Seattle signed Raul Ibanez to a three-year, $13.25M contract on Wednesday. Ibanez will reportedly receive $3.25M in 2004, $3.75M in 2005, and $4.25M in 2006 in addition to a $2M signing bonus.

The Mariners drafted Ibanez out of Miami-Dade Community College South with a 36th round pick in 1992. He made his major league debut as a pinch hitter for Seattle on August 1st of 1996 at Milwaukee. Over the next four seasons, Ibanez bounced between AAA Tacoma in the Pacific Coast League and Seattle, unable to hold a major league roster spot. Seattle non-tendered him after the 2000 season, and he signed with the Royals. When Kansas City gave him an everyday job in late June of 2001, he responded with numbers deserving of the confidence placed in him. Nevertheless, as a free agent, he was anxious to return to his Seattle ties.

Unfortunately, the Mariners completely failed to use that existing relationship to negotiate a bargain. Instead, Seattle was sufficiently concerned about the possibility of him signing with another organization that they rushed to acquire him before Kansas City had to choose whether or not to offer him arbitration. The Royals had indicated they had no intention of risking offering Ibanez arbitration, but now Kansas City can freely collect Seattle's first round draft pick without concern over whether Ibanez might opt for arbitration and win a big salary that wouldn't fit within the Royals' payroll constraints.

Ibanez should try to boost his walk rate, but his contact rate is solid and continues to improve. The 31-year-old possesses moderate power skills, however most hitters find Kauffman Stadium far friendlier than Safeco Field, so a drop in power should be expected. Nonetheless, Ibanez and the Mariners believe that he's suited to hitting in Safeco, where he's had considerable success as a visitor over the past three years. Since Ibanez isn't a particularly effective base stealer, I expect his 2003 total of 8 to likely stand as his career high. Overall, I don't expect a big decline over the course of the contract, but I'm not seeing in Ibanez's numbers what the market found so exciting in him, and his signing bonus seems excessive.