Jon Niese, New York Mets Announce Five-Year Extension

Yesterday before the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals gave us all another taste of real baseball, the New York Mets reached announce a five-year contract extension with starting pitcher Jon Niese.  The 25-year-old’s deal is for a guaranteed $25.5 million and includes a pair of team options that could potentially bring the total value of the contract to $46 million.

Another Jon, CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman, offered a breakdown of Niese’s new contract.  According to Heyman the left-hander is set to earn $769,500 in 2012, $3 million in ’13, $5 million in ’14, $7 million in ’15 and $9 million in ’16.  The two club options for ’17 and ’18 are worth $10 and $11 million and each include buyouts of $500,000.

After making his major league debut for the Mets in 2008 as a 21-year-old, Niese entered the 2009 season regarded as one of the game’s top prospects.  Since then Niese has been a bit slow to develop, but he has logged 331 innings for the Mets over the past two seasons.

Last year for New York the southpaw maintained an ERA and WHIP of 4.40 and 1.411 over his 26 starts and 157 1/3 innings pitched.  Niese has averaged 7.6 SO/9 and 3.0 BB/9 during his time in the majors.

For more on the Mets, be sure to check out Rising Apple.

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