Many of us were hoping that the Marlins would "do the right thing" and sign Dontrelle Willis (if not Miguel Cabrera) to a long term deal. As recently as yesterday, there was rampant speculation that the Fish were close to agreeing to a 4-year, $24 million deal with Willis.
Per today's Herald, that's not happening anytime soon:
Sigh.
If nothing else, it's at least consistent. The Marlins haven't given a deal like this to anyone when they didn't have to. I was having a hard time understanding their change in philosophy (particularly when they were ignoring the--arguably--more talented Miguel Cabrera).
This also reverses course from what the Marlins said during the season (that they were looking forward to signing Willis to a multi-year deal). I can't wait to hear the spin on that.
It does sound as if Willis will still get a substantial pay raise. The article speculates that Willis would likely earn a $4.5 to $5 million pay day in arbitration.