I’ve been kind of out of it lately, so I’m going to keep this short.

The signing of Dustin Ackley isn’t newsworthy in itself, but it’s the particulars of the deal that are worth noting.

Ackley gets a $6M signing bonus, highest draft bonus in Seattle Mariners history.  Beyond that, Ackley received a major league 5 year deal worth $1.5M, with an additional $2.5M in “escalators.”  This means he lands on the 40-man roster immediately and will get paid more than league minimums for the next 5 years.  This DOES NOT mean he is a free agent after those five years.  The Mariners still have Ackley for six seasons, just like any other player.  The only way the big league deal hinders the Mariners is that they’ll have to burn up option years to assign him to a minor league club, including this year.

I’m not sure if they’re burn an option to get him into a minor league game this month, or if they’re willing to let him accrue some service time by bringing him up to Seattle once rosters expand.  If they’re unwilling to do either, the first time we’ll see him will be in the Arizona Fall League.

Further reading:

• Dave @ USSM on the signing
• Dave @ USSM on how the major league contract works
• Baker @ the Times with quotes from Zduriencik and additional info