I agree, they really should have picked up his 2015 option and lowballed him for 4 years that offseason when he'd be asking for at least 17.5 a year. Then after that, you offer 2 years at 8 per.
Oh wait, it comes out to basically the exact same thing.
The last 2 years at 17M are not an issue. Why are you trying to make it into one?