Cardinals extend Carpenter's Contract

[beer_man]

This is being reported by Leach...

 

Cardinals just announced they signed Carpenter to an extension. His 2007 incentives are now guaranteed, his 2008 option is guaranteed, and he's signed through 2011 with an option for 2012. Don't have dollars yet. Stay tuned.

 

-M.

 

http://yourenotagolfer.mlblogs.com/

[goonys evil twin]

Considering they had him under control through 2008 at a reasonable cost, I have to guess he gave them a significant hometown discount for those later years.

[Burtonbell]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-cardinals-carpenter&prov=ap&type=lgns

 

This link says he gets $65-$77 mil extra, that includes the $9mil buyout for the 08 season.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Considering they had him under control through 2008 at a reasonable cost, I have to guess he gave them a significant hometown discount for those later years.

 

Doesn't appear to be so. It looks like they left the next two years alone but the contract averages out to 13 mil per year. So he'll be making 16 mil or so in '09 and '10.

[tkenm356]

Here it is again:

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2686240

 

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals agreed Monday to a five-year contract that guarantees the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner about $65 million.

 

Carpenter had been signed through 2007 as part of an agreement that called for a $7 million salary next year. The Cardinals exercised his 2008 option at $9 million as part of the new agreement and added guaranteed years for 2009, 2010 and 2011 plus a club option for 2012. If the new option is exercised, the deal would be worth about $77 million.

[Balsa]

Well he is one of the best pitchers in the NL. Wish he was on our team...

[ToupeeOnFire]

I would be happy if we could extend Zambrano for that amount.

[nilodnayr]

I would be happy if we could extend Zambrano for that amount.

 

I hope we can get Z for less than Soriano $

[nilodnayr]

This now makes Carp the games highest paid pitcher (from a luxury tax perspective), does it not? At least until Clemen's decides what he's doing.

[NorthsideAvenger]

Now if there is any justice in the baseball, Carp will not be as effective during the contract, and becomes a MORE expensive Jeff Suppan. If there is any justice.

[wolf stansson]

This now makes Carp the games highest paid pitcher (from a luxury tax perspective), does it not? At least until Clemen's decides what he's doing.

Until Zito signs.

[jjgman21]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

[wolf stansson]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

Or at least one year. I think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to be able to sign or trade for a good starter and not wanting Carp to feel undervalued if the guy makes more than him.

[jjgman21]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

Or at least one year. I think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to be able to sign or trade for a good starter and not wanting Carp to feel undervalued if the guy makes more than him.

 

maybe that is the case and they know a surgically repaired wing can't last much longer throwing all those curveballs and the majority of the contract will be paid by insurance anyway.

[nilodnayr]

This now makes Carp the games highest paid pitcher (from a luxury tax perspective), does it not? At least until Clemen's decides what he's doing.

Until Zito signs.

 

If Zito signs for more money than every report and prediction has him signing for. Which could be true, but not definite. No one has Zito at 16.66M

[NoDak]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

Or at least one year. I think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to be able to sign or trade for a good starter and not wanting Carp to feel undervalued if the guy makes more than him.

 

maybe that is the case and they know a surgically repaired wing can't last much longer throwing all those curveballs and the majority of the contract will be paid by insurance anyway.

 

I think that this is a good deal by the Cardinals. They are looking at the market this year and saying, "This guy will cost us a fortune when he can be a free agent. By negotiating an extension now we have more leverage because we can walk away from the negotiations and he is still under contract."

 

As for injury concerns, he has thrown approximately 645 innings in the last 3 years. He is in his early thirties so I don't think it is terribly likely that he will suddenly revert back to injury problems.

 

When this contract ends in 6 years (2012) he will be in his upper 30's and while probably not winning Cy Young awards is unlikely to be a "bad" pitcher. While he may be somewhat overpaid for the last 1-2 years, I think this is a very good risk for STL to take.

 

That's why, as a Cub fan, I hate this deal. :cry:

[nilodnayr]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

Or at least one year. I think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to be able to sign or trade for a good starter and not wanting Carp to feel undervalued if the guy makes more than him.

