Felix Hernandez signs 5-year $87 million contract
According to a source close to Buster Olney of ESPN the Magazine, Felix Hernandez signed a 5-year contract with the Mariners for approximately $80 million. Francisco Blavia commented on Twitter that the terms of the deal of 5 years and $78 million. At an average of $15.6 million per year, Felix is a steal relative to other pitchers of his caliber. CC Sabathia penned a deal with the Yankees for about $23 million per year for 7 years at the end of 2008 and Johan Santana got $20 million/year for 7 years, with the potential to make closer to $22 million with incentives. It remains to be seen whether Felix can continue to perform at the level he displayed in 2009, when he went 19-5 as runner up to Zack Greinke for the AL Cy Young award. Assuming he does, Felix will look like the pitching deal of the decade.
