Today two of the best players in Major League Baseball struck it rich, signing highly-lucrative contract extensions that will keep them with their current teams for the foreseeable future.  Neither was really a surprise, as both players were quite deserving of a big payday. 

This morning, word came out of Florida that the Detroit Tigers had signed their ace Justin Verlander to a five-year, $140 million extension.  The extension includes a vesting option for the final year in 2020, that will pay Verlander $22 million when he’s 37 years old.  The extension is being tacked onto the end of his current deal (which still has two years left), so when all is said and done; Verlander’s new contract is worth as much as $202 million over the next eight years. 

Obviously we knew this deal was coming after the Seattle Mariners gave Felix Hernandez a seven-year, $175 million extension earlier this offseason.  Verlander is the best and most dominant pitcher in MLB and deserves to be the highest-paid.  The only problem that could arise for the Tigers, is the fact that Verlander is already 30, and teams have historically had bad luck throwing a boatload of money at pitchers over 30.  Only time will tell, I guess. 

Not to be outdone, just hours later the San Francisco Giants broke the bank for the second straight year; signing reigning National League MVP Buster Posey to an eight-year, $167 million deal.  The 26 year old, 2010 Rookie of the Year has established himself as one of the top catchers in the game.  After winning the World Series for the second time in three years, the Giants knew they had to get a deal done with Posey.  The deal covers his last three years of arbitration and first five of free agency.  It’s the second richest contract ever given to a catcher, behind the eight-year, $184 million deal given to the Minnesota Twins’ Joe Mauer.