 

maybe that is the case and they know a surgically repaired wing can't last much longer throwing all those curveballs and the majority of the contract will be paid by insurance anyway.

 

I think that this is a good deal by the Cardinals. They are looking at the market this year and saying, "This guy will cost us a fortune when he can be a free agent. By negotiating an extension now we have more leverage because we can walk away from the negotiations and he is still under contract."

 

As for injury concerns, he has thrown approximately 645 innings in the last 3 years. He is in his early thirties so I don't think it is terribly likely that he will suddenly revert back to injury problems.

 

When this contract ends in 6 years (2012) he will be in his upper 30's and while probably not winning Cy Young awards is unlikely to be a "bad" pitcher. While he may be somewhat overpaid for the last 1-2 years, I think this is a very good risk for STL to take.

 

That's why, as a Cub fan, I hate this deal. :cry:

The injury concern is that he is one of the very very few pitchers that has come back from the shoulder surgery he had performed on him. He has recently been healthy and pitched very well, but there is no precident to how long his reconstructed shoulder will be able to last.

[ZFan38]

This now makes Carp the games highest paid pitcher (from a luxury tax perspective), does it not? At least until Clemen's decides what he's doing.

Until Zito signs.

 

If Zito signs for more money than every report and prediction has him signing for. Which could be true, but not definite. No one has Zito at 16.66M

 

I thought Texas had 6 years at $102 million on the table?

[NoDak]

not that I mind, but why on earth would the Cardinals do this without letting the next two years play out?

Or at least one year. I think a lot of it has to do with them wanting to be able to sign or trade for a good starter and not wanting Carp to feel undervalued if the guy makes more than him.

 

maybe that is the case and they know a surgically repaired wing can't last much longer throwing all those curveballs and the majority of the contract will be paid by insurance anyway.

 

I think that this is a good deal by the Cardinals. They are looking at the market this year and saying, "This guy will cost us a fortune when he can be a free agent. By negotiating an extension now we have more leverage because we can walk away from the negotiations and he is still under contract."

 

As for injury concerns, he has thrown approximately 645 innings in the last 3 years. He is in his early thirties so I don't think it is terribly likely that he will suddenly revert back to injury problems.

 

When this contract ends in 6 years (2012) he will be in his upper 30's and while probably not winning Cy Young awards is unlikely to be a "bad" pitcher. While he may be somewhat overpaid for the last 1-2 years, I think this is a very good risk for STL to take.

 

That's why, as a Cub fan, I hate this deal. :cry:

The injury concern is that he is one of the very very few pitchers that has come back from the shoulder surgery he had performed on him. He has recently been healthy and pitched very well, but there is no precident to how long his reconstructed shoulder will be able to last.

 

That is a good point and well worth considering. Generally a rule of thumb that I use is that if a player has 3 consecutive years of few or any significant injuries serious enough to go onto the DL for an extended period fo time I take him off of my "injury prone" list. This is far from a perfect way to judge and I am open to discussion on it.

 

I still feel that this was a worthwhile investment for STL. Before his return the the cards a couple of years ago I voiced on the cards message board that he was coming off of major surgery/injury but he has shown over the past 3 seasons to have shown few if any ill effects from it so while history does not predict the future it is an indicator of what is likely to happen.

 

As I said in my original post, if they don't re-negotiated his contract and he does stay healthy when his FA comes along to keep him they would likely have to sign him for even more money (past success, even in the remote past, will up the perceived value of a player) and they would likely have to be paying him the high salary at an older age because otherwise he would possibly jump ship for another team willing to take a high risk on him.

[jjgman21]

 

That is a good point and well worth considering. Generally a rule of thumb that I use is that if a player has 3 consecutive years of few or any significant injuries serious enough to go onto the DL for an extended period fo time I take him off of my "injury prone" list. This is far from a perfect way to judge and I am open to discussion on it.

 

 

Pitcher A

 

2001 28 starts

2002 33 starts

2003 32 starts

 

Player B

 

2004 28 starts

2005 33 starts

2006 32 starts