Marchand: Nathan Eovaldi Open to Extension with Yankees

New York Yankees starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi recently told Andrew Marchand of ESPN that he would be open to discussing a long-term extension with the club, telling the reporter, “I love it here.”

Of course, don’t expect the flamethrowing righty to accept much of a discount. “It would depend on what they offered,” he qualified to Marchand. The 26 year old Eovaldi is under contract through the 2017 season. If he continues to pitch like he has in the first two months of the season, his price tag could increase tremendously.

Eovaldi will hit the open market just shy of his 28th birthday, and has a 3.71 ERA and 3.54 FIP through his first 10 starts of 2016, striking out a career high 22.9% of batters faced. He has always had front of the rotation stuff, but has only begun to capitalize on it since the second half of last season.

Last winter the price of starting pitching exploded, with even a number of mediocre back-of-the-rotation arms landing sizable multi-year deals. Eovaldi’s combination of youth, relative durability, and upside could result in a massive contract following the 2017 season, especially if he continues to build on his recent progress. Jordan Zimmerman at five year $110 million, Jeff Samardzija at five years $90 million, and Mike Leake at five years and $80 million provide a range of what Eovaldi could land on the open market, assuming he doesn’t break out significantly next season.

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With a $5.6 million salary for 2016 and under $10 million in career earnings, Eovaldi could be willing to sacrifice top dollar in order to establish some certainty now. He has already undergone TJ surgery and was shut down in the last month of 2015 with elbow inflammation. An arm injury at any point in the next two years could torpedo his pay day. With that in mind, something in the range of five years and $75 million could work for both sides. At that length, Evo could even hit the market again at 31-32 for another long-term deal if all goes well.

Out of the six current Yankees starters, only Luis Severino is controlled beyond the 2017 season, assuming Masahiro Tanaka exercises his opt-out. There isn’t much impact talent in the starting pitching pipeline aside from James Kaprielian, and there is no reason to think the Yankees will spend big on the free agent market anytime soon. Keeping their own guys may be the most realistic and cost effective way to maintain a solid rotation, and Eovaldi is easily the most attractive extension candidate of the group.