Josh Johnson officially signed a four-year contract extension with the Marlins. The move follows criticism of the Marlins by MLB and the MLBPA, and comes months after talks began between the club, Johnson, and agent Matt Sosnick.
The $39MM deal will pay the right-hander $3.75MM this year, $7.75MM next year, and $13.75MM in both 2012 and 2013. Johnson also earns $50K for making the All-Star team, $500K for winning the Cy Young Award and $1MM for winning World Series MVP. The contract does not include a no-trade clause.
The deal, which buys out two of Johnson's arbitration years and two of his free agent years, resembles the four-year, $38MM extension Zack Greinke signed prior to his Cy Young season. Johnson doesn't have any Cy Youngs on his mantle, but he's coming off an All-Star season in which he allowed fewer hits than innings pitched, struck out 8.2 batters per nine and limited his walk and homer rates. He finished 15-5 with a 3.23 ERA.
ESPN's Jerry Crasnick first reported the agreement. MLB.com's Joe Frisaro, Sirius XM's Home Plate Channel and Crasnick all added details.
Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.
From cautiously optimistic to a done deal… quick working.
start saving up for Hanley extension, next
They already signed him to a seven year extension a year or two ago.
joke’s on me–i completely forgot about that
Hanley is already locked up as the guy below me said but there are not many teams in baseball that have the Best Player and the best pitcher on their team locked up. The Marlins out of all 30 teams would’ve been the last team I would have thought would do this but kudos to Larry Beinfest and Michael Hill for getting the job done. They are just about ready to compete and maybe even win a world series before entering the new ballpark.
Hanley is already locked up as the guy below me said but there are not many teams in baseball that have the Best Player and the best pitcher on their team locked up. The Marlins out of all 30 teams would’ve been the last team I would have thought would do this but kudos to Larry Beinfest and Michael Hill for getting the job done. They are just about ready to compete and maybe even win a world series before entering the new ballpark.
hanley is already locked up
Awesome, awesome news. Congrats, fish fans.
Great deal for the Marlins. If Johnson continues to produce like he has been, he will still have a ton of trade value at this price, or they can just hang onto him and have a cheap ace. Only question is, what was Johnson’s agent thinking?
Sosnick is a good agent who does whats good for the player and his family. you really think the johnsons cant live with $39 million coming their way in the next four years? remember johnsons mega deal will likely be the next one he signs, at age 29. there is more value in signing a short term worth $40 million and then one worth something like a johan santana deal when hes 29 than signing on 7 or 6 year deal worth 100 something million until he’s 32 and then teams being reluctant to give him another big deal.
I just have to believe he could get more money put into this short term deal is all. $13.75MM for two free agent years seems low when you consider Lackey is going to be making $16.5MM average per year.
I just have to believe he could get more money put into this short term deal is all. $13.75MM for two free agent years seems low when you consider Lackey is going to be making $16.5MM average per year.
Sosnick is a good agent who does whats good for the player and his family. you really think the johnsons cant live with $39 million coming their way in the next four years? remember johnsons mega deal will likely be the next one he signs, at age 29. there is more value in signing a short term worth $40 million and then one worth something like a johan santana deal when hes 29 than signing on 7 or 6 year deal worth 100 something million until he’s 32 and then teams being reluctant to give him another big deal.
39 million is a good deal for both sides. If Johnson continues to develop they get a bargain his first two free agent years. If he gets hurt or for some reason does not continue to develop he will be set for life even if he has a career ending Injury. Plus in 4 years if he keeps getting better and better like expected he will command Sabathia , Santana type money.
39 million is a good deal for both sides. If Johnson continues to develop they get a bargain his first two free agent years. If he gets hurt or for some reason does not continue to develop he will be set for life even if he has a career ending Injury. Plus in 4 years if he keeps getting better and better like expected he will command Sabathia , Santana type money.
And there goes the extra money the Marlins pledged to payroll. Good move to lock JJ up, though.
Great news for Marlins fans.
good job Marlins way to spend some money.
Glad to see Florida stepping up to fill the seats in their new stadium… even if they are a division rival.
fish got their boy locked up… like to see them move Uggla before Spring Training. Think BoSox would think of shipping Ryan Westmoreland to the Fish straight up for Danny?
Dont really see Uggla being enough of a fit for the Red Sox to do that.
Plus I think id have to become a fish fan then, because they’d then have my two favourite former red sox prospects.. haha
Im a BoSox fan since you have former marlins i love, beckett and lowell…but not hermida….
Im a BoSox fan since you have former marlins i love, beckett and lowell…but not hermida….
Felix, you’re up next!
People talk about the Pirates trading there players all the time, but what about the fish? Nice deal to actually keep one of there best players.
surprisingly quick on the heels of the union-MLB statement
Yeah I was just gonna say, remember that statement that came out yesterday? IMO, the rest of the MLB teams should operate with a budget around the same as what the marlins have. The inflated contracts that players get these days are absurd.
cap-tip to the marlins
You are correct, sir. With the players making less money the owners will be free to make more!
