I find this very interesting:"Under the agreement, which remains to be finalized, Rodriguez could receive $6 million each for tying the home-run levels of Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714), Hank Aaron (755) and Barry Bonds (762), and an additional $6 million for breaking Bonds' major league record."As I understand it, this, standing alone, is blatantly against the rules. You can have incentive clauses for playing time (games, PAs, starts), but not performance.
"The Yankees could designate each level as a historic event, enabling Rodriguez to receive the added money in exchange for additional personal appearances and signed memorabilia for the club. That enabled the agreement to be allowed by the players' association and the commissioner's office."I would have to assume that it's pretty clear to everyone that this is complete BS. "Additional personal appearances"? The players' association goes along with this for obvious reasons. But why does the commissioners' office? How do they benefit? I suppose this is a pretty unique situation, and they don't fear that they're setting a bad precedent.
About six years from now, this is going to get very interesting. Rodriguez will be 38. Chances are he'll still be raking, but what if he isn't? He's making an average of $27MM per year on this contract, but that starts "low" and escalates as the years go by. So say he's struggling in 2013 (I don't know; .260/.345/.500), but manages to hit HRs 755-763.
It's entirely possible that he'll take home $50MM ($32MM base + $18MM in HR bonuses) for that level of production. And if New Yorkers booed A-Rod mercilessly while he was hitting .290/.392/.523 in 2006, I can't imagine they'd be particularly receptive to him in that situation.
Photo: Celebrity Incomes.
6 comments:
But can't you have incentive clauses for winning the Cy Young?
Yeah- Cy Young, MVP, All-Star, all that.
I guess I should have said "statistical performance incentives"? But they do distinguish- you can get bonuses for winning the MVP, you can't for hitting 50 HRs.
In 2013, we'll all be six years older and maybe the best players will be getting $50 million a year, so A-Rod's salary will seem slightly less ridiculous.
Or maybe the Bronx will fall into the Harlem River and the Yankees will have already traded A-Rod to the New Jersey Marlins. Who knows?
Yankee fans will boo him tomorrow if he forgets to brush his teeth. He'll never win with those idiots so he might as well get paid.
I'm more interested in the luxury tax implications of the $32+$18 million annual salary. I suppose that would apply to any of the HR bonus that gets paid out over the course of his contract. Does that money count for the luxury tax or is it paid outside of it - say from a YES network slush fund?
Regardless of where the money comes from, I would have to think it counts towards the luxury tax. You can't just have contracts on the side because it's convenient (unless you're the Timberwolves).
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