UPDATE: Mark Sheldon reports that the deal is done. Six years, $105 million with a mutual option for a seventh.
1:05 PM: Ken Rosenthal reports that the Homer Bailey extension with the Reds is “all but done.” The deal is for six years and between $100 million and $110 million according to Rosenthal and Jon Heyman. This deal will avoid an arbitration hearing and prevent Bailey from hitting the open market next winter.
Bailey has pitched seven years for the Reds. He’s come on much more strongly the past two, however, putting up ERA+ of 110 and 112 and starting 32 and 33 games, respectively. While he has not yet put together a totally superior season, the kind of performance he has shown is now getting guys contracts in excess of $50 million pretty routinely. If Bailey has a year everyone has long thought he was capable of, that $100 million would likely be easily eclipsed if he were to hit the free agent market before the 2015 season.