Shane Victorino wants a five-year deal from the Phillies

Shane Victorino will make $9.5 million this season in the final year of a three-year deal and the center fielder told Jim Salisbury of CSNPhilly.com that he’d like to re-sign with the Phillies on a five-year contract because “my agents say I can get a five-year deal on the market ... why not trust them?”

And the sooner the better, as Victorino asked “why not make it happen now?” and made it very clear that he wants to play in Philadelphia for the rest of his career:

I love this place. This is the place that gave me my chance. I’m a World Series champion in this city. That’s stuff that forever will be remembered. I want to be here.

As for giving the Phillies a hometown discount to get a deal done, Victorino said:

If it’s a significant difference, I have to weigh my options. I obviously love playing in Philly. They made me who I am. That sits in the back of my mind. But I also understand there’s a window in this game. Age and time comes into play. When I say I don’t want to go anywhere, yeah, I call this home and I want to finish my career here, but we’ll see how it goes. I won’t say I won’t take a hometown discount, but I also will say I want to maximize my opportunity with not only what I’ve accomplished as an individual, but as part of a team.

In other words, he wants to stay in Philadelphia as long as they’re willing to pay market value or something very close. Which is perfectly reasonable, of course.

David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News, citing recent deals for other over-30 center fielders, speculates that a five-year deal would be worth at least $65 million--Jimmy Rollins re-signed with the Phillies for $38 million over three years--but for now Victorino told Salisbury that the two sides “are not close.”