Span rewarded with five-year contract extension
Denard Span waited for his chance to get to the majors. Then he waited for an everyday starting position. Now that he is an everyday starting center fielder the Twins have decided to reward Span for his patience.
The club announced today that they have signed Span to a five-year, $16.5 million contract. The deal reportedly includes a $9 million option for the 2015 season and a $500,000 buyout.
“We go through a pretty good checklist of criteria before we enter discussions with a player about a long-term contract, and he has certainly been an integral part of our ballclub for the last two seasons,” general manager Bill Smith said Saturday. “We thought the time was right. It’s a big deal for him. It provides him with a lot of security. It provides us some certainty with our leadoff hitter and center fielder.”
With another two years until Span was eligible for arbitration, the new deal will cover the remainder of Span’s time with the club as well as a buy out in his first year of free agency if the club picks up the option.
Span will make $750,000 this season, $1 million in 2011, $3 million in ’12, $4.75 million in ’13 and $6.5 million in ’14 under the new contract.
“It shocked me a little when they came to me at the beginning of Spring Training to talk about this,” Span said. “It’s something that my agent and I, we were prepared for the scenario and we talked about it. But when they came and threw the idea up in the air, it was just a good feeling. It’s just a good feeling to have something like this done.”
Span was brought up in 2008 to fill in for an injured Michael Cuddyer in right field. Span impressed the organization while there and when Cuddyer came back from injury, Span replaced a struggling Carlos Gomez in centerfield. Span ended the year finishing sixth in the American League Rookie of the Year balloting.
In 2009, Span was relegated to being the 4th OF, but quickly was turned into the clubs everyday outfielder. As Gomez struggled, the Twins put Span in center field for most the year until Cuddyer replaced and injured Justin Morneau at first base and Span returned to right field.
Many writers and analysts were predicting Span to be a bust for the Twins in 2009, but Span was far from a bust. Span recorded a .311/.392/.415 that was over shadowed by the Major League batting champion. Span was third in the league behind Derek Jeter (.409) and Chone Figgins (.395) for on-base percentage with his .392.
Drafted by Minnesota in the first round of the 2002 First-Year Player Draft, Span has a career batting average of .305 (282-for-925) with 32 doubles, 17 triples, 14 home runs and 115 RBIs in 238 games.
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