Buster Posey Signs Largest Deal in Giants HIstory: 9-Years, $167M

(AP) Buster Posey gets $167M, 9-year deal from Giants
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Baseball Writer
SAN FRANCISCO
Buster Posey is the San Francisco Giants’ new franchise man.

The Giants rewarded NL MVP and batting champion with a $167 million, nine-year contract Friday, a deal that includes a club option for 2022 that could raise the value to $186 million over a decade.

Posey had been due to make $8 million this year. He instead gets a $7 million signing bonus, with $5 million payable Oct. 15 and the remainder Jan. 15, and his 2013 salary is reduced to $3 million.

He will make $10.5 million in 2014, $16.5 million in 2015, $20 million in 2016 and $21.4 million in each of the following five seasons. The Giants’ option is for $22 million with a $3 million buyout.

Posey’s agreement includes a full no-trade clause. Is the longest for a catcher and the largest in Giants history, surpassing Matt Cain’s $127.5 million, six-year contract signed before the start of last season.

In addition, the deal is a record guarantee for a player with fewer than three years of major league service time _ more than doubling the $80 million, seven-year contract Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez received before the 2011 season. It also is a record guarantee for a player with fewer than four years of service time, topping the $151.45 million over 11 years Colorado’s Todd Helton was assured in March 2001.

The Giants captured their second championship in three years behind the play of the All-Star, who won the NL batting title and MVP award after missing most of 2011 following season-ending left leg and ankle injury.

Posey batted .336 with 24 homers and 103 RBIs while playing 148 games for the NL West champions, including 111 starts at catcher and 29 at first base. During the Giants’ 2010 and ’12 championship runs, Posey has hit a combined .244 with four home runs and 14 RBIs _ two of those homers and five RBIs coming in last year’s NL division series against the Reds in which San Francisco became the first team in big league history to rally from a 2-0 deficit to win a five-game series with three straight road victories.

On May 25, 2011, Posey tore three ligaments in his left ankle and broke a bone in his lower leg in a devastating collision at the plate with Scott Cousins, then with the Marlins.

Posey received his nice payday two days after turning 26.

He could wind up playing his entire career in the Bay Area _ and the Giants certainly hope that will be the case. The club posted a photo on its Twitter account Friday of Posey, CEO Larry Baer, general manager Brian Sabean, vice president and assistant general manager Bobby Evans and manager Bruce Bochy _ with the hashtag “SFG4Life.”

The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year is represented by the same agency that negotiated Cain’s deal last year, and both sides were eager to do something again this year to lock Posey up for the long-term.

The contract includes the following bonuses: $100,000 for NL MVP, $100,000 for World Series MVP, $75,000 for NL championship series MVP, $50,000 for a Gold Glove, $50,000 for All-Star Game election, $25,000 for All-Star selection and $50,000 for a Silver Slugger.

In 2010, Posey wasn’t even called up from Triple-A Fresno until late May but still batted .305 with 18 home runs and 67 RBIs in 108 games to help the Giants capture their first NL West crown since 2003.

San Francisco gave him $6.2 million when he signed in August 2008 as the fifth overall pick out of Florida State, the richest deal for an amateur joining the Giants.