I definitely hit the like button by accident, I completely disagree with you here. Why would I root for the players to get screwed over and the owners (who are already multi millionaires) to line their pockets with the insane amounts of revenue they make? Ticket and concession prices would NOT go down because they are reflective of supply and demand not player salary.
I was being sarcastic. I completely agree with you 100%.
Sorry for the confusion Gary, my response was to Cosmo, I disagree with him and hit the “like” button on his post by accident. I completely agree with you. I just seems like I was responded to you because my post popped up under yours.
I was being sarcastic. I completely agree with you 100%.
I definitely hit the like button by accident, I completely disagree with you here. Why would I root for the players to get screwed over and the owners (who are already multi millionaires) to line their pockets with the insane amounts of revenue they make? Ticket and concession prices would NOT go down because they are reflective of supply and demand not player salary.
Many of these teams cry they are losing there shirts. How Much does each team get in revenue sharing? Who paid for the new Stadium the tax payers? And if owning a baseball team is such a losing propisition why is it that when an owner sells his team even only after a few years of ownership do they make giant profits? The teams just seem to continue to escalate in value.
actually I believe the Marlins owner, Jeff Loria, is on the hook for something like 160 million of his own money for the new stadium.
Many of these teams cry they are losing there shirts. How Much does each team get in revenue sharing? Who paid for the new Stadium the tax payers? And if owning a baseball team is such a losing propisition why is it that when an owner sells his team even only after a few years of ownership do they make giant profits? The teams just seem to continue to escalate in value.
So it was all an act. Ha!
Sounds like a good signing, in my opinion. Sure he could get injured and make it a bust, but it sounds like a good value for his services for the duration. It also makes him an amazing trade chip in a year or so if he keeps up the good work. It’s funny though that his agent used Greinke as a comparable though, for two reasons. Firstly, Greinke’s contract is an amazing sweetheart deal for his club in my opinion. But secondly, Greinke has a much better injury history. I guess those two even out?
Either way, good deal for all sides. Marlins get an ace if he stays healthy, and Johnson gets a very expensive house to lounge in if his arm blows out into a million pieces sometime.
Very good deal i’m surprised he even agreed to a deal like that
Why? It’s a HUGE pay increase.
Why would you be surprised? He was probably in line for $6 million or so in arbitration this year and now he’s $32 million richer than that. Going year to year would have been risky for a pitcher with his history.
Cautiously Optimistic? I’m going to start using that! Later tonight at the bar~
“Hey bro, I’m cautiously optimistic I’m going to take the cute little biddy home with me tonight.”
Five minutes later “DEAL IS SIGNED” HAHAHA
As a Phillies fan… Damn. I was honestly kind of hoping to see this guy get traded. Lol. As far as I could tell, just by watching him against the Phillies, he’s an on and off kind of guy. He got knocked around in a start against the Phils, but when he’s on… he’s on. It’s good that the Marlins are at least keeping Johnson and Ramirez to be the face of the new franchise in 2012, where they will surely start spending money to add pieces.
yea good job by the fish to lock up the stud. keeps em slightly competitive in the east…didnt see this one comin at all, i thought for sure he was headed for LAA or LAD for some more cash…
yea good job by the fish to lock up the stud. keeps em slightly competitive in the east…didnt see this one comin at all, i thought for sure he was headed for LAA or LAD for some more cash…
Don’t worry, knowing the Marlins, he will more than likely be traded before he gets to the $13+ mill annual of his contract.
Don’t worry, knowing the Marlins, he will more than likely be traded before he gets to the $13+ mill annual of his contract.
Great work by the Marlins. I guess Josh’s agent felt that huge contracts are drying up a little bit. Plus 4 years isn’t that long. He’ll be making 18+ mil a year in no time.
Good news for Fish Fans…and bad news for the fans of the other NL East teams. JJ is a horse!!
Congrats to the Marlins and their fans! Hopefully this is the start of a new era for them. They’re a fun team to watch.
Reds 1, Marlins 1, Cards 1, Cubs 0
When the marlins can win a world series and sign the guys they need to sign, it just put fuel to the fire that is the Chicago Cubs.
First, the Marlins don’t want to sign one of the best young SP in the game, because they like leaching money from other clubs. Then MLB says, “hold up, this isn’t fair, you have to spend some money!” So the Marlins reply, “ok, I guess we’ll lock up Josh Johnson, happy?” Marlins get the last laugh.
(COUGH..COUGH. WAHHAA…COUGH, COUGH, COUGH!!!) the sound made by George Washington and the other dead presidents featured on various denominations of US currency as Jeff Loria opens up his wallet to spend (chaching) on his own star players.
If the marlins decided to spend 70-80 million they would be a top 4 team in the NL if not #1. They have made very few mistakes both signing and trading throughout their history and this news is just another example of that.
While I agree they are a very well-run organization, if they had that kind of payroll chances are they would make a mistake or two – its bound to happen when you hand out bigger contracts, or just more contracts in general.
But very nice signing by the Marlins.
Makes you wonder if JJ’s agent had anything to say to the union? The Marlins get called out for not spending and the next day the give out a $39 million dollar contract. Hmm, think Matt Sosnick talked to the union about the Marlins negotiating tactics? I’d guess he was pressuring the union to do something in order to force the Marlins to open the checkbook.
