Jan

Mariners and Felix Hernandez agree to a multi-year deal

By Allan

Update 1/21 17:37: The Mariners officially announced the signing of right-handed pitcher Felix Hernandez to a five-year contract extension.

Update 17:09: Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reports that Hernandez payout will be the following:

Year	Pay
Signing Bonus	$3.5 M
2010	$6.5 M
2011	$10 M
2012	$18.5 M
2013	$19.5 M
2014	$20 M

Update 07:26am: Jon Heymen of Sports Illustratoed Tweets: felix gets $78 million over the 5 years, sources confirm.

Update 07:17am: Augusto Cardenas Tweets (translated to English): Wilfredo Polidor, Felix Hernandez’s agent, said that nothing is signed yet, but the deal could be completed in 24-48 hours.

Update 07:08am: Buster Olney of ESPN Tweets: Heard this:The deal for Felix Hernandez is in the neighorhood of 5 years and $80 million.Great for him and the team;he can hit FA at age 28.

Update 06:45am: Jon Heymen of Sports Illustrated Tweets: king felix has 5 year agreement with #mariners, sources say. espn mentioned sides agreed today. great winter for seattle.

Update 1/19 05:19am: ESPN suggests that the signing of Hernandez will be an attractive selling point to keep Cliff Lee in Seattle once his contract expires at the end of the 2010 season.

Keith Law of ESPN.com reports that right-handed pitcher Felix Hernandez has agreed to a multi-year contract, pending a physical. The amount or length of the deal were not immediately available.

It’s widely speculated that Hernandez is worth over $100 million in a multi-year contract. In December, ESPN.com reported that the Mariners discussed an extension with Hernandez for four-years, $45 million, but nothing was signed at that time.

Hernandez, 24 in April, was 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA with 217 strikeouts with the Mariners in 2009. He made $3.8 million last season in his first year of arbitration eligibility.

Click here to see Hernandez’s contract history and statistics.