Cubs, Starlin Castro Reportedly Close on Seven-Year Extension

The Chicago Cubs and star shortstop Starlin Castro have reached an agreement on a contract extension, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes. While Cubs President Theo Epstein denied that an agreement has been finalized, David Kaplan of Comcast Chicago is hearing the deal is very nearly complete. The exact parameters of the deal won’t be known until the agreement is announced, but if Rojas’ sources are correct, the contract will cover the next seven season, which would buy out all four of Castro’s arbitration years (he qualified as a Super Two player), plus three free agent seasons. The seven-year pact has a total value of $60 million, but also includes a club option for 2020 that would push the total value of the deal to $76 million. Castro, who is still just 22 years old, would get the security of a long-term deal while still having the flexibility of testing the free agent waters after his age 30 season, if the Cubs were to exercise their option for an eighth year. The Cubs get the next eight years of team control and cost certainty and it sounds as if they’ll get their man at a nice discount. Even that $16 million option is likely to be a fraction of what Castro would have made on the open market. All in all, if Rojas’ report is true, this looks like a pretty sweet deal for the Cubs. For more on the Castro talks, visit Cubbies Crib. John Parent is the Senior Director of Human Resources for the FanSided Network. He can be reached at john.parent@fansided.com of via Twitter @JohnJParent.