As expected, the Chicago Cubs and Carlos Marmol today agreed to a three-year extension, which buys out his final two years of arbitration and first year of free agency. We’re still waiting on the official announcement, but the deal is expected to be in the $20 to 23 million range, and Bruce Levine hears the same. Marmol requested $5.65 million for 2011 and the Cubs offered $4.1 million. Thus, if you figure he’d get about $5 million in 2011, $7 million in 2012, and then $9 million in his first year of free agency, about $21 million sounds right.
Once it’s official, we’ll update this post to reflect the final details.
UPDATE: Multiple sources say the final figure is expected to be $20 million (if so, I’d be surprised if there aren’t a number of incentives built in). That sounds about right, if on the low end. Marmol gets slightly less money than he might have if he’d gone year-to-year, but in exchange, he gets a whole lot of financial certainty. Remember this is a guy who’s only (ha, only) made a few million thus far in his career.
UPDATE II: Well, the breakdown is less encouraging. Marmol will get just $3.2 million this year, $7 million next year, and then $9.8 million in 2013 – the Cubs have basically deferred some of this year’s salary until 2013. Normally, that would be fine, but that problem is, sigh, Marmol has been given a limited no-trade clause. Thus, should the Cubs decide they want to move him in a couple years, it will be doubly hard: first, he’ll have a salary near $10 million, and he’ll be able to veto various trade proposals. I understand that money is tight this year, but kicking the can down the road simply makes the can even more of a pain in the ass when you happen upon it again. What happens when money is tight in 2013?
Bad Hendry rears his head again. Guess you can’t go a whole offseason without handing out a no trade clause
Excellent deal. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to wrap up one of the younger top closers in baseball through his arbitration years. If you have any kind of faith in this guy, this was the right move to make. Considering that most of the top closers make 10 million plus a year, the no trade clause was a small price to pay for the on field value they just locked up. Having to pay Marmol 9 million dollars will be a huge bargain in two years if he continues to pitch the way he has.
But he was already wrapped up for 67% of that deal. In exchange for a little salary relief this year (to be paid in the third year), Hendry gave Marmol a NTC for all three years. That just seems imprudent.
I get what you are saying, what I am saying is that third year is going to be a bargain by a couple of million. The Cubs should save on all three years of this deal. If Marmol keeps going to arbitration, based on the way Papelbon and a few others contracts escalated, I think he would eventually reach Papelbon’s 12 million dollar arbitration number. It’s without a doubt, a good value this year. If he continues to pitch as well as he has, the next two years will become value years as well. The no trade clause should be inconsequential anyway, we’ve watched 13 different closers try their hand since 99, and Marmol just had the best season of any of them, why would you want him to go anywhere?
Long term contracts for relievers are practically certain to be an albatross, at least historically. What stinks is that we were under zero obligation to even hassle with Marmol for TWO more years.
WTF?
Give him his extra million this year to keep him happy. Don’t give a guy a 3-year contract.
Typical JH.
why does everyone we sign seem 2 get a no-trade deal
[...] 12 (7:43pm CT): Oh my, forgot about this – Marmol has a limited no-trade clause. Alden Gonzalez says he waived it to go to the Angels, so it may have been a total non-issue, but [...]