As I understand it, we have him under control for those 9 years, and he has the ability to opt out of his salary in favor of arbitration when the time comes. He has to be up for good by 2016, right? He's burning option years in the minors now. If he does come up for the first time in 2016 and sticks, he will have 5 years left on the deal so at the end of the contract he should only be arbitration eligible, and not a free agent. No? You can write in language that says the team is not allowed to offer arbitration at the end, or something like that, which effectively makes the player a free agent.