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Miami Marlins Sign Christian Yelich To A Long-Term Extension

During the offseason, the Miami Marlins signed Giancarlo Stanton to a monstrous 13 year extension. They continued securing their future on Wednesday, signing outfielder Christian Yelich to a 7-year, $49.5 million extension that includes a team option for an 8th year. The news was first broken on Twitter by former Marlin third baseman Mike Lowell.

Giancarlo Stanton is clearly the Marlins’ best position player and one of the most recognizable faces in baseball, but Christian Yelich was quietly the second best Marlin last season. According to fWAR, Yelich was the 15th best outfielder in baseball in 2014 and the 3rd best left fielder, behind only Alex Gordon and Michael Brantley. Yelich won the National League Gold Glove award for his defense.

By Fangraphs’ calculations, Yelich’s 4.3 fWAR was worth $23.9 million in 2014 alone. With this new contract, the Marlins locked him up for 7 years at a price of only double what his previous season was worth. It is the second largest contract for a player with less than two years of service time, but it is certainly well deserved. Yelich is already great and is only getting better. He posted a 1.4 fWAR with questionable defense in his rookie season of 2013 but improved in all aspects in 2014, posting a .284/.362/.402 line with Gold Glove defense.

Projections for 2015 have Yelich in a similar range as 2014, with Steamer at the low-end (3.0 fWAR) and the Fans at the high-end (4.5 fWAR). Either way, everyone can agree that with Yelich and Stanton as Marlins for at least the next seven years, the outfield should be in good shape.

Author: David Marcillo

David has been a Marlins fan since 1993. ’97 and ’03 were nice. Best of times, worst of times, mediocre times in between.

You can follow David on Twitter: @DavidMarcillo77 or you can email: [email protected]

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