Unit agrees to extension

DbaxJ · March 24th, 2003, 08:55 AM

The Diamondbacks have scheduled a news conference this morning at Don and Charlie's restaurant to announce that four-time National League Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson has agreed to a two-year extension at about $32 million.

Johnson, 39, who is in the final year of a five-year deal that will pay him $15 million in 2003, is expected to receive a slight raise that will make him baseball's highest paid pitcher, ahead of Colorado's Mike Hampton ($15.125 million), Los Angeles' Kevin Brown ($15 million) and Atlanta's Greg Maddux ($14.75 million).

Johnson has won five Cy Youngs, winning the American League honor in 1995 with Seattle. He is one short of Roger Clemens' record of six Cy Youngs.

Johnson won the "Triple Crown" of pitching last season, leading the NL in victories (24), ERA (1.53) and strikeouts (268).

"He's still throwin the ball with dominance, and he's never had any arm problems,'' said San Francisco special assistant Ron Perranoski, who played with Los Angeles Hall of Fame left-hander Sandy Koufax. "He'll be 42 (when the contract expires), but with that lean body and his dedication to conditioning, there it is.''

mark1 · March 24th, 2003, 09:42 AM

Nice Unit article

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/armstrong/030324.html

moviegeekjn · March 24th, 2003, 10:30 AM

Just finished Jane Leavy's biography on Koufax, and RJ is definitely a different animal. No sign of arm trouble and getting better with age--the two year extension is worth the "risk" since the championship franchise was built around the Unit.

Skkorpion · March 24th, 2003, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by moviegeekjn
Just finished Jane Leavy's biography on Koufax, and RJ is definitely a different animal. No sign of arm trouble and getting better with age--the two year extension is worth the "risk" since the championship franchise was built around the Unit.

Two years is about right. Anything longer might have been too risky for management.

I like this. Obviously Randy does too!

Anybody calculate how much per start Randy will make?

Ryanwb · March 24th, 2003, 12:58 PM

assuming he starts 35 starts a year which is average for a 5 man rotation, he will make 471,000+ per start over the next 2 years. Not bad

Ryanwb · March 24th, 2003, 01:00 PM

If he averages 110 pitches per start over that same span of 35 starts a year, that is 4800 (and change) per PITCH!

I am doing this off the top of my head.

FORKTUNG · March 24th, 2003, 01:36 PM

Randy's hitting is worth something, heh

Dback Jon · March 24th, 2003, 02:55 PM

I am sure Schilling Fan is none too happy about this - with Gonzo and the Unit signed up for at least two more years, no way are the Dbacks going to trade Schilling back to Philly next year - probably try to extend him as well!!

Forrestham · March 24th, 2003, 08:50 PM

Randy is a freak of nature and the Dbacks could not have let him get away. They have proved they want to win be resigning Unit, Finley and Gonzo. Glad they got Unit and Gonzo done before the season started.