More on the Felix Hernandez extension.  A couple of hours ago Jon Heyman tweeted the contract details:

$3.5M signing bonus
2010: $6.5M
2011: $10M
2012: $18.5M
2013: $19.5M
2014: $20M

Adding up to $78M, the previously reported figure. Cot’s Baseball Contracts has the escalators being $1M for Cy Young, $500K for 2nd place and $250K for 3rd place.  I must have missed where that was reported, but I trust Cot’s.  (Edit: see update at the bottom)

Also, this deal is not official, so there is always the possibility of some last minute changes.  I’m probably jumping the gun.

The signing bonus and 2010 salary add up to exactly what Felix was expected to make via the arbitration process.  Most estimates pegged him between $9-10M, and indeed Felix submitted $11.5M and the Mariners submitted $7.2M.  Of course, there’s no telling when the signing bonus is paid (the term “signing bonus” makes it sound like it’s the first check being cashed, but sometimes signing bonuses are deferred).

Then, in 2011 he gets just $10M again, saving the Mariners a good chunk of change versus what they would have paid him in arb-3.  This will give Seattle a little more money to play with next offseason, which is great because next offseason they’ll be looking to re-sign/replace Cliff Lee and will probably be looking for a bat at 1B, DH and/or LF.

The big money kicks in for the 2012 season, and that is by design.  The Mariners don’t have many contracts extending that far, so they have plenty of time to work around it.  Ichiro will be in the last year of his deal and is scheduled to make ~$16M.  Chone Figgins will be making $9M.  Franklin Gutierrez figures to be making about $6M (his contract breakdown hasn’t been released as far as I know).  Those four are the only ones* guaranteed a salary in 2012, and will take up about $50M in payroll. That’s a pretty good bunch to put half your payroll into, especially when you consider that Richie Sexson, Jose Vidro, Carlos Silva, Jarrod Washburn and Miguel Batista were taking up the same amount in 2008 (h/t LL).

*Dustin Ackley is also guaranteed, but he’ll be making relative pennies.  Most of his cash came in the form of a signing bonus.  Ian Snell has a spendy 2012 option that probably won’t be picked up without major improvements.

No need to worry about 2013, because the world is going to end in 2012.

By 2013 it’s the same group of guys minus Ichiro (unless we extend Ichiro again, which would be fantastic), and we’re back to wondering if Felix is on the trading block or if we can afford to re-sign him again (assuming he remains awesome).

I like the way this contract is built.  It’s backloaded, giving Seattle some early flexibility and allowing Zduriencik to strategically place his big payroll drains.  It’s nice to see some sort of plan from our front office, rather than just piling up big contracts to non-cornerstones.

More later(?) after this marinates a bit.

Addendum: I would think that the heavily backloaded deal is something team Felix could have been pushing for as well.  He gets all the money regardless, but by giving him $20M one year it gives his agent the ability to use that dollar figure in his next negotiations if he should be talking with any of the top tier payroll teams.

Addendum 2: Jeff at Lookout Landing with an important thought with regards to the incentives:

There are also some award bonuses, where Felix earns $1m for winning the Cy Young, $500k for coming in second, and $250k for coming in third. Now here there’s a little uncertainty. Cot’s is saying those would be one-time awards, but what I’m being told is that this may instead be similar to the old JJ contract, where all future salaries increase by the amount of the award. So, for example, if Felix were to win the Cy Young next season, it would be worth $5m, not $1m. But I’m not sure. This is just something to keep in mind until we find out.