Jered Weaver Contract Details Emerge

Last week at the press conference announcing Jered Weaver's five-year, $85 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels, the Halos' ace was adamant about his desire to return to Anaheim. The Angels got a discount, compared to what he would have received had he waited for free agency following the 2012 season, but that didn't concern Weaver. "If 85 [million] is not enough to take care of my family and generations to come, then I'm pretty stupid," he said.

That $85 million will likely take care of Weaver and his family for many years to come. Here is the year-by-year breakdown of the contract, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times:

• Signing Bonus: $1 million
  
• 2012: $14 million
• 2013: $16 million
• 2014: $16 million
• 2015: $18 million
• 2016: $20 million
  

Weaver is making $7.365 million this season, so the $15 million combined for next season and his signing bonus is likely more than he would have received in arbitration. However, the four free-agent years bought out by the contract average $17.5 million per season, less than the multi-year deals signed by both Felix Hernandez ($19.33 million per free agent year) and Justin Verlander ($20 million). Hernandez and Verlander each signed their multi-year deals with one fewer year of service time than Weaver has now.

For more news and information on Jered Weaver and the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Jered Weaver Press Conference Quotes: Contract Was About Loyalty More Than Money

Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels signed a sizable deal to make sure he stayed with the Halos, but don't mistake this contract for avarice. This is someone who wanted to stay and play, even if it meant leaving some of his bargaining on the table.

In his press conference announcing the new extension, Weaver talked about loyalty and honor, and how important it was that he stay and play ball in Anaheim.

• He was asked about pursuing C.C. Sabathia money and replied, "How much more do you need? ... Could have got more, whatever. Who cares?"
  
• He told his agent Scott Boras that money was not the main issue; remaining with the Angels was.
• Weaver was "not really too fond of the business side of things. ... I couldn't see myself anywhere else but here [Anaheim]." They had to work around that to negotiate a deal (which took around a month).
• The money quote? "If 85 is not enough to take care of my family and generations to come, then I'm pretty stupid."

You have to admire a guy like Weaver who doesn't go all-out for the big deal at the cost of the Angels not being able to sign all the players they want. Yes, Weaver still got a hefty payday, but it's not as exorbitant as some of the baseball contracts you see handed out on a daily basis by big league market teams.

(Thanks to Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times for accruing these quotes.)

For more on the Angels, go to Halos Heaven.

Jered Weaver Contract Extension Reactions

The big news story over the weekend was Jered Weaver signing a five-year, $85 million dollar contract extension to keep the right-handed ace in Anaheim for quite some time. The extension came as a surprise, seeing as Weaver is a client of sports agent Scott Boras.

Let's take a look at the reaction from around the blogosphere:

- Halos Heaven

This is a great day for the ANGELS;

They gave Felix Hernandez money to their CC Sabathia. They broke the stereotype of an organization that maximizes player value through arbitration years and lets other front offices go all-in on future performance. And most importantly, they got a number one starter, clubhouse leader, take no-prisoners demander of respect who is poised to set some all-time franchise records through the course of this contract.

- Angels Blog

Jered Weaver has been one of the very best starting pitchers in baseball this season. The new contract he will sign with the Angels this week, averaged out, will not make him one of the seven highest-paid pitchers in baseball.

Not only is that notable, but Weaver did something that Scott Boras' clients hardly ever do. He is dancing with the one that brung him - i.e., signing with his current team - and he is signing with the Angels, who have drawn swords with Boras since Mark Teixeira left the club to sign with the Yankees after the 2008 season.

- David Schoenfield, SweetSpot

While I'm usually skeptical of the long-term value of big contracts given to pitchers, this one looks fairly low-risk for the Angels. Weaver has been on the disabled list just once in his career, at the start of the 2007 season after suffering biceps tendinitis in spring training. He missed one start in 2008 after cutting his fingers on a dugout bench.

- Buster Olney, ESPN

In recent years, the Angels have steered away from the stable of Boras clients, and if Weaver had turned down the five-year offer, they might have assumed he was going to walk away.

But Weaver has stunned executives around baseball by agreeing to the Angels' offer, which will pay him $17 million a year. Weaver might have gotten a lot more money by playing this out, by waiting to become a free agent, but what he probably would have lost was the opportunity to continue playing for the team that inhabits a stadium about 30 minutes from where he grew up.

Jered Weaver & His Place In Angels History

Jered Weaver has already made quite a dent in the record books for the Los Angeles Angels through the first six years of his career. Now that Weaver has agreed to a five-year, $85 million contract that will keep him in Anaheim through his age 29-33 years, Weaver figures to be at or near the top of several Angels franchise pitching marks by the end of the 2016 season.

