The deal, which pays Davis $5.5 million this year, $7.75 million in 2008 and $8.75 million in 2009, enables the two sides to avoid salary arbitration.
Davis, 31, asked for $7.5 million in arbitration and the Diamondbacks offered $5.25 million. The difference of $2.25 million was the second largest among this year's exchanges, topped only by the $4.475 million gap between the Cubs and right-hander Carlos Zambrano.
I hope Daron Sutton likes saying, "And Davis walks the bases loaded," because it looks like he'll be doing it for a while.
Not a bad deal for either side. It's interesting, though, to think that we didn't spend a whole lot more on Jeff Suppan than we would've had to in order to keep Davis. (Plus, of course, we got some useful players in trade.) If it were just the money, I might rather have Davis with this deal than Suppan with his, but when the other players are factored in, this is a clear win for the Brewers.