SAN FRANCIsCO: The World Series champion San Francisco Giants kept a key piece in place Friday, agreeing to a nine-year contract worth a reported $167m with National League Most Valuable Player Buster Posey.
The contract covers three years in which the star catcher would be eligible for salary arbitration as well as five years of free agency.
It also includes an option for 2022 and a no-trade clause, according to a report on MLB.com. The nine years covered by the deal, including the 2013 season, make it the longest ever for a catcher and the reported value eclipses the six-year, $127.5m deal inked by pitcher Matt Cain prior to last season as the richest in Giants club history.
Posey came back from devastating injury to help the Giants win the World Series last season with a four-game sweep of Detroit. He was the National League batting champion with a .336 average, joining two-time winner Ernie Lombardi as the only catchers in the league’s history to win batting titles.
Posey had missed most of the 2011 campaign with a broken bone and torn ligaments in his left ankle as the result of a collision at the plate May 25 of that year.
He drove in 103 runs, hit 24 home runs and caught Cain’s perfect game last June 13 against the Houston Astros. AFP
