The Yankees have reached agreement with Alex Rodriguez on a settlement regarding the payment of a home run milestone bonus clause in his contract, as the Associated Press reports (via ESPN.com). New York will pay out $3.5MM to charitable organizations under the settlement.
Rodriguez and the MLBPA had reportedly planned to contest the team’s refusal to pay a $6MM bonus for his 660th home run, the first of several that trigger such bonuses under his deal. The club cited the fact that the bonus was termed a discretionary marketing opportunity under the contract in asserting that it was not obligated to make payment. (Click here for the contract’s details.)
The settlement avoids a potentially ugly grievance proceeding, which all involved were surely motivated not to undertake. It is unclear whether the parties have reached any agreement or understanding regarding future milestones. The next one up is Babe Ruth’s 714 mark, though that seems a long shot for this season with Rodriguez sitting at 669 long balls. Of course, his contract does promise him another $40MM after this season, covering the 2016 and 2017 campaigns.
Notably, the deal means that the Yankees will avoid paying any luxury tax on the $6MM bonus, which would have cost the club $3MM. That adds to the savings achieved on the actual payout.
So does this mean that Arod comes away with 2.5M?
Congratulations Alex on 3000 hits..2000 career RBI…2000 career Runs (when you get it)…700 Home Runs (when you get it)…..
Public Reltions move. Too late, Alex.
They should call the $3.5M a douche tax.
Too late for $3.5 million in charitable donations? The guy have up $6 million for this to occur. I guarantee you that those organizations receiving this money don’t think it’s ‘too late’. The hatred ARod receives insane.
He brought it on himself and he didn’t give up the $6 million… He didn’t earn it. Too many of us, including me, the insanity is the people that still praise him. I have no tolerance for cheaters but A-Rod is a special case. After his fake 2009 mea culpa he was approached by the Taylor Hooton Foundation to help represent them and spread the word to young athletes about the dangers of PEDs. Taylor was the 17-year-old high school athlete who committed suicide due to steroid use. A-Rod went around the country for several years speaking with high school athletes and having them sign a pledge to never do PEDs and he signed the pledge right along with them. The whole time he was doing this he was a client of Biogenesis and looking those high school athletes in the eye and flat-out lying. That is my biggest reason for my dislike of the man.
He totally did give up $6 million and due to him ‘earning it’, charities received $3.5 million. It’s cool that you people can judge and dislike someone you’ve never met, but sometimes you need to get over yourselves.
I never met David Sweat or Richard Matt (no I am nit comparing A-Rod to murderers) but I know I don’t like them. He “earned” it by lying and cheating. If that is OK with you…so be it, but just because many of us feel he deserves no praise or reward due to his egocentric ways does not mean we need to “get over it”.
How did he earn it? The Yankees not A-Rod’s agent added that clause to the contract.. It states that the Yankees will pay him $6 million if and when they decide to market the home runs as milestones.. It is a common mistake by uninformed people to assume that the contract states that A-Rod gets paid JUST for hitting those home runs.. In layman’s terms if the Yankees are able to make money on them they will pay A-Rod for it..
And I agree with NoAZ.. Just because A-Rod is producing well this season does not change the fact that he is a douche.. He lied and cheated his way through most of his career.. His tearful apology back in 2009 was nothing more than a ploy to get fans to forgive him while he was cheating the entire time!! I didn’t know about his “work” with high school students.. After learning that I hate hime even more.. This entire forgive A-Rod nonsense is a farce designed by Bald Vinny the bleacher bum so he can make a fortune selling those lame Forg1v3 T-shirts.. You got suckered, I didn’t..
I agree…the hatred IS insane…he should be ignored basically. I generally think most people away from the AL East hear his name and think.. “he’s still playing?”. I mean he really has no impact on the game from a name standpoint now.
Should be possible in the future to add character clauses to contracts. It doesn’t appear to me that asking for breach of contract because a player has broken a Federal law is to much to ask for.
Unfortunately we will never see it happen. When Tony Clark took over as the head of MLBPA I gave him credit for finally…FINALLY allowing the penalties in the JDA as well as the testing protocols to be toughened. The testing protocols are now in line with the WADA. Unfortunately, when he was asked about the possibility of voiding the contracts of those who cheat he said that guaranteed contracts will never go away. The only way anything close to that will ever happen is if a player is caught 3 times and suspended for life.
No normal employer would maintain an employee under hire that was sitting in a Federal pen, or not able to fill their contract. They are being paid to play the game. If I had 100m on the line I don’t think it would be in my unions best interest to block my contract signing because it entails that I do not become a felon. That’s ludicrous, and does little for the union to even police their own members.
Clark spoke about voiding current contracts, or spoke about future contracts. The standard MLB contract could end up staying matters of criminal conduct…. Union wants to fight that..its their issue.
Current and future…. This is the same union that refused to allow blood draws for hGH for about 6 years. MLB began asking for hGH blood tests some where around 2006 (I don’t remember exactly and I don’t feel like looking it up again) because the testing for hGH with a urine sample is ridiculously unreliable. It wasn’t until the embarrassment of Biogenesis that they finally caved. The union will always continue to hold on to certain things they value like guaranteed contracts for as long as they possibly can. I think it would take something unimaginable to ever change their minds on this particular issue.
Agreed.. Unions are controlled by voting player members.. No player is ever going to agree to give up guaranteed contracts.. It will take a strike/lockout of a year or more where both sides loose a ton of money before something like that happens..
I’d give them guaranteed contracts… I’d make them guaranteed for one season…thus flooding the market every offseason with free agents and suppressing salaries.