It's more than that, considering they could had renewed his 3rd year at far less than 1 million. It was a show of good faith. -Petey
Years 1-3, of a players career in the majors, a team TOTALLY controls his rights and pays him what they want based on a min. scale. There is no arbitration, free agency, or teams don't even need to lock players into controls. Since Pedroia is a 3rd year player, the Sox could have told him to report to camp and to 'deal' with making MLB's min salary. By signing him to such a deal early, they are basically just spreading the cash around making his future salary/years more controllable, under the terms of the contract. -Petey
I'd value the average higher than 6.7, still a good deal, that figure was done just to help control payroll future years. -Petey