AZCentral.com: Piecoro: Huge payday awaits Webb

With two years left on his current deal - at $6.5 million in 2009 with an $8.5 million team option in ‘10 - there is a sense throughout baseball that if the Diamondbacks don’t extend Webb’s contract this winter, they eventually will lose him to free agency, where a nine-figure contract might await, or trade him.

Diamondbacks officials won’t comment on the situation, unwilling even to say whether they plan to broach the subject this winter with Webb’s agent, Jonathan Maurer, who also would not comment for this story.

During this past season, the sides discussed an extension, actually agreeing to the framework of a three-year, $54 million extension before the club took the proposal off the table in June. The club would not say why the offer was pulled. Maurer said last month that Webb’s price has since risen.

One day, Dbacks fans will find out why the Dbacks pulled the extension offer off the table even though Webb had agreed to it. Me, I think the Dbacks relied on the same player evaluation system that told them to dump Carlos Quentin at all costs.