Utley Agrees to Seven Year Deal

[cubsfan1073]

Chase Utley signed an 85M contract over seven years for the Philadelphia Phillies. Utley gets a 2M signing bonus, 4.5M this year, 7.5M in 08, 11M in 09, and 15M for the rest of the years. He made 500K in 2006.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2738188

[Huntington Avenue]

:eek: Well they got him at a flat-out bargain for the first couple years; he would have made 7-8 if it had gone to arbitration. I think 15 is a lot to give him for four straight years, especially looking that far into the future.

But, they're smart to lock up the best 2b in the game, he'll give the Phillies a shot this year.

[ChrisLDuncan]

Wow that's pretty cheap...look at what Soriano signed for.

[W_Marone]

Well...the Phillies have Utley and Howard at least until 2011 together, that's when Howard's current contract is over, but I'm sure he will also be signed to a long term deal soon enough. A well deserved raise/extension for the best secondbaseman in the league.

[cubsfan1073]

I think it was a great deal for the Phillies. He is the best 2B in the game and they locked him up for awhile. There is one problem though, they will be paying him 14M when he is 35. That's a lot for an oldish guy.

[KCGHOST]

Seven years a long-time, and with a backloaded contract it will seem longer and make it tougher to unload him if that should ever become desireable.