The D-backs and Mark Reynolds have agreed to a 3 year, $14.5m deal, with an $11m club option for 2013. That includes the $500K salary already agreed: Reynolds will get a $1 million bonus for signing, then earns $5m in 2011 and $7.5m in 2012. There is a $500K buyout for the club if they decide not to exercise the 2013 option.

More info after the jump, now with extra analysis!

Just saw this on Facebook, hopefully official word soon. Hopefully this will let him get back focused on hitting as he has been slumping in spring. As well as that article earlier stating it has been a distraction for him. Glad to see us building around some great offensive players.  Also 1st cuts from spring trainging today. And Webb is feeling better!

[Update by Jim] This isn't a contract "extension" as such, since it covers only the three years of Reynolds arbitration eligibility - he was strictly under our control anyway, so there's no change in that. What it does, is gives the team cost-certainty. There's no doubt that further performance, along the lines of 2009, would send Reynolds' arb cost spiraling upwards over the next three years, and by locking him in now, the team guarantees itself against that possibility. Of course, they also open themselves up to the possibility that 2009 was a fluke, but that's always the case with these kind of contracts.

Obviously, it's a radically-different contract from the one signed by Justin Upton, with Reynolds only having reached the majors a few months before his 24th birthday, and only takes us up to the season where Reynolds hits free-agency. This will be at the end of 2012, and Reynolds will be aged 29 at that point: beyond that, the possibility (or even probability) of decline begins to raise its ugly head. But for now, if it doesn't give the team any additional years of control, it does allow them to plan in advance for the future.

Baseball Prospectus says Reynolds will be worth 8.4 Wins Above Replacement over the next three seasons, during which time he'll be paid $14.5m. With one WAR generally valued at about $4m, this makes it good value for Arizona. However, we should also look at some comparable players. Nick Piecoro came pretty close to nailing it when he suggested "how about a three-year deal in the $14 million-$15 million range?" - almost exactly what ended up being signed by Mark and the Diamondbacks.

He was basing that on Dan Uggla as be the most appropriate comparison, but I'm not sure that's the case. Uggla was older (he debuted aged 26), so nearer his prime, and plays a position less associated with offense, though both men had similar production (OPS+ after two full seasons for both being 110). Uggla made $5.35m and $7.8m his first years of arbitration, a little more than Reynolds' $5m and $7.5m, though two years' inflation should be added to the Uggla numbers. Unfortunately, my resource on arbitration numbers, BizOfBaseball.com, is down, so I'm a bit stuck on finding comparables.

Certainly, Reynolds' power numbers are almost without comparison. Only two other third-basemen have hit more than forty homers in one of their first three major-league seasons: Troy Glaus (2007) and Eddie Mathews (1953), both hit 47. The same two are the only other to do it at age 25 or younger. Again, we find ourselves back to the Mike Schmidt comparison - in his age-25 season, the Hall of Famer hit 38 HR and drove in 95, with one additional year of major-league experience than Reynolds to that point. Over the three following seasons, he'd average 32 home-runs and 89 RBI. I think if we get the same out of Reynolds over the next few years, this contract will be quite satisfactory for the Diamondbacks.