A-Rod loses $200,000 in All-Star bonuses
Losses stem from terminating old contract signed with Texas in '01
 Julie Jacobson / AP Alex Rodriguez's old contract, agreed to with Texas before the 2001 season, would have earned him $100,000 for making the AL All-Star team and another $100,000 for receiving the most fan votes. |
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NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez’s decision to opt out of his contract last October cost him $200,000 in All-Star bonuses from the New York Yankees this year.
Rodriguez’s old deal, which he agreed to with Texas before the 2001 season, contained provisions that earned him $100,000 bonus for making the AL All-Star team and another $100,000 for receiving the most fan votes in his league.
His agent, Scott Boras, informed the Yankees during Game 4 of Boston’s World Series sweep that A-Rod was terminating his $252 million, 10-year agreement. Then in December, Rodriguez signed a record $275 million, 10-year contract with New York, a deal that allows him to make up to $305 million if he reaches milestone achievements.
New York inherited the old deal when it acquired A-Rod from Texas in 2004. The Yankees do not give contracts with provisions that contain bonuses for All-Star selection or awards such as MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger.
Still, even without the bonuses, Rodriguez has a major league-high $27 million salary this year.
Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay earned the biggest All-Star bonus, $125,000, followed by Cleveland pitcher Cliff Lee at $100,000. A total of 42 of 63 players selected earned $1.92 million in bonuses, down from $2.13 for the initial picks last year.
Halladay, who has a $10 million salary, wasn’t aware of the bonus, saying he leaves things like that to his agent.
“The fun part is being part of the team. That’s what’s exciting and fun for me, fun for my family,” Halladay said.
Atlanta’s Chipper Jones earned a $2 million salary increase to $10 million next year because he was elected. His contract contains a complicated points provision for various honors, and his 2009 pay could increase to $11 million depending on postseason awards this year.
“That deal was signed a long time ago, so you forget about the little sidebars, as far as your contract goes, when you immerse yourself in the game,” Jones said. “I’m not worried about the money. I’ve made my money in this game. I just want to get back healthy and get back to the point where I’m producing at a high rate like I was earlier in my career. The people who play this game just for the money, they’ll get weeded out eventually. I’ve never played this game for love of the money.”
Because Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore made the AL team, the price of Cleveland’s 2012 club option increased from $8.5 million to $9 million.
Sizemore wasn’t aware of the escalator.
“I don’t know what my incentives are for those kinds of things. I let my agent handle that,” he said. “I didn’t negotiate that kind of stuff.”
Making the NL roster earned San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez a $100,000 increase to $5.6 million in the price of his 2011 club option.
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