yanks give a lot of their young talent depth to get the big names. I think the Yankees will be fighting the bottom of the AL East this year.
 @acmariner99  @lakeview They're projected to win 86-89 games this year. That will pretty much put them in the middle of the pack of the AL East and out of playoff contention. The Red Sox will be at the bottom of the division.
 @lakeview I'll bet against it. The Yankees are falling apart with tons of top-heavy contracts and an owner that is not as irresponsible as Hank or George Steinbrenner. Additionally, the amount of talent that the M's would want back in return would make it difficult for the Yanks to give up the prospects (they're top heavy in the minors with not much after AAA).
Most of us can't even find a job that pays .5% of this guy's salary. And we have to work all year round and go to school for a long time. Congrats on the big bucks. Go M's.
 @STK Most of us can't throw a perfect game either or even a 90 mph fast ball with no movement on it.
Myyy Oh Myyyyy!!!
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<3 Felix!!!
With the money being relative----Felix is probably  at the top of the list when it comes to quality/quantity of starts in MLB. The guy is a machine. Nasty stuff.
Good God can we keep politics out of this? Don't like baseball, don't watch it! I would like to see Felix have an offense that can hit so we don't rely exclusively on him and his fellow pitchers to win every game. He loves playing in Seattle and I would love to see this team do well enough to get us back into the playoffs.
YAY - Now Felix can finally share with Larry Bernandez!
Funny...Ichrio made approximately $20,000 for every at-bat. Were there this many complaints back then?? If you don't like it, don't go to the games.
@Evergreen Not a problem.
Good for you Felix if anyone deserves that kind of money you do.
He is the only one that can sell out the ball park. I hope they give him a team that can  hit and we might make .500 this year.
 @BocaBob Oh, but the Mariners just need to make their ball park smaller and then they will "hit," at least that is the common knowledge from this town's sports talking heads....
He's still going to end up on the Yankees eventually. Seattle is Yankees boot camp.
Baseball is like watching paint dry so boring but if I could pull that kind of cash from what I do I certainly wouldn't say "no thanks". People are envious of others that make so much money and we should all be thankful we have these oppties!!!
7 year deal means when it expires Felix will be 33 and probably past his prime. Until then look for some more quality years from Felix. Spring Training is right around the corner. Go M's!
The Mariners or any other sports or entertainment company can do what they want with their money, they can pay a player, actor/actress, musician etc. whatever they want. They are going to determine what that person can bring in revenue and assign a value.
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For everyone complaining about how "wrong" it is that teachers, doctors, firemen and police officers are paid tiny amounts and how it is absurd that an athlete/entertainer gets paid milliions...I have an idea.
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Sell tickets, to surgeries, fires, robberies, car accidents and classrooms.....add in concessions, merchandise for sale etc....if people show up the revenue will be there and now the justification is there to start paying the "everyday" job huge salaries!
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I know it sounds silly and I intended it to be to make my point......you cannot compare what 99.999% of the population makes/lives like to the .001% that fall into the category of a professional athlete, singer or other celebrity that can draw crowds and generate revenue. It is rather silly to be comparing what these guys make to any normal persons income...
 @justsumguy I think you are missing the point. I am keenly aware of what capitalism is and I am all for it, I just think it is sad our culture can justify such a rate of pay for entertainment.
 @aintno1special  @justsumguy God Bless America! This is a prime example of what "Land of Opportunity" means.
 @aintno1special  @Evergreen Now you're thinking!
 @Evergreen Maybe I should be happy, and just open a commerce that may cater to his and his entourage whims. We all know the vast majority of athletes paid the big bucks end up flat broke...can't live a $25million life style for ever...but maybe I can help spend it!
Disgusting! No one person should have that kind of money. All for throwing a ball around. The priorities in this country are a** backwards. Â Meanwhile the most powerful person in the world -the US President, makes ~250k a year.Â
 @HallandOates There is a show biz saying; "You'll make it up in the back end." Very true for ex-Presidents, especially Clinton...
 @HallandOates Yet he spends far more than any of us make. Including Felix.
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GO M's!
 @HallandOates If you don't go to games or buy the merchandise, you're not paying one iota of his salary. So why are you complaining? He's used his talent to maximize his earning potential.
 @HallandOates Its not like players in other countries don't make big bucks. Many footballers are filthy rich as well.Â
@HallandOates Why are you complaing...if you want to make 175 million all you have to do is throw a baseball as well as Felix Hernandez. No one is stopping you from doing it...
 @Larry Bernandez  @HallandOates I'm sure if he did he would instantly turn around and distribute it evenly amongst the masses.