It’s real! It’s really real! Yu Darvish is now officially a Chicago Cub.
The #Cubs and RHP Yu Darvish have agreed to terms on a six-year contract through the 2023 season.
ダルビッシュ有投手とカブスが2023年までの6年契約を結びました。 ようこそ、@faridyu! pic.twitter.com/2dNgheAbx8
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 13, 2018
The contract is worth $126 million over those six years, giving it an average annual value (which matters for luxury tax purposes) of $21 million. It’s actually paid out like this: $25M in 2018, $20M in 2019, $22M in 2020, $22M in 2021, $19M in 2022, and $18M in 2023.
Darvish gets a full no-trade clause for the first two years, and then a 12-team no-trade list after that. He also has escalators built into his contract that would increase his salary the year after he finishes 2 through 5 in Cy Young voting ($1M) or wins the award ($2M).
Darvish also gets the right to opt out of the agreement after 2019, which is interesting, since the deal is slightly front-loaded. If he were to opt out at that point, he’d have made $45 million for two seasons, or $22.5M in AAV. The Cubs would then have to “true-up” their luxury tax payroll by adding the extra $3M ($1.5M for each year) to their 2020 payroll. It’s a nice way to give Darvish a little more up front as an enticement to sign, but not risk mucking up the 2018 payroll for luxury tax purposes.
And … HE HAS ARRIVED:
It begins… pic.twitter.com/UOOJdxy4cH
— Sahadev Sharma (@sahadevsharma) February 13, 2018
.@faridyu and his gold-glove right fielder. pic.twitter.com/3JIinRx0DP
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) February 13, 2018