When
Brett Taranto signed a 1-year extension on his contract with the Brewers last year he became the second highest paid player in the game, after Aaron McNally of the Detroit Falcons, for the 1982 season at just a bit under a million dollars a year (985K to McNally's 990K).
But next season, when McNally was slated to become the first million dollar a season player in the WPK,
Taranto will be joining him, with each of them under contract for 1983 at 1.1 million. It was announced yesterday that the 31-year old first baseman for the Brewers, who could have tested the free agency waters at the end of this season, had reached agreement on a 6-year extension with the team with whom he has won three batting titles, the MGL Rookie of the Year award in 1976, and the MGL MVP award in 1978.
This season
Taranto not only leads all qualified batters with a .436 batting average- on August 3rd- but also has the best WAR so far this season in the WPK at 7.0. He is durable, a sparkplug, an excellent defensive first baseman who won a Gold Glove award in 1977, and an extremely popular player not only in Denver but around the league (he was the top vote getter for the All-Star team among MGL players this year). Although he's fast he is a very poor baserunner and he doesn't walk often. Still, all things considered, he's worth every penny of his million plus a season extension.
Denver fans are ecstatic that they now know they won't have to worry about losing him as a free agent at the end of the season.