If the Marlins really were spending all they could then they wouldn’t have just given out $39 million dollars. Jeffrey Loria is a tool, he’s been artificially holding down payroll for quite awhile, most likely pocketing the money and then crying poor in order to get Florida taxpayer to build him a new stadium. Not to mention the fact that he already ran one franchise into the ground.
Bud Selig let’s guys like this, who are his friends, run baseball franchises but he won’t (so far) let a guy like Mark Cuban (who actually cares) have a franchise because he doesn’t like the fact that he makes his opinions known. Great priorities Bud.
Makes you wonder if JJ’s agent had anything to say to the union? The Marlins get called out for not spending and the next day the give out a $39 million dollar contract. Hmm, think Matt Sosnick talked to the union about the Marlins negotiating tactics? I’d guess he was pressuring the union to do something in order to force the Marlins to open the checkbook.
If the Marlins really were spending all they could then they wouldn’t have just given out $39 million dollars. Jeffrey Loria is a tool, he’s been artificially holding down payroll for quite awhile, most likely pocketing the money and then crying poor in order to get Florida taxpayer to build him a new stadium. Not to mention the fact that he already ran one franchise into the ground.
Bud Selig let’s guys like this, who are his friends, run baseball franchises but he won’t (so far) let a guy like Mark Cuban (who actually cares) have a franchise because he doesn’t like the fact that he makes his opinions known. Great priorities Bud.
It’s nice to see the Marlins sign somebody long term. Especially a pitcher of his caliber, and age.
It’s nice to see the Marlins sign somebody long term. Especially a pitcher of his caliber, and age.
giood job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
giood job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now they’ll trade him to get rid of that onerous contract. :p
Now they’ll trade him to get rid of that onerous contract. :p
Great deal for the Marlins. Remember Greinke was signed BEFORE his breakout season. To get an ace like this after he puts it all together for equivalent money is a steal.
Great deal for the Marlins. Remember Greinke was signed BEFORE his breakout season. To get an ace like this after he puts it all together for equivalent money is a steal.
From Braves fan, good job.
love to see the smaller markets locking up their best players — good for baseball
love to see the smaller markets locking up their best players — good for baseball
Great signing. Don’t be suprised if he is traded before the contract ends.
He is now even more valuable.
Personally, it’s a yes and no thing. He is more valuable because he is locked up long term, but this deal could completely back fire. Because of his injury history(if I remember, didn’t he have TJS already?), giving him almost 14M/year for 1/2 the contract is risky.
Overall, I do like the deal, I just think the Marlins definitely took their risks with this contract.
He is now even more valuable.
Make sense that instead of overpaying on the market they would choose to reward one of their own.
Deal looks pretty solid to me. 3.7 then 7 then your paying him in his “ace” years, 13.75 sounds like a bargain if he stays healthy.
If their starting staff was a little better behind Nolasco they might have had a chance to compete this year.
It’s pretty injury prone/Young/inexperienced but it has very scary potential in 2 years or so.
Offense should be above average, I’d go something like this
R-Maybin
L-Coghlan
R-Ramirez
R-Uggla
R-Cantu
R-Ross
R-Sanchez
R-Baker
–pitcher–
No trade clause plus backloaded contract… Watch him get shippped after the first two years.
No way they trade him before they move into their new stadium… there will be riots.
No way they trade him before they move into their new stadium… there will be riots.
They said the same about Hanley. He still has a fish uniform.
They said the same about Hanley. He still has a fish uniform.
yessssssssssss, as a fish fan i’m really happy about this. they probably took some of the money they had set aside for a potential chapman signing
This dude is a monster pitcher. Great job by the fish on keeping him around a lot longer.
I think they should just keep Uggla and sign him to like a two year extension. They will have a kick ass team in a season or two if they hold on to the right people. Not so concerned with Cantu but hold on to Uggla, Ramirez, Johnson and Nolasco. Obviously the young guys like Couglan (Spelling) Maybin, Stanton and Morrison will be there but keep the good “veterans” you have. No sense in trading them for talent that you’ll develop and then just trade away again.
I think they should just keep Uggla and sign him to like a two year extension. They will have a kick ass team in a season or two if they hold on to the right people. Not so concerned with Cantu but hold on to Uggla, Ramirez, Johnson and Nolasco. Obviously the young guys like Couglan (Spelling) Maybin, Stanton and Morrison will be there but keep the good “veterans” you have. No sense in trading them for talent that you’ll develop and then just trade away again.
This is a great move by the Marlins, they get the MLBPA and MLB off their backs and they can still trade him at a reasonable price in a couple of years. I actually see him on the 2012 roster to open the new park and then traded that season or the next off season.
I have a feeling they will deal him at the deadline. Prob to the Angels.
talk about a good signing, this is one.
the marlins will be kicking some butt next year and not to mention they have a good farm system
Still think they’ll trade him and Uggala when they start getting well paid. They can force them to sign players but they can’t force them to keep them…