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Report: Rangers, Odor nearing 6-year, $49.5M extension

Tom Szczerbowski / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Rougned Odor appears to be staying in Arlington for the long haul.

The fiery second baseman is reportedly nearing a six-year contract extension with the Texas Rangers, major-league sources told Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News.

The deal will reportedly be worth $49.5 million and contains one option year in 2023, according to Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. Sources told Grant the Rangers are optimistic they'll complete the extension before Opening Day.

Odor's extension will reportedly take affect this season, reports Grant, with the deal's first season replacing his already renewed 2017 rookie contract. The remainder of the extension will cover all three arbitration years, and delay his free-agent eligibility by at least two seasons; he would have been eligible to hit the market after 2020.

Negotiations between the Rangers and Odor have apparently been ongoing for some time; earlier reports indicated Odor was asking for a deal comparable to that of Jason Kipnis, who got a $52.5-million extension from Cleveland in 2014. While the dollar figure reported by Heyman on Saturday is lower than Odor's apparent asking price, the overall value of both the option year and the buyout likely spikes the deal's total worth.

Odor will be the second member of the Rangers to receive an extension this spring, after catcher Robinson Chirinos inked a one-year extension with the club earlier this week.

Odor was signed by the Rangers out of Maracaibo, Venezuela in 2011 and reached the majors three years later. The 23-year-old, perhaps best known for triggering a memorable brawl by punching Toronto Blue Jays star Jose Bautista last May, played 150 games in the majors for the first time in 2016 after splitting time between MLB and Triple-A during his first two years. He established himself as a powerful bat in 2016 by hitting a team-high 33 home runs.

Across 384 big-league games, Odor owns a career slash line of .265/.302/.464 with 58 homers, 197 RBIs, 24 stolen bases, 59 walks, and 285 strikeouts.

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