Pirates and starling marte agree on 6-year extension. Includes at least 1 optoon year as well. Pending physical.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) March 26, 2014
We can wait to see the terms and discuss this more when they come out, but I’ll tell you up front that there’s almost no way that this is a bad deal for the Pirates. Marte is young, has some incredible physical gifts, is a great defender, and could be quite a dynamic player with some improvement at the plate. Honestly, I think it’s a fair argument that (at least for now), he’s the Pirates’ second best position player. Having their two best position players under contract into free agency is a very good thing for the Pirates.
UPDATE: Jim Duquette has more details:
Source confirmed that the Marte deal is for 31 million – over 6 years.
— Jim Duquette (@Jim_Duquette) March 26, 2014
Source – also confirmed there are 2 club options on the deal for Marte
— Jim Duquette (@Jim_Duquette) March 26, 2014
Assuming that six years covers this year (update: it does), that covers all of Marte’s arbitration years and one year of free agency, with the two options giving the Pirates control of Marte’s first three years of free agency. Really, there’s almost nothing not to like about this deal from a Pirate fan’s perspective.
