Wells Done
Saturday, December 16 2006 @ 10:00 AM EST
Contributed by: Pistol
Jeff Blair writes that the Jays and Vernon Wells agreed to a contract on Friday night. Peter Gammons notes that the deal is pending the approval of the Player's Union.
Details of the contract:
- 7 years, $126 million, beginning in 2008. Includes a $25.5 million signing bonus, to be paid in $8.5 million installments in each of the first three years of the contract
- 2008 - $0.5 million + $8.5 million bonus
- 2009 - $1.5 million + $8.5 million bonus
- 2010 - $12.5 million + $8.5 million bonus
- 2011 - $23.0 million
- 2012 - $21.0 million
- 2013 - $21.0 million
- 2014 - $21.0 million.
- Potential Bonuses:
- $250,000 for MVP
- $200,000 for World Series MVP
- $150,000 for League
Championship Series MVP
- $100,000 for receiving the most votes in
his league in all-star balloting.
- Includes an opt-out clause after the fourth year (the 2011 season)
- The Sun notes that there's a full no-trade clause
The deal is significantly back loaded providing significant savings in 2008 & 2009 before jumping up to at least $21 million the remaining 5 years.
If Wells were to opt out of the contract it would be following the 2011 season (which coincides with the expiration of the current CBA). That means that the Jays have him locked up for the next 5 seasons. If Wells were to opt out he'd be giving up 3 years and $63 million. I think the chance of that happening is slim. He'd have to be playing as well as he did this year for it to even be a possibility. In the event that Wells did opt out and left the Jays the team would have paid him $63 million over the first four years of the new contract which would certainly be well below what he would sign next offseason.
121 comments
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20061216091026152