Felix Hernandez, Mariners finalize 7-year, $175M deal

The Seattle Mariners and staff ace Felix Hernandez had agreed to a seven-year deal worth $175 million last week, but some concerns about the long-term risks of King Felix's elbow held the deal up.

With some protective language added, the deal was finalized today.

"I would send along my congratulations to [Hernandez's agents] Scott Pucino and Wil Polidor. They were very professional in working this agreement with us. I think it's a great thing for the Seattle Mariners and it's a great thing for Felix Hernandez. We're looking forward to this guy being here for a long time, obviously," said GM Jack Zduriencik, per Greg Johns of MLB.com.

Although Hernandez had two years remaining on his existing contract, this deal will replace those two years and he is now under contract through the 2019 season.

Now the highest-paid pitcher in MLB history, Hernandez is my fourth-ranked fantasy starter in my 2013 fantasy baseball rankings.

A workhorse and a model of consistency, Hernandez has struck out 217-plus batters in four consecutive seasons.  Despite posting a cumulative ERA of 2.92 over the past three seasons, however, Hernandez is only five games above .500 during that span (40-35) and lack of run support is only real concern from a fantasy perspective.

Year	Age	W	L	ERA	CG	SHO	IP	SO	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
2005	19	4	4	2.67	0	0	84.1	77	0.996	6.5	0.5	2.5	8.2	3.35
2006	20	12	14	4.52	2	1	191.0	176	1.335	9.2	1.1	2.8	8.3	2.93
2007	21	14	7	3.92	1	1	190.1	165	1.377	9.9	0.9	2.5	7.8	3.11
2008	22	9	11	3.45	2	0	200.2	175	1.385	8.9	0.8	3.6	7.8	2.19
2009	23	19	5	2.49	2	1	238.2	217	1.135	7.5	0.6	2.7	8.2	3.06
2010	24	13	12	2.27	6	1	249.2	232	1.057	7.0	0.6	2.5	8.4	3.31
2011	25	14	14	3.47	5	0	233.2	222	1.220	8.4	0.7	2.6	8.6	3.31
2012	26	13	9	3.06	5	5	232.0	223	1.142	8.1	0.5	2.2	8.7	3.98
8 Yrs		98	76	3.22	23	9	1620.1	1487	1.212	8.2	0.7	2.7	8.3	3.10

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table