Billy Beane continued an Oakland tradition today, locking up yet another promising young starter. The A's GM agreed to sign Trevor Cahill through his arbitration years and then some with a five-year deal that the team confirmed this afternoon.

The contract, which is worth $30.5MM in guaranteed money, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney, buys out Cahill's last pre-arbitration season, his three arbitration years and at least one free agent year (Twitter link). The A's have two options worth $13MM and $13.5MM for 2016 and 2017, according to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).

Cahill's contract is along the lines of the five-year, $30MM deals signed by Ricky Romero, Jon Lester, Yovani Gallardo and, more recently, Clay Buchholz. Cahill's deal, negotiated by agent John Boggs, is a record for pitchers with two to three years of big league service, beating Romero's mark from last summer.

The deal represents a departure from Oakland's earlier pitcher extensions. Beane didn't guarantee more than $12.65MM to Tim Hudson, Barry Zito, Rich Harden, Dan Haren or Brett Anderson when he locked them up to long-term deals (keep in mind that those contracts covered different chunks of the players' careers).

Cahill, a California native, turned in a 2.97 ERA with 5.4 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 across 30 starts in 2010. His first two starts have gone well in 2011; he has struck out 15 in 12 2/3 innings, allowing just 7 hits and 4 walks for a 1.42 ERA.

Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.com first reported the agreement.

Tim Dierkes and Ben Nicholson-Smith contributed to this post.