They must have been convinced he'd play better if he has a long term deal. That's pretty iffy IMO.It really doesn't look much different than what he was going to get in the year to year process if he keep playing about the same. otherwise it doesn't really make sense from the teams perspective; we have control now for two more years.

So if there's a dearth of great 3b around the league I guess we can trade him if he gets too pricey, we'll not get much in return but the flexability is still there, somewhat. Still rather just go to arb every year with CJ, last year was as good as it gets with him, IMO.