The Phillies' decision to bump Jamie Moyer to the bullpen for Pedro Martinez may be the right baseball decision, but as Nick Kapur pointed out last month at UmpBump.com, the move has major financial implications. Moyer's contract incentives are based on innings pitched and games started so they'll be much harder to reach out of the 'pen. Moyer has started 22 games and pitched 123.3 innings, so he would have started about 30 games and pitched about 180 innings if he'd stayed in the rotation all year. Here are some incentives in his contract:
- $250k for 150, 160, 170, 180 and 190 innings.
And a few ways he could boost his 2010 salary:
- Moyer adds $250k to his salary when he starts his next game and again if he reaches 150 IP.
- His salary rises by $500k when he starts his 25th, 27th, 29th and 31st games.
- It increases by the same amount when he reaches 160, 170, 180 and 190 innings.
Had Moyer stayed in the rotation long enough to make 30 starts and pitch 180 innings, he would have received $1MM more this year and $3.5MM more next year. He could still reach some of these marks, but it's no wonder he's disappointed.
