Nine Announce Extension for Tahir
September 5, 2055
Yellow Springs, OH - The Yellow Springs Nine announced today the signing of Burhan TahirBurhan Tahir to a long-term extension, avoiding his final arbitration year and keeping him with the team through 2060. Tahir, 28, was just past his fifth year of time in the BBA and therefore eligible for deal that could extend past three years.
"We are delighted to sign this deal today, which keeps Burhan with the Nine for the prime of his career," said GM Rob McMonigal. "He's an integral part of the team, despite the losses, and we cannot wait for him to anchor first base for a winning Yellow Springs Team - as early as the first year of his new contract if I can help it!"
"I've been wanting this for some time now," said Tahir. "Every year we've extended, I've asked for a long-term contract. In fact, I am pretty sure I asked for less than I just got! But McMonigal follows the rules and the league head honchos said we couldn't do this until now. I literally had it marked on my calendar so I could have my agent call the team up and get this deal done.
The deal is for 5 seasons and a total of 36 million, starting at 6.5 million, moving up to 7 million in 2057, and then 7.5 million for the final three years of the contract. This puts the contract in line with the time frame that two other pillars of the Nine will be ending, Dong-po Thum (2059) and Dave Lee (2060 if he picks up his option), along with pitcher Takehide Getrudes (2059), and outfieder Nazeeh Ragheb (2059).
"We have the core in place," said McMonigal. Now it's time to build around them.
Tahir is extremely popular in Yellow Springs, where there's an entire wing of the stadium dedicated to his fan club, called the Burhan Boosters. They sell out the seats from the field to the outfield, starting at the first base bag.
"I was sooo worried they were going to trade him," said one Booster, Daisy J. Wayne. "I don't think I'd ever root for this team again if he left."
"He's simply amazing," said another Booster, Elmer J. Fudde. "I can't believe they took this long to lock him up. He's the best thing that's happened to the team since Thum in his prime."
"He's okay," said Columbia Nell, who made the mistake of saying this too close Fudde and promptly found herself running for her life.
"I just can't get over the support I get," said Tahir. "I mean, have you heard their chant?"
The chant, in full:
"How much do we love Tahir?"
"With all our heart!"
"What would you do if he went off the team?"
"We'd kill ourselves!"
"No pressure on me to re-sign him, right?" joked McMonigal. "We've actually asked them to stop doing that. 'It's a sideshow, Bob,' Bo [Jordan, Nine owner] told me. But we can't stop them, not without causing even more trouble. Besides, it's harmless. Fans would never go to extremes and hurt people or each other, right?"
For his career, Tahir is batting .297 with 89 home runs and a OPS of .793. His career WAR is 9.4 with a wRC+ of 114. His 869 hits should put him on a pace to get to 1,000 next season. He is extremely durable, playing in 130+ games every season since 2051. But Tahir's greatest value is with the fans.
"I love the fans here," said Tahir. "And I hope to show them that the best is yet to come."
