Lucky to be Ichiro.

[RandolphScott]

Mariners defer 25 million of Suzuki's contract

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Seattle Mariners will be paying Ichiro Suzuki for at least a quarter century.

 

The All-Star outfielder's new contract extension calls for the team to defer $25 million of the $90 million he is owed, money that the team will not have to fully pay until at least 2032.

 

Suzuki, MVP of last week's All-Star game, gets a $5 million signing bonus and annual salaries of $17 million from 2008-12 under the terms of last Friday's deal.

 

Seattle will pay $12 million in salary each year and defer $5 million per season at 5.5 percent interest. Suzuki, who turns 33 in October, will receive the money in annual installments each Jan. 30 starting with the year after his retirement from the major leagues.

 

Because of the deferred money, the average annual value of the contract is discounted to $16.1 million under the provisions of baseball's collective bargaining agreement.

 

In addition, he gets a housing allowance of $32,000 next year, an increase of $1,000 from this season, and the amount will rise by $1,000 each year. He also will be provided with either a new jeep or Mercedes SUV by the team, which also gives him four first-class round trip tickets from Japan each year for his family. Provisions for the Mariners to give him a personal trainer and an interpreter were continued.

 

Suzuki, who would have been eligible to become a free agent after this season, began Wednesday with a .352 batting average and a major league-leading 133 hits.

 

 

 

I hope he doesn't spend it all in one place.

[fringe]

he deserves it, no one else like him in baseball.

[RandolphScott]

he deserves it, no one else like him in baseball.

 

 

 

I don't understand the housing allowance though, why would he

need 32K to live when he is getting paid millions?

[fringe]

i was thinking the same, $2600 a month doesn't exactly get you a palace. i guess it's just a perk