http://ussmariner.com/2009/08/17/quick-primer-on-major-league-contracts/

Dave Cameron answers your question.

To be frank, the contracts that Strasburg and Ackley got are hardly that big of a concern.

Let’s assume two things:

1). That both contracts buy out at least one arbitration year (Ackley’s could be two).
2). That both players play to their potential.

A normal player on the 40 man roster on a major league contract gets the minimum of $390,000. Over three years, that’s about 1.2 million. How much money would players like Ackley and Strasburg be able to ask for in their first arbitration years?

Typically the amount doesn’t go over a couple of million, but we’re talking about a potential ace pitcher and a quality hitting center fielder. I don’t think Strasburg would be able to ask for ~13 million in his first arbitration year (which would equal out to his contracted amounts) and Ackley couldn’t ask for the remaining 8 of his, but they’d still get paid. A 3 million first year contract wouldn’t be absurd.

And then, they’re still under team control for the remaining years of the 6 year period. So they can’t negotiate with another team for the remaining arbitration years. Of the two, Strasburg could still make a lot of scratch in arbitration, but Ackley might have to settle for less.

And, remember, we’re also assuming they reach their potential. So we’re talking 4 win players here, minimum. The equivalent of Ichiro and Johan Santana for less than fair market value. Sure, it’s a gamble that they reach that potential, but those would still be awesome deals for the respective teams.