Having already locked up Giancarlo Stanton through at least 2020, the Marlins have secured the services of an even younger core player. Christian Yelich, their 23-year-old leftfielder, has agreed to a seven-year extension worth $49.57 million. It's the second-largest extension for a player in his service class, and it marks further evidence that the Marlins are trying to build around a stable cast of players.

The 23rd pick of the 2010 draft out of Westlake High School in California, Yelich debuted for the Marlins on July 23, 2013 and made a solid showing as a 21-year-old rookie, batting .288/.370/.396 with 10 steals in 62 games. He extended a similar performance across his first full season, batting .284/.362/.402good for the same 112 OPS+ as the year beforewith nine homers and 21 steals. Batting primarily in the leadoff spot, he scored 94 runs, the highest total by a Marlin since Dan Uggla scored 100 in 2010.

The annual breakdown of the deal has yet to be reported, but presuming that it incorporates this seasonduring which Yelich is making $570,000it will run through 2021, with a $15 million club option and a $1.25 million buyout for '22, his age-30 season. Had he not signed, Yelich would have been eligible for arbitration after the '16 season and for free agency after the '19 season. His deal falls shy of the seven-year, $58 million extension to which Andrelton Simmons agreed last year, the largest for a player with between one and two years of service time, but it beats all other comers in that service class according to data at MLB Trade Rumors:

That's good company, of which only the extension of Gyorkowho suffered through a miserable season marked by plantar fasciitis last yearhasn't worked out, though of course it's early in most of those deals.

Via the Sun-Sentinels Juan C. Rodriguez, Yelich is just the third homegrown Marlin to receive a contract of at least four years since owner Jeffrey Loria bought the team in 2002, following Josh Johnson (four years and $39 million in '10) and Stanton. His deal is the second-longest in team history behind Stanton's record-setting 13-year, $325 million deal, topping the six-year, $70 million extension that Hanley Ramirez signed in '08. Johnson and Ramirez were both traded as part of the teardown of the free agent-laden '12 team.

Based on the track record of agent Scott Boras, it's highly unlikely that the 22-year-old Fernandez, who's currently recovering from Tommy John surgery, will agree to an extension, but if he did, it would likely top that of Yelich. Fernandez has two years of service time, meaning that he can be arbitration eligible after this season and a free agent after '18both consequences of the team opening the '13 season with him on the roster instead of keeping him down in the minors to start the year, as the Cubs may do to Kris Bryant.

With Yelich joining Stanton in the fold, it will certainly be interesting to see how many of these other Fish take the bait, but even if not all of them do, the Marlins have secured another important piece of their future.

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Marlins keep building for future with longterm deal for Yelich