There were a few interesting points brought about with this long term extension, at least from a financial perspective. Stanton has the option to opt out of the deal after six seasons, as the first six years of the deal are a lock. After that, if he so chooses, Stanton can walk away and opt out of his contract. In doing so, he could be walking away from a staggering $218 million over the final seven seasons. Per ESPN, the figures look like this for Stanton at the start of the deal. Stanton's salaries over those first three seasons will be only $6.5 million in 2015, $9 million in 2016 and $14.5 million in 2017, far less than he could have earned through arbitration in 2015 and 2016 and then via free agency. He would earn $77 million over the next three seasons and could opt out of the contract after 2020, following his age 30 season.
So the Marlins would be on the hook for only $107 million of the deal over the first six seasons, which computes to an average annual value of just $17.83 million per season before Stanton would have the right to exercise the opt-out clause. If Stanton remains a Marlin, the $218 million he would collect over those final seven seasons would average out to $31.14 million a year. He will have a complete no-trade clause through the life of the contract, a first for the Marlins under the ownership of Jeffrey Loria (ESPN). I know that's a lot of numbers for you to digest, but don't worry we will help break it down and make sense of it all.
This contract is by far the richest every given out in professional North American sports. By Comparison, the biggest NBA contract is Kobe Bryant's 7 year, $136.4 million deal, while Calvin Johnson's 8 year deal worth $132 million tops the NFL and Alexander Ovechkin has the largest NHL contract at 13 years worth $124 million. Kobe's contract is the 34 biggest in sports, while Johnson comes in at 37 and Ovechkin comes in at 51, for the richest in history. In fact, the top 30 contracts in pro sports, of the big four anyway, are signed by Baseball players. That goes to show how outrageous some contracts have become over the years.
Now that Stanton is locked up, this brings up some more interesting points. First things first that makes you wonder, is this deal going to work? From a team perspective, the front half of the contract could work. It gives the Marlins a six year window to really be able to build around their star slugger, thus becoming contenders not only in the Eastern Division, but in the National League as well. So Miami has plenty of room to work with.
At the same time it leaves one to wonder about Stanton and his value. They gave him a big deal hoping he can come back healthy from how last season ended and hoping that he can not only repeat his production from a season ago, but improve upon it over the rest of his career. There a very good chance that could happen, which is why he got the deal to begin with. At the same time though, what happens if he starts getting hurt? Or getting hurt regularly? What happens if his production instead goes into a steady decline? Will he be worth the money at the end of the deal when Stanton will be 38 years old? There are a few intangibles that need to be taken into account, which is part of the reason some people aren't in favor of contracts like this in any sport.
Stanton does have a ton of talent, we have seen that on display over the last few seasons. Given that, if he can stay healthy and stay productive, the sky is the limit for both him and the team!
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