You probably didn't ask yourself this question, but I did. Does Carlos Gonzalez' pending seven year, 80 million dollar extension with the Colorado Rockies affect one of Houston's best players in Hunter Pence? After all, they both play in the outfield and were in some form of arbitration.
↵The long and short answer is the same: no. Gonzalez is a younger player at a different defensive position who was a year away from arbitration. Essentially, the Rockies bought out one team-controlled year plus three arbitration years and paid him for three free agent years.
↵Pence is heading into his second year of arbitration eligibility, but as a Super 2 player (one who met his arbitration deadline early because of advanced playing time), Pence has two more years left under team control before he is a free agent. Searching for similar batters to Pence, we find guys like Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Cody Ross, Aubrey Huff and Corey Hart. Out of all those guys, only Hart and Huff have signed long-term contracts past their arbitration years. Each signed for around 20-25 million over three years. If I had to guess at contract terms for Pence, it'd start right there.
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