Peralta signed to multi-year deal

[consigliere]

Per Mark Scwab, Peralta signed to a multi-year deal. 5 year deal at least as it is suppoed to maybe have a 6th year as an option....to be announced tomorrow. Just announced on WTAM.

[pup]

Good work Tribe. Very impresses they got this done now. Any guess on $$$?

[consigliere]

The deal will probably be something like Victor's 5 year $15.5M (with a 6th year option at $7M) deal he signed last year.

Also, according to Scwabby, they are working dilligently on multi-year deals with Sizemore and Lee. Given that Peralta has now signed, I would be very surprised if Lee and Sizemore were not locked up to long-term deals in the next 2 - 4 weeks. They seem to be following the model from last year when they signed Sabathia, Hafner and Victor to long-term deals within like 10 days of each other in early April.

[consigliere]

http://www.cleveland.com/newslogs/plain ... tml#119883

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- The Indians have signed shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a five-year contract worth an estimated $13 million. The announcement was to be made at an 11:30 a.m. press conference in Winter Haven on Friday. The deal includes a club option for a sixth year.

[Steve Buffum]

The Indians have signed shortstop Jhonny Peralta to a five-year contract worth an estimated $13 million.

I know this is perfectly reasonable and how the system works for young players and is fair and all that, but ...

... is still feels like stealing.

[consigliere]

Ah, yes.

The system is sort of backwards. I think the best years of a players career is probably in years 3-8. The funny thing with the system, is they are underpaid when they are most production and in their prime....then when they hit FA at age 28-30, they have usually plateaued and are about to hit the decline but are overpaid.

[consigliere]

From the official site:

The base of the contract will pay Peralta approximately $13 million over the five years, and the option is worth $7 million, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The shortstop also received a $1.25 million signing bonus.

While the base is less than the $15.5 million base Peralta's teammate, Victor Martinez, pulled in last spring with his five-year deal, it's worth noting that Peralta will be receiving the second-highest salary among pre-arbitration shortstops in Major League history.

Only Nomar Garciaparra, who received a five-year, $23.25 million deal from the Red Sox in 1998, made more before arbitration than Peralta will.

[BruceK]

IIRC, most of the current sabrmetric research shows that players peak in years 27-30, give or take a year.

That means, only the players that get to the majors early (like at 21 or 22) will be hitting their first free agency contact and the beginning of their peak years at about the same time.