Adam Lind signs four year deal

[Michael Bradley]

From Bastian's Twitter:

Jays have signed Adam Lind to extension - 4 years worth $18 million

Apparently it is four years with three club options. Sounds similar to the deal Aaron Hill signed a couple of years ago.

So the Jays are guaranteed to have Lind through his arbitration years, and maybe more than that depending on his performance from there.

If Lind hits anywhere near like he did in 2009 moving forward, that's a pretty good deal. Remember he is a DH with no defensive value so everything will be tied to his offense. He has to hit. Regardless, this gives the team cost certainty on one of their best players for the next few years which is definitely a good thing with Vernon's noose still around the team's neck.

(Edit) More from Bastian:

Lind will earn $400K this year with a $600K bonus. Will earn $5m in each of 2011-13 seasons. $2m buyout for '14 makes it $18m guaranteed.

Club options are on a year by year basis in the offseasons before the 2014, 2015, 2016 seasons.

[Schad]

Great deal, and I love that AA copied the format of the Hill deal. It's all reward, little risk; $16m guaranteed over four years plus a $2m buyout is pocket change, and easily absorbed even if his performance was a one-year fluke.

The only possible way that we could get bitten is if Lind plays well enough to have the team buy in for the options, and immediately turns back into a pumpkin...and even then, $40-45m over three years won't cripple the franchise.

Edit: never mind the second paragraph, I missed the fact that the COs are year-to-year. Wow, that makes it even better; Hill's are a one-time opt-in.

[MGD24]

great deal!

still impressed with AA

[Brinbe]

AA getting it done! Love it

[youngLion]

This is clearly an awesome deal. Now if only AA could just convince Cito to move Snider up in the lineup...

[Schad]

...$40-45m over three years won't cripple the franchise.

Looks like I was off by, say, 50%...the options are:

2014 - $7m ($2m buyout)
2015 - $7.5m ($1m buyout)
2016 - $8m ($500k buyout)

That's a grand total of 7 possible years, maxing out at a shade under $40m, an average of less than $6m/year for his age 26-32 years, if he pans out. That's absurdly cheap, and it comes with so many loopholes that the Jays hold every card.

He should really fire his agent, honestly. It's that bad for him.

[5DOM]

I don't follow baseball much, but this sounds like a **** deal

Definitely huge FAIL by his agent

[OldNo7]

Fantastic deal for the Jays. Fantastic job by AA. He single handedly has made the Jays more exciting/interesting just by being hired.

[FreeAgent]

I read AA negotiated the Hill deal too, so if true, he's really done a great job with extending our good core players to long term contracts at very, VERY reasonable prices.

[ghostinthepost]

Great deal. Having him and Hill locked up will make up for the year if it goes as bad as i think it may

[Hoopstarr]

Good analysis of the deal: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.ph ... adam-lind/

[Schad]

I think that the boost in his trade value is the best part...if he can piece together another good year or two, he'll fetch quite a bit, because this will make him attractive to some of the lower-budget, more risk-adverse teams.

[Hoopstarr]

I think that the boost in his trade value is the best part...if he can piece together another good year or two, he'll fetch quite a bit, because this will make him attractive to some of the lower-budget, more risk-adverse teams.

Maybe he could be the fall-back option for the Red Sox if they don't get A-Gonz...?

[DonYon]

I think that the boost in his trade value is the best part...if he can piece together another good year or two, he'll fetch quite a bit, because this will make him attractive to some of the lower-budget, more risk-adverse teams.

why would they trade away a silver slugger with a cheap contract? we should be contending well before the end of his contract anyway

[Schad]

I think that the boost in his trade value is the best part...if he can piece together another good year or two, he'll fetch quite a bit, because this will make him attractive to some of the lower-budget, more risk-adverse teams.

why would they trade away a silver slugger with a cheap contract? we should be contending well before the end of his contract anyway

Well, I have doubts that he'll be able to put up an OPS above .900 indefinitely...he's still fairly young, but he'll be around 30 by the time we're anything close to competitive. Same goes for Hill, though Hill's defensive work means that he'll likely be very useful even if his bat slows a little.

[northernpuppy]

I think that the boost in his trade value is the best part...if he can piece together another good year or two, he'll fetch quite a bit, because this will make him attractive to some of the lower-budget, more risk-adverse teams.

why would they trade away a silver slugger with a cheap contract? we should be contending well before the end of his contract anyway

Well, I have doubts that he'll be able to put up an OPS above .900 indefinitely...he's still fairly young, but he'll be around 30 by the time we're anything close to competitive. Same goes for Hill, though Hill's defensive work means that he'll likely be very useful even if his bat slows a little.

Even still, I wouldn't deal Lind unless two things happen: (a) we have an influx of OFs or a wealth of power hitting, **** defensive players and (b) we are dangled some key prospects for Lind.

Lind should really considering firing his agent. I would have at least threw some performance bonuses in there so that if his ascension of stats wasn't a fluke, he'd be properly rewarded.

Great job AA!

[Relentless88]

Great deal. AA continues his impressive off season work.

[SharoneWright]

[satyr9]

Was Lind going to be arby next year? I like the deal, I'm just curious. Did he have enough service time prior to last year that he'd be making money next year? I'm guessing no so the guaranteed portions are buying out his last rookie year and his 3 years of arby. Meaning he gets his money guaranteed at least two years early, which for any athlete has to be a huge relief (imagine being a big time pro athlete on the rookie scales, knowing you've just got to stay healthy for two more years...

I like these deals, where we guarantee you your arby money at a pretty high rate if you give us the option to keep you beyond arby for a couple years at, if you play like you have, a very reasonable discounted rate. I won't be shocked at all to see way more mid-market ball clubs try and use this to lock their young stars up longer. The only thing, if I were an agent, that I'd change would be I'd include some attainable year targets that bump up those player option numbers, because there is a possibility Lind gets to years 5-7 of this looking like an enormous bargain. I wouldn't hate on his agent for it, 'cause if I feel like getting that guaranteed contract years early has a lot of value. I feel like this is reasoned and a rational compromise, but in comparison to what some others have gotten, it's not exactly in line with precedent, so you can nail him for that.

[evilRyu]

...$40-45m over three years won't cripple the franchise.

Looks like I was off by, say, 50%...the options are:

2014 - $7m ($2m buyout)
2015 - $7.5m ($1m buyout)
2016 - $8m ($500k buyout)

That's a grand total of 7 possible years, maxing out at a shade under $40m, an average of less than $6m/year for his age 26-32 years, if he pans out. That's absurdly cheap, and it comes with so many loopholes that the Jays hold every card.

He should really fire his agent, honestly. It's that bad for him.

The bolded parts were my impression as well.. my goodness, what a bargain we got.. I almost can't believe it.. but I'm guessing it has a lot to do with the fact that he'll be doing a lot of DH