Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Details of Andruw Jones' Contract Emerge

Ah. Now it's starting to make sense.

How, we've wondered, could Andruw Jones, our $36 million dollar man, a guy who was the 6th youngest player in history to reach 340 HRs, hit only 3 HRs and 14 RBIs? Was he injured? Did he have psychological problems? Was he suffering from steroid withdrawal?

In short, was there something we didn't know about?

Turns out, there was.

As you may remember, Boras was originally looking for something in the neighborhood of 5 years/$100 million for his client. It has recently been uncovered that he eventually agreed to 2 years/$36 million only on the condition that one key clause be included: deferred production.

Turns out the contract was heavily back-loaded production-wise, with only meager obligations up front. The contract stipulated that in 2008, Jones was obligated to produce only 2 HRs or 10 RBIs (numbers he reached). However, in subsequent years, Jones' production was to steadily increase as follows:

  • 2009, 12 HRs or 45 RBIs
  • 2010, 25 HRs or 80 RBIs
  • 2011, 30 HRs or 90 RBIs
  • 2012, a balloon production payment of 45 HRs or 130 RBIs.

Asked Monday about this until-now secret clause, Ned Colletti was quick to defend his handiwork. "We felt ok with deferring Andruw's production in return for less money. It would give our young guys the opportunity to fill the offense void in the short term, and in doing so, they'd gain the confidence that would result in a steady uptick in their numbers over the next few years..."

Colletti then added, with just a hint of a grin, "...precisely when Andruw's production would kick in."

When it was then noted that most of Jones' production was scheduled for after the contract's expiration, Frank McCourt quickly interceded with the bizarre (and angry) reply, "hey now, remember that this was negotiated over a year ago. At that time, neither you nor I nor anybody else saw this economic crisis coming."

2 comments:

esquinazo said...

Nicely done sir!

[I enjoyed that.]

Steve Sax said...

Was the weight gain supposed to be deferred as well?