The Florida Marlins are holding a press conference today at the Orange Bowl site at 11 am and it is open to the public .
The Marlins will officially announce Ramirez's signing at 11 a.m. ET Saturday at the Orange Bowl site in Miami. Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, team president David Samson, president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest and general manager Michael Hill will be at the news conference.
Early reports of Hanley's new contract are as follows:
Ramirez will make $5.5 million in 2009, and the deal bumps up considerably in the upcoming years.
By coming to terms now, the Marlins will lock up Ramirez through his arbitration years (2009-2011), and then three more years, where he could have qualified for free agency. For those three seasons, the shortstop will earn $23.5 million.
The Dominican Republic native will get $15 million in 2012, $15.5 million in 2013 and $16 million in 2014.
So in what could have been his first three seasons of free agency, Ramirez will collect $46.5 million.
The contract doesn't not include a no-trade clause or a signing bonus.
Go out to the Orange Bowl, or what is left of it, if you can. If you can't, the ceremony will be replayed on the Marlins pre-game show on FSN.
Aside: one of the main reasons for the lack of a no-trade clause is if for some reason the stadium deal falls through it will allow the team to unload Hanley and his very affordable contract.
But there is no reason to think about that now, today is a happy day.