Carlos Pena was one of the best bargains in all of baseball last season when he made just $800k (an additional $400k in incentives) and had the 18th highest season FIC total where he played to a $14 million salary and a Reina Value of +1,650%. Click here to view the Reina Value for 2007 Scott Boras and the Tampa Bay Rays avoided going to arbitration over Pena and have reached an agreement on a $24.125 million deal over three-years. He will be compensated $6 million in 2008, $8 million in 2009 and $10.125 million in 2010. Pena was always expected to become the slugger he was in 2007 and was traded for and tagged by Billy Beane to become Jason Giambi?s replacement but he couldn?t seem to put it all together and was a Greg Norton injury away this year from not finding a home in Tampa. Even with his monster arbitration-avoiding deal, Pena will be underpaid if he duplicates his 2007 production, but how likely is that to happen? Sometimes players of the caliber of Albert Pujols or Alex Rodriguez have difficulty hitting 46 homeruns and an OPS of 1.038 in consecutive seasons. Much of his improvement came from a more patient approach at the plate. His SO/BB ratio improved significantly from his Detroit days and although he struck out 142 times, he also walked 103 times. In all likelihood, Pena?s production will decrease but if he continues to be a selective hitter, there is no reason to expect his homerun total to dip below 32-35 and his OPS below .900. Pena was solely responsible for 14% of the Devil Rays? runs in 2007, carrying their offense on par with players like Carlos Lee and Prince Fielder did for their respective teams. (Hands on Runs: In order to calculate the percentage of runs a player has a hand in, I add the run total with the RBI total, then divide by the amount of runs their team has scored and finally divide by two in order to get a percentage) Click here read more about the HOR statistic Pena will turn 30 on May 17th and this three-year deal ensures that he remains with Tampa Bay for his peak prime seasons. Grading the Deal: A- (for both sides)