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A Look At Dodger Contract Incentives

The last week or so was a busy one for the Dodgers, as they signed all their arbitration-eligible players and re-signed pitcher Vicente Padilla as well.  Currently, 15 Dodgers are signed for 2010, and the other 22 on the 40-man roster are all under team control, and will be signed to contracts at some point before March 11, the deadline for teams to renew contracts to unsigned players.  With the recently signed contracts, we have a pretty good idea of the total payroll for 2010, as well as 2011.  On the payroll worksheet (also always linked on the bottom right-hand side of the front page) I currently have estimated the 2010 payroll at roughly $94 million, and the 2011 payroll at about $89.6 million.

In addition to base salaries, many Dodger contracts have bonuses built in as well.  Per Major League Baseball Rule 3(b)(5):

No Major League Uniform Player's Contract or Minor League Uniform Player Contract shall be approved if it contains a bonus for playing, pitching or batting skill or if it provides for the payment of a bonus contingent on the standing of the signing Club at the end of the championship season.

This essentially -- except with a few rare exceptions -- limits contract incentives to playing time (games, plate appearances, days on active roster, etc) or award bonuses. Incentive-laden contracts were a big factor for the Dodgers last season, as two of their best players -- Randy Wolf and Orlando Hudson -- were each signed to one-year deals with a relatively low base salary and numerous incentives.  Signed for a combined $8.38 million in guaranteed money, the duo collectively nearly doubled that by earning another $7.61 million in performance incentives. 

In 2009, Dodger players collectively earned $9.16 million in incentives.  There aren't any Dodger contracts this season with that many incentives, but a number of players have performance bonuses written into their contracts.  The Dodgers potentially have a maximum of just under $3 million in incentives to be paid in 2010:

Player 2010 2011
Furcal $1,000,000 $1,000,000
Carroll $525,000 $525,000
Blake $500,000 $500,000
Padilla $250,000 $750,000
Kuo $150,000
Sherrill $150,000
Repko $137,500
Ethier $125,000 $250,000
Martin $100,000
Broxton $500,000
Kemp $300,000
Totals $2,937,500 $3,825,000

Here are the incentive details for each player (which can also be found on the payroll worksheet):

Rafael Furcal

Has a bonus of up to $1 million annually if he participates in a conditioning program to keep his back healthy, although I am unsure of the exact details of the requirements of the program.


Casey Blake

Annually (2009-2011)
$125,000 for 525 PA
$125,000 for 550 PA
$125,000 for 575 PA
$125,000 for 600 PA


Jamey Carroll

Annually (2010-2011)
$25,000 for 275 PA
$50,000 for 300 PA
$50,000 for 350 PA
$75,000 for 400 PA
$75,000 for 450 PA
$125,000 for 500 PA
$125,000 for 550 PA


Vicente Padilla

$125,000 for 150 innings pitched
$125,000 for 160 IP
$150,000 for 170 IP
$175,000 for 180 IP
$200,000 for 190 IP
$225,000 for 200 IP

The final $750,000 of Padilla's $1 million in incentives is deferred until April 1, 2011.


Hong-Chih Kuo

$25,000 for 55 games pitched
$25,000 for 60 G
$50,000 for 65 G
$50,000 for 70 G


George Sherrill

$75,000 for 60 games pitched
$75,000 for 70 G


Jason Repko

$12,500 for 100 PA
$25,000 for 150 PA
$25,000 for 200 PA
$25,000 for 250 PA
$25,000 for 300 PA
$25,000 for 350 PA


Andre Ethier

Annually (2010-2011)
$25,000 for 600 PA
$50,000 for 650 PA
$50,000 for 675 PA

Achieving those incentives in 2010 will also add those amounts to Ethier's 2011 base salary


Russell Martin

$50,000 for 550 PA
$50,000 for 600 PA


Jonathan Broxton

$500,000 for 68 games finished or 1st place in Rolaids Relief Man standings
$400,000 for 64 games finished or 2nd place in Rolaids Relief Man standings
$300,000 for 60 games finished or 3rd place in Rolaids Relief Man standings
$200,000 for 56 games finished or 4th place in Rolaids Relief Man standings
$100,000 for 53 games finished or 5th place in Rolaids Relief Man standings

If Broxton achieves one of these non-cumulative incentives in 2010, it will be added to his 2011 salary.


Matt Kemp

$50,000 for 600 PA
$100,000 for 650 PA
$150,000 for 675 PA

Any incentives reached by Kemp in 2010 will add to his 2011 salary.


For more salary details, be sure to click on the payroll worksheet.  Special thanks to Dodger beat writers Tony Jackson and Dylan Hernandez for assistance in compiling data for this report.