The Washington Nationals have announced that they’ve reached a five-year contract extension with newly acquired left-handed starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez. The extension is worth $42 million over the five years and includes two club options which could increase the overall value of the deal to $65 million. The Nationals acquired Gonzalez from the Oakland Athletics last month, and both sides reportedly began extension talks immediately following the deal.
Gonzalez said he was excited to nail out a new contract with the Nationals because it’s evident “they mean business”. Gonzalez can tell that the Nationals “want to win” and likes how they “didn’t want to waste time” when it came to signing him long-term.
Following the announcement of the extension, Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo told reporters that the deal was “about comfort for both parties”. Gonzalez is now locked up for the foreseeable future, and Washington was drawn to the team control aspect of the deal as well as the two option years.
With the amount of talent the Nationals surrendered in exchange for Gonzalez, it makes sense that the club was thinking long-term extension from the start. Gonzalez joins a top of the rotation that includes young and talented starting pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Jordan Zimmermann.
Gonzalez, 26, has pitched at the major league level for the A’s over the past four seasons. After rocky showings in 2008-09, Gonzalez has emerged as one of the game’s top young arms. In each of the past two seasons, Gonzalez has made 32 or more starts while logging at least 200 innings pitched and maintaining an ERA near 3.15.
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