According to Juan C. Rodriguez of The Florida Sun-Sentinel, Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez has “told an acquaintance he has agreed to the framework of a six-year, $70 million extension.”

The contract, which is pending a physical and will not be announced until at least early next week, would rank as the largest contract in the Marlins franchise history, although that is not saying much given the tendency of the franchise to treat it’s fans like garbage by not retaining it’s home grown superstars.

In just over two full years in the big leagues, Ramirez has not only become one of the game’s best shortstops, but also one of the game’s best offensive players.  In 1,411 major league at-bats, Ramirez has a .314 average, .374 OBP, .525 slugging percentage, 54 homeruns and 115 steals.  He was, of course, acquired from the Boston Red Sox prior to the 2006 season along with Anibal Sanchez in the Josh Beckett/Mike Lowell deal.

Given Ramirez’ proximity to his arbitration years (he would have become eligible after this season), the fact that the shortstop would agree to a 6-year deal is quite surprising, as this contract will buy out the first three years of his free agency at a very reasonable rate.   Had Ramirez just played out his arbitration years, he would have been a 28-year-old star shortstop entering free agency in three years.  I don’t even want to guess at what he would receive on the market in that case, but it would probably break records.  Nonetheless, Ramirez appears willing to accept a slight fleece from the Marlins in order secure this massive amount of cheddar.  He’ll still be just 30 (his birthday is 12/23/83) when this contract is up, and he will certainly be in a position to fleece at that point if he can stay healthy and productive.

We’ll post an update when this deal is made official.

Filed under: Florida Marlins