Albert Pujols contract with the Angels includes money for marketing and a retirement job

From a report on mlb.com:

The deal, which was agreed upon on Dec. 8, is divided into three different agreements.

The player deal: a full no-trade clause with a base salary of $240 million through the 10 years (more details on this below).

The marketing deal: Pujols will be paid $3 million for accumulating 3,000 hits (he’s currently at 2,073) and $7 million for a record 763 home runs (he has 445).

Since it’s bonus money to account for the marketability of those milestones, that money will not