Corey Hart kept insisting that he wanted to stay in Milwaukee. No one seemed to believe it, and the trade rumors kept swirling. When Mat Gamel made an appearance in right field for Nashville the other night, it only furthered speculation that Hart would be on the move this offseason.
We can probably stop the trade talk now. Adam McCalvy is reporting that Hart has agreed to a three-year contract extension that will cover Hart’s final year of arbitration and his first two seasons of free agency. No financial terms have been released, but considering the season he’s putting together, he’s probably in for a hefty raise. Tom Haudricourt speculates that the deal will be in the $25 million range, with next year’s salary being around $6-7 million.
While there are still concerns that Hart may be in the middle of a career year, keeping Hart long-term should at least provide some certainty moving forward. This is pure speculation, but perhaps this is a sign that the Brewers are giving up on extension talks with Prince Fielder and are allocating money elsewhere. While I’ll reserve my total judgment on this deal until the salary is announced, three years is reasonable enough — at least better than the four-year deals that were being rumored for the better part of two years.
Next, I’d like to see Rickie Weeks inked to a long-term deal. Even if Hart regresses, you could do a lot worse than an offensive core of Ryan Braun, Weeks, and Hart.
We’ll be sure to update this post once the terms are released. A press conference will be held at 1:30 PM CT.
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