Bonus Clauses In Contracts Give MVP Contenders Even More Incentive

For baseball players with incentive clauses in their contracts, there’s a potential pot of gold at the end of every season – even if their teams don’t qualify for hefty World Series shares.

A prime example is Bryce Harper, who has won National League MVP awards with both the Washington Nationals (2019) and Philadelphia Phillies (2021).

Harper, who signed a 13-year, $330 million pact with the Phils at the start of 2019 spring training, gets a $500,000 bonus for winning the MVP trophy, $100,000 if he’s World Series MVP, and $50,000 each if he wins a Gold Glove, Silver Slugger, or League Championship Series MVP or if he makes the All-Star team.

There are no escape clauses in the Harper contract, which carries him through 2032, when he’ll be 39. And, after reaching the World Series with the wild-card Phillies last fall, he hardly needs incentives to try again.

Sidelined after elbow surgery, Harper expects to return to the Phils well before the All-Star break. But whether that late start will preclude a bid for another MVP trophy is subject to debate.

Also subject to debate is what teams and what players will prevail this season.

Injuries, which are always unpredictable, are invariably the biggest wild-card in making a baseball prognosis.

Harper’s teammate Rhys Hoskins, a post-season star for the Phils last October, is out for the year with a torn ACL. Also out for 2023 are Edwin Diaz, arguably the best closer in the game, and Gavin Lux, whom the Dodgers had hoped would be their everyday shortstop.

Diaz, who had just signed a five-year, $102 million deal with the New York Mets that made him the highest-paid relief pitcher in baseball history, tore the patellar tendon in his right knee while celebrating a Team
TISI
Puerto Rico victory in the World Baseball Classic. Lux also hurt suffered a knee injury (torn ACL) that required surgery.

Aaron Judge, on the other hand, has avoided the dreaded injured list. In fact, he triggered an incentive clause for a $250,000 bonus last season by winning the American League’s MVP award after a league-record 62-homer season.

He also earned a nine-year, $360 million contract that will keep him in pinstripes into the next decade.

That’s good for the 6’7″ right-handed hitter, whose main competition for Most Valuable Player this season figures to be two-way star Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels.

Ohtani will earn $30 million this season but is virtually certain to become the highest-paid player in the game when he qualifies for free agency this fall.

A right-handed pitcher but left-handed slugger, Ohtani won the World Baseball Classic by striking out Mike Trout, normally his Angels teammate, as Japan beat Team USA in the finale.

Once he settles on a suitor, Ohtani is virtually certain to top Trout’s existing 12-year, $430 million deal, the richest deal in baseball at the time it was signed.

Then there’s Seattle center-fielder Julio Rodriguez, who parlayed an American League Rookie of the Year season into an enormous contract that could also top Trout’s. His deal, inked last season, has incentives for awards – such as how he finishes in MVP voting from year to year – that could swell its value to $470 million through 2039.

A five-tools talent with youth on his side, Rodriguez could squeeze into the MVP conversation too. But Judge, Trout, and Ohtani – all former winners – promise to give him formidable competition.

In the National League, three of the strongest MVP contenders not only play for the same team but carry incentive-laden contracts. The San Diego Padres signed Fernando Tatis, Jr. to a 14-year, $340 million contract after his second season, then extended teammate Manny Machado, who finished second in the 2022 MVP voting.

His 11-year, $350,000,000 deal includes a $45,000,000 signing bonus and average annual salary of $31,818,182. The slugging third baseman can’t become a free agent before 2034.

Signed as a shortstop, Tatis is shifting to the outfield this season to make room for Xander Bogaerts, signed by San Diego to an 11-year, $280 million contract in December.

Tatis, 24, led the league with 42 home runs in 2021 but missed all of 2022 with a fractured wrist followed by a suspension for use of performance-enhancing substances (PEDs).

San Diego’s surprising off-season spending spree didn’t include Juan Soto, an All-Star outfielder acquired from Washington in a major mid-season swap after contract negotiations with the Nationals broke down.

Widely considered the best hitter in the league at age 24, Soto is seeking big bucks too and is virtually certain to succeed – especially if he wins another batting title.

He’ll earn $24 million this year but awaits an even bigger windfall if he becomes a free agent after next season.

With the Padres likely to be a playoff team again, their three superstars could stage a spirited competition for MVP – an award none of them has ever won.

They could be challenged by former MVPs Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have reached the post-season 10 years in a row.

Betts, who won the award while playing for the Boston Red Sox in 2018, is hoping to join Frank Robinson as the only men to win MVP trophies in both leagues.

Other contenders include Atlanta outfielders Ronald Acuna, Jr., finally healed from a torn ACL, and Michael Harris II, last year’s NL Rookie of the Year. Like many of their teammates on the Braves, both are signed to team-friendly, long-term contracts.

Winning two in a row is tough but Paul Goldschmidt, first baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals, can’t be discounted. He took his first MVP trophy last season.