Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com reported it's a 4-year, $28 million deal that could be worth as much as $32 million. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports corroborated the report, adding Guerrero will get a $10 million signing bonus.
Original reports had the deal at 7 years and $32 million. Then the next report had it at 5 years, $32 million. this deal is much more paletable and better for all involved.
Guerrero, 26, will make his MLB debut in his age-27 season. There's no guarantee Guerrero will be good enough to justify a 7-year commitment, so a 4-year deal seems just right.
Guerrero played shortstop in Cuba, but almost everyone believes he'll be a second baseman in the majors. The Dodgers have a gaping hole at the position, so it makes sense.
This spells the end of the Mark Ellis era as the Dodgers' starting second baseman and likely takes the Dodgers out of the bidding for Yankees' free agent to be Robinson Cano.
With this kind of contract and a full winter, I'd be shocked if Guerrero isn't the Dodgers' starting second baseman for both opening days in 2014.
This is just the first of what I expect to be many and potentially impactful offseason moves for the Dodgers. After falling short in the NLCS, they need to get stronger at a couple positions and have some quality depth. That depth was tested this season, and it wasn't that great.
I'm just glad the Guerrero saga is over. Now, when is Masahiro Tanaka getting posted...?
If he's decent, it could be enough to put the dodgers over already. I know it's a lot to put on a rookie, but the dodgers weakness was creating runs off of the 1 million hits they had. Guerrero would help add consistency.
ReplyDelete