The Arizona Diamondbacks inked newly-acquired third baseman Martin Prado to a four-year contract extension that will pay the former Brave $40 million and keep him in the deser until 2016. He'll make $7 million in 2013 to avoid arbitration, and $11 million in each season from 2014 to 2016.
The contract actually seems like a solid value for the Diamondbacks, who really haven't had a long-term, consistent, bulletproof third baseman in their franchise's history, aside from an aging Matt Williams or the strikeout-prone Mark Reynolds. The 29-year old Prado accumulated 5.9 fWAR for the Braves last year as their every day left fielder, but a majority of his value came from his stellar defense. While his defense at third isn't historically as good as it was in left last year, it's still above average, meaning that four wins per year over the life of the contract seems like something that should be relatively easily attainable.
Prado might have been able to get a bigger contract next winter, when he was due to hit free agency for the first time, but in light of the issues that his former teammate Michael Bourn has had getting a job this winter, perhaps the security offered by this extension was more palatable to him. The Diamondbacks aren't paying too much for Prado with this extension, and I think that the fact that they got it done so soon after the trade will help ease the fears of some fans. But at the end of the day, the Diamondbacks really only got one more year of Prado than they had in Justin Upton for essentially the same price. Considering the age, talent level, and upside of the players, I still think they got the raw end of that deal, but it's something that's going to need to be settled on the field in 2013 and beyond.
