At age 26, Buster Posey can envision one day retiring with the San Francisco Giants.

For now, he is their new franchise man.

The Giants rewarded the National League MVP and batting champion catcher with a $167 million, nine-year contract Friday, a deal that includes a club option for 2022 that could raise the value to $186 million over a decade.

"It's hard to put into words what I feel right now, just an incredible feeling to know that for the next nine years I'll be a part of this very storied franchise," Posey said. "I'm incredibly humbled to know I'll be a part of that."

He came to the plate Friday night to rousing cheers from the sellout crowd of 42,808 and led off the second inning against Oakland's A.J. Griffin with a single to left. Posey finished 2-for-4 in the 3-1 win.

"That's just great, he's the face of the franchise," pitcher Barry Zito said. "He's the captain of this team as young as he is. That's a huge nod from ownership, from the Giants, to say, 'Pose, you're our guy and we're going to go on with you."

The contract, which is also the longest in Giants history, covers 2013 to 2021 and includes a full no-trade clause for its duration. It surpasses Matt Cain's $127.5 million, six-year contract signed before the start of last season.

"Obviously this is a big day for the Giants and a big day in Giants history," CEO Larry Baer said. "By any measure the largest and boldest commitment we've ever made to a player, and obviously that's a big deal. We don't make these kinds of commitments lightly. ... In order to make a commitment like this we have to look at other measures, too, and look at the person. A nine-year commitment sounds like a lot, but it wasn't scary to us when you look at Buster the person."

In addition, the deal is a record guarantee for a player with fewer than three years of major league service time -- more than doubling the $80 million, seven-year contract Rockies slugger Carlos Gonzalez received before the 2011 season. It also is a record guarantee for a player with fewer than four years of service time, topping the $151.45 million over 11 years that Colorado's Todd Helton was assured in March 2001.

"I don't know if we had a mountain to climb but we had a hill to climb to try to get on the same page," general manager Brian Sabean said. "If he's not the face of the franchise, he's certainly a player that comes around either once every baseball life or not that often."

Posey led the NL last season with a .336 batting average and hit 24 home runs with 103 RBIs to earn the MVP award. He played 148 games for the NL West champions, including 111 starts at catcher and 29 at first base. During the Giants' 2010 and '12 championship runs, Posey hit a combined .244 with four home runs and 14 RBIs.