With the caveat that at any time, any player can get hurt, and that it's foolish to try to foreast the future -- after all, you can't predict baseball -- here is where Weaver ranks in several Angels pitching categories:

Wins
1) Chuck Finley 165
2) Nolan Ryan 138
t9) Weaver 78

Strikeouts
1) Ryan 2,416
2) Finley 2,151
8) Weaver 937

Starts
1) Finley 379
2) Ryan 288
3) Mike Witt 272
t11) Weaver 170

Innings
1) Finley 2,675
2) Ryan 2,181
3) Witt 1,965
13) Weaver 1,084

Wins Above Replacement (including batters, per Baseball-Reference.com)
1) Finley 49.2
2) Jim Fregosi 44.1
3) Ryan 41.1
4) Brian Downing 37.7
5) Tim Salmon 37.6
6) Bobby Grich 35.0
7) Frank Tanana 34.2
8) Garret Anderson 28.6
9) Darin Erstad 28.0
10) Weaver 26.3

For more news and information on Jered Weaver and the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Jered Weaver Contract Caps Great 72 Hours For Angels

Jered Weaver Contract With Angels A Great Deal For Both Sides

Jered Weaver is having a career season for the Los Angeles Angels this season. At 14-6 with a 2.10 ERA, Weaver will likely finish in the top five in the American League Cy Young voting this season. He was headed for a huge payday in free agency after the 2012 season, but instead has opted to stay with the Angels, agreeing to a five-year, $85 million contract.

The deal, which includes a full no-trade clause, will be announced at a 2 p.m. PDT news conference Tuesday at Angel Stadium. The five-year pact is a great deal for both sides. For Weaver, he gets to stay with the team that drafted him, and $85 million is enough to set up a family for a generation or two. For the Angels, they got Weaver at a discount.

Thanks to the great Cot's Baseball Contracts, we can look at Weaver's deal compared to other pitchers of his ilk. Weaver is making $7.365 million this season, and had one more year of arbitration eligibility remaining, so his contract bought out four years of free agency.

The gold standard for pitcher salaries have been set in recent seasons by a trio of hurlers:

• Cliff Lee: 5 years, $24 million per year with the Phillies
• CC Sabathia: 7 years, $23 million per year with the Yankees
  
• Johan Santana: 6 years, $22.92 million per year with the Mets

All three of these pitchers had a Cy Young or two under their belt when they inked their deals, but sometimes with free agency all it takes is being in the right place at the right time, as A.J. Burnett and John Lackey have shown with their respective five-year deals at $16.5 million annually.

Two deals more comparable to Weaver are the deals signed by Justin Verlander and Felix Hernandez. Both signed deals before the 2010 season when they had one fewer year of service than Weaver. The deals for Verlander and Hernandez both bought out two arbitration years plus three years of free agency:

• Verlander: 5 years, $80 million; three FA years totaled $60 million ($20 million per year)
• Hernandez: 5 years, $78 million; three FA years totaled $58 million ($19.33 million per year)

Here is a look at Weaver now compared to Verlander and Hernandez through 2010, which was a year after they signed their big deals. Weaver holds up quite well by comparison:

The year-by-year details of Weaver's deal aren't yet known, but it's likely that the first year will be somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million. That leaves a little over $18 million per year for the free agency years for Weaver, which means the Angels got a bit of a discount.

For more news and information on Jered Weaver and the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Jered Weaver Contract: Angels Have Roughly $97 Million Committed To Nine Players In 2012

While the full details of Jered Weaver's contract extension with the Los Angeles Angels haven't yet been revealed, we do know that the Angels ace will make $85 million over five years, per Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated. The contract covers Weaver's final year of arbitration and buys out four years of free agency. The Angels will likely have just under $100 million committed to nine players for 2012.

Weaver is making $7.365 million this season in his second year of arbitration. I assumed a raise to $12 million in his final arb year as part of the multi-year contract, leaving $73 million for the four years of free agency that were bought out, an average of $18.25 million per season.

The Angels will also have arbitration raises due Howie Kendrick, Willy Aybar, Alberto Callaspo, and Kendrys Morales, but they also have potential contributors at or near the major league minimum salary in Peter Bourjos, Mark Trumbo, Mike Trout, Jordan Walden, Tyler Chatwood, and others.

For more news and information on Jered Weaver and the Angels, be sure to read Halos Heaven.

Jered Weaver, Angels Agree On Multi-Year Contract Extension

Jered Weaver has reportedly agreed to a five-year, $85 million extension with the Los Angeles Angels. Weaver also has inserted a no-trade clause into his contract.