Written by Jon Heyman at FanRagSports.com
Young star starter Carlos Martinez and the St. Louis Cardinals will have extension that will keep Martinez in St. Louis for five years and guarantee him $51 million, sources tell FanRag Sports. The deal is a record for a first-time arbitration-eligible pitcher and breaks down as follows:
Carlos Martinez breakdown: 4.5M bonus and salary this year, 11.5M each year ’18 thru ’21, 500K buyout on 17M and 18M options
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 2, 2017
C-Mart can earn up to $85.5M on record deal. another big plus: even distribution from ’18 to ’21 at 11.5M (not backloaded)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 2, 2017
The Cardinals have made locking up the ultra-talented Martinez a priority for many months, and while a big early deal is coveted by many young stars, one wonders how much Martinez may also have been affected by the sad plights of countrymen Oscar Taveras, Yordano Ventura and Andy Marte, who were all teammates on the winter ball team Aguilas and died young in car accidents in the Dominican homeland. Taveras was also a Cardinals teammate and very close friend.
The deal brings certainty to Martinez, as well as obviously a windfall for a player who had never made more than $539,000 in a year, though of course if he continues on the path he’s been on, or he even out-pitches the early contract, as stars like Madison Bumgarner, Chris Sale and Jose Quintana have done, the contract may wind up very valuable to the Cardinals, as well.
It’s possible the deal also has team options.
It is also nice to deliver huge and good news to Cardinals Nation following a rough week when the Cardinals were fined $2 million and ordered to send their top two draft picks in this year’s draft to the Astros following the Hackgate scandal that landed the Cardinals’ former scouting director, Chris Correa, in prison for 46 months. MLB did not find wrongdoing on the Cardinals’ part beyond the employment of the convicted Correa in a key position, but it was an embarrassing episode, nonetheless.
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