Kinsler, Phillips sign extentions

[Rudi]

Phillips deal expected to be finalized in the next 24 hours for 6 years and 72.5M.

Kinsler got 5 years 75Mil with an option for a 6th year.

[EmpireWF]

Can David Wright expect a similar deal from the Mets between now and the end of next season?

[Goober]

Rickie Weeks' 4 year/45 million deal is looking pretty good right now.

[NAHSTE]

Rickie Weeks' 4 year/45 million deal is looking pretty good right now.

So is Howie Kenrick's 4-year, $33 million deal.

I am a huge fan of Phillips, and while it's true he's a great defender, offensively he's pretty damn average. 102 OPS+ and a .779 OPS in his six full seasons as a Red. Slashing .280/.330/.427 and his SB production and efficiency dropped off a cliff two years ago (16/12 SB/CS in 2010, 14/9 last season). That's not likely to reverse as he turns 31 in June. To give him six years and this much money is pretty bad value, IMO, especially when you look at what other 2B got in this market.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Rickie Weeks' 4 year/45 million deal is looking pretty good right now.

Just like these deals will look good in a few years.

And so it goes.

Rumor has it the Phillips deal, like the Votto deal, is heavily backloaded with an eye on the new TV deals.

People can talk about value all they want, but none of that really matters if the owners have the money and are willing to pay. I'd rather "overpay" Phillips than sign scrap heap bums for 3 years until Billy Hamilton is ready. Give me a good product, value is for coupon clippers.

[Warner2BruceTD]

As for Kinsler, the Rangers have tons of money so it doesnt really matter what they paid him.

Anyway, its always good when decisions are made based on baseball and not economics. Its good to see all of these players (Carlos Santana, too) staying put.

[NAHSTE]

As for Kinsler, the Rangers have tons of money so it doesnt really matter what they paid him.

Anyway, its always good when decisions are made based on baseball and not economics. Its good to see all of these players (Carlos Santana, too) staying put.

Santana's new deal only covers through his arb years, plus a team option for his first FA year. So he was staying put regardless.

[RyanLeaf16]

Erik Hahmann from DRaysbay had a nice take on the extensions:

The soon to be 30-year-old Ian Kinsler received a five year, $75 million contract. The soon to be 31-year-old Brandon Phillips got six years, $72.5 million. The soon to be 31-year-old Ben Zobrist is in the middle of a four year, $18 million contract. He'll make $4.5 million this season and $5.5 in 2013 with two club options of $7 and $7.5 million after that. Over the past three seasons no second basemen has been worth more fWAR than Zobrist's 19.2. Kinsler and Phillips have 15.8 and 13.6 respectively. If you take out defense and just use weighted on base average (wOBA), Kinsler has a slight lead over Zobrist at .363 to .362 while Phillips is farther down with .340. What I'm trying to say is, Ben Zobrist is awesome. And cheap. Very cheap.