Buster Olney is reporting that Curtis Granderson has signed a multiyear contract. Terms weren’t not available. More to come later. (h/t Motown Sports)
UPDATE: It’s official. A five year deal with a club option for 2013. The Tigers buyout his arbitration years and first year of free agency. ESPN reports that the contract is for $30.25 million. Not sure on the option at this point. It’s a great deal for the Tigers. Again, more to come later.
Notes from the conference call
- Dombrowski is thrilled and said it “is a great day for the Tigers organization.”
- Granderson is excited to be a part of this (the team, the city) for a long time to come.
- Granderson’s agent Matt Brown said that it was great dealing with John Westhoff and Dave Dombrowski. He also thanked Mike Ilitch for the confidence that he showed.
- Granderson is excited and appreciative that it got done now, knowing that the Tigers didn’t have to make a move like this at this time (not being arb or FA eligible)
- On the length of the contract and possibly foregoing bigger dollars, Granderson recognized that he got some security and that he doesn’t know what could happen over the next 5 years. Brown followed up and noted that in these types of situations the club is assuming all the risk, but that it’s a win for both sides because he’s at the top of the heap for pre-arbitration players.
- Dombrowski said his willingness to do a long term deal was due to how good Granderson is. Plus, not being a pitcher Granderson doesn’t present as big of an injury risk. The skill and the make-up of Granderson along with his willingness to stay are what made it possible.
- Granderson views the Tigers as a second family. Everything since he signed with the organization has been positive.
- Curtis said his areas for improvement were hitting left handers more consistently, continuing to cut down and strike outs, and improving in the outfield. He’s sure he’ll have more things to focus on in 2009 and will learn by watching the veterans on the team.
- Granderson’s plans for the evening are to pack to head down to spring training.
- Dombrowski said the trades of Gorkys Hernandez and Cameron Maybin didn’t factor into the decision to lock up Curtis.
- Granderson’ celebratory meal was a McDonald’s extra value meal plus a double cheeseburger off the dollar menu.
Analysis
There’s not much to analyze except to say “Yay!” Granderson on the open market is a $100 million player. Of course Granderson didn’t get “taken” on this deal because he isn’t eligible for the free agent market. The only leverage that Granderson has at this point is to say no to a long term contract. And being faced with $30 million or $500,000ish, it’s easy to see why he’d take the money and the security. Not to mention he is sticking with an organization that he likes, and figures to be a contender for a good chunk of his contract.
From the Tigers stand point, they take on the risk at this point. If Granderson’s career takes an unfortunate ending due to injury the Tigers are left holding the bag. In their favor though is the fact that even if Granderson is average they’ll still come out ahead. And when factoring in his defense (not to mention his work ethic and all his other qualities), he stands to be easily better than average. While being better than 2007 will be difficult (though not at all impossible), his future is still bright.
His projections for this year (Bill James, Marcel, Chone, PECOTA ZiPS) range from an OPS of 806 to 882. So he figures to be somewhere between good and really good. Plus he’s now locked up for his peak seasons with some very palatable cost certainty. The contract will pay Granderson $1 million this year, $3.5 million in 2009, $5.5 million in 2010, $8.25 million in 2011, and $10 million in 2012. Even the 2013 option is affordable at $13 million (with a $2 million buyout).
And then there is the off the field stuff. Normally “off-the-field-stuff” conjures up bad images. But Granderson is becoming the face of the franchise on a team with multiple All Stars and potential Hall of Famers. He’s entrenched himself in the community and been exceedingly accessible. He could be the next long term Tiger and as an unabashed fan I hope he is.
The contract is par for the course with the Tigers who are taking care of their own and locking up a team to make a run for the next several years. This deal pushes the team payroll over $133 million this year and $99 million in 2009 (with only 12 players signed).
Boy, I hope it’s a long one. Cabrera next.
5 years, $30.25 million. Club option for a 6th year.
5 years at just over $30M…buys out 1 year of Free agency
Fantastic signing. This one will look like a steal by the time it is up…
Dave Dombrowski. The Anti-Millen.
Good for the Tigers and good for Curtis. I love watching him play and hope he continues to get better and better. Keep cutting down on those K’s and improve against lefties and there will be no stopping him….
Very, very smart Tigers’ organization. Can you even imagine anyone else in CF?
Yeah! A good deal for both, by inital appearances…Curtis is the kind of guy who’d be a wonderful career-long Tiger!
Good deal. Don’t know how you couldn’t like the deal at all. Coming off of his 07 season, I think he could’ve commanded a lot more.
i guess they won’t be bringing nook logan back LOL.
Great, great deal. If they can get Cabrera and Verlander to sign six year extensions, this team will be near the top of the AL for years to come.
Nice Deal for the Tigers and Granderson. What a nice young ballpayer and maybe a nicer individual.
-Sam
This is awesome! I’ve been waiting for this all off-season.
Atta Curtis! Another great move by DD.
Wow the Tigers are really showing that they are an elite baseball club. Granderson with that season could have commanded a huge payday. The terms and length are great. DD knows how to ink and lock up players for the good of the organization. Now to lock up Verlander and Miggy to at least 5 to 7 year extensions like Ryan said, and we will be a power for year to come.
time to celebrate with a 5$ large!
Good deal. It’s probably a bargain, particularly if you consider what guys like Juan Pierre, Gary Matthews Jr. and Torii Hunter got on the open market. Curtis will only be 32 by the time this contract expires, so the odds are good that he’ll be performing at a high level throughout the life of the deal. I’m pretty sure ’07 was probably his peak, but he still should put up some All Star caliber years in the future.
Unrelated note:
I found an interesting quote in an AP article about the Santana trade, and it surprised me:
(I hope my limited html formatting skills didn’t fail me).
The whole article is here:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-twins-thenewkids&prov=ap&type=lgns
That quote kind of caught me by surprise and upset me a bit. Early World Series favorite? He makes it sound like it is fact. Like there are no other teams that could be the favorite (like the Tigers, for one!)
What do you guys think? In my opinion, the Tigers are at least equally favored. At least. But then again, maybe I am being biased.
Well, jason, all I can say is ask the Patriots how it feels to be the “favorite”.
Granderson is NOT a 100-million dollar player on the open market.. not yet of course..
Come on Tigers fans… let’s be realistic.
Certainly not, but there is a lot of space between $30 million and $100 million that he could have ended up in reasonably, I think, on the open market. What makes this deal look so cheap is that the buyout of arbitration years is pretty cheap.
If you give Granderson a six year deal that pays him like a free agent with his projected worth over the next five years, it’d be close to $100M and probably more. Hunter just got what, 5/$90? Which player would you rather have over the next five years?
A $100 million deal isn’t that far fetched. His offense, and I’m not talking about his 2007 offense, combined with his defense and the fact he plays a premium defensive position makes him 4.5 to 5 wins above replacement. For a free agent the going rate is about $4.4 million/win above replacement. A 5 to 6 year deal as a free agent and you’re going over $100 million.