If you had to name the three players in Major League Baseball who have been associated with the term “contract extension” over the past three or four seasons, who would you name? I would name Albert Pujols, Adrian Gonzalez and Dan Uggla.
The first two I can understand. Pujols and Gonzalez are elite players. But Uggla?
Uggla is a very good player, but it seemed like ever since he came onto the baseball scene in the 2006 season, he has been mentioned for either a contract extension or a trade candidate. I guess that is the nature of the beast when you play for the Florida Marlins.
What’s funny is after spending almost four years talking about an Uggla trade or extension, he got both in a span of three months. Uggla was traded from the Marlins to the Atlanta Braves in November, and now he gets his extension.
The Braves officially signed Uggla to a five-year, $62 million contract on Thursday. Uggla will earn $9 million in salary and a $1 million signing bonus in 2011, and he’ll earn $13 million annually from 2012-15, according to Dave O’Brien.
Over his career, Uggla has averaged a .263/.349/.488 hitting line with 31 HRs. Over the last three seasons, only Chase Utley and Dustin Pedroia have had a total WAR as a second baseman higher than Uggla (12.5). He is a legit All-Star second baseman.
The question with Uggla has always been whether or not he will stay at second base for the rest of his career. Over the last three seasons, only Skip Schumaker has a worse UZR than Uggla at second base. Roberto Alomar he is not.
There is a good chance Uggla could move to third or even the outfield in the later years of this contract. However, Uggla doesn’t strike me as a guy who will be willing to move so easily.
Even at 31 years old and with his poor defensive numbers, Uggla should outperform the $62 million he is going to get from the Braves over the next five years. Looking at his peripherals such as K Percentage, BB Percentage or wOBA, nothing stands out that would suggest he is due for a steep decline over the next couple of years.
Uggla’s extension is the highest average annual salary for a second baseman in baseball history.
You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com