If all goes according to plan, the 49ers will lock up quarterback Colin Kaepernick to a new contract before he throws his next pass in an NFL game. That’s what GM Trent Baalke told reporters today, including Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News and Matt Maiocco of CSNBayArea.com.

“We’re going to work extremely hard, very diligently in trying to get something done prior to training camp,” Baalke said. “That’s the objective right now, as it stands.”

According to Baalke, the two sides, including 49ers president Paraag Marathe and Kaepernick’s agent Scott Smith, have had general “lay of the land” discussions about an extension for the 26-year-old. The next step will be to explore specific figures and years in face-to-face meetings.

Finding a number that works for both Kaepernick and the 49ers won’t necessarily be easy. San Francisco has been able to put together a perennial contender in recent years in part because the modest cap numbers for Kaepernick and Alex Smith before him allowed the team to add plenty of talent at other positions. However, with Kaepernick reportedly seeking in the neighborhood of $20MM+ annually on his next deal, the Niners may have to get creative as they consider how to keep the Nevada-Reno alum around long-term.

WEDNESDAY, 10:50am: Kaepernick is actually seeking a salary in the neighborhood of $20MM+ annually on his next contract, says Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com, in a lengthy piece on the 49ers quarterback. According to La Canfora, Kaepernick will likely only sign an extension if it’s in the ballpark of $20MM per year, and will be happy to play out his current deal and take his chances next year if no new agreement is in place.

MONDAY, 1:21pm: Within his Sunday notes column for the Boston Globe, Ben Volin included an interesting tidbit on Colin Kaepernick, who is eligible for a contract extension. Citing sources, Volin writes that the 49ers quarterback wants a deal similar to or slightly better than the long-term pacts signed by Jay Cutler and Tony Romo, who are both on contracts worth about $18MM annually. Following up on the story, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that Kaepernick is looking for “more than” $18MM per year.

Kaepernick remains under team control for 2014 at a base salary of less than $1MM, so there’s no real urgency yet for the Niners to lock up their signal-caller. While no one believes the 26-year-old is going anywhere anytime soon, Volin writes that Kaepernick appears willing to play out the 2014 season at his current salary if the Niners don’t get near his asking price — he’d prefer to postpone negotiations for a year rather than ink a below-market deal.

Kaepernick’s talks with the 49ers will be tricky, since both sides have reason to be cautious about plunging into a long-term agreement, as Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk outlines. From the team’s perspective, the young quarterback has only logged 23 career NFL starts and hasn’t yet shown he can consistently produce while facing a heavy pass rush. On the other hand, San Francisco has reached an NFC championship and a Super Bowl in the last two years in large part because of Kaepernick, and the franchise was willing to trade away Alex Smith to pave the way for the Nevada-Reno product.

One potential compromise for the two sides is a shorter-term extension, one that would keep Kaepernick under contract through 2016 or so. A deal like that could allow the team to meet Kaepernick’s $18MM-per-year asking price for his first two free agent seasons while spreading out the cap hit over the 2014 season as well. Former agent Joel Corry of CBSSports.com detailed that scenario recently in his full breakdown of the situation.

Earlier today, Ian Rapaport reported that Colin Kaepernick and the 49ers have begun preliminary contract talks (via Twitter). While some believe that he could be looking at an elite payday, Dan Hanzus of NFL.com is less clear about what the quarterback’s value is. If the team is sold on his talents, the best chance they have of extending him on a fairly team-friendly deal would be this offseason.

2014 will be the last year on Kaepernick’s rookie contract, and although he was drafted in 2011, because he was not a first-round pick the 49ers do not own a team option for a fifth year of his services, like the Panthers do with Cam Newton. Kaepernick is scheduled to make just under $1MM before hitting free agency next season.

That free agency is something the 49ers would like to avoid. Hanzus writes that although Kaepernick took the league by storm after replacing an injured Alex Smith midway through the 2012 season, he struggled with consistency in 2013. The 26-year-old signal caller failed to throw for 200 yards in eight different games despite throwing for 412 yards to start the season and 310 yards to end it.

He also failed to throw for 200 yard in his final two playoff games, and turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game against the eventual Super Bowl Champion Seahawks.

Kaepernick was reported saying that he was not likely to try to make his contract situation a point of contention, realizing that holding out for every last dollar would hurt the team’s ability to surround him with important players. While Hanzus makes note of the flaws in his seemingly superhuman talent, he still believes that Kaepernick’s potential upside is remarkably high, and writes that it would be a “a Tyson-in-Tokyo upset if Kaepernick ever reached the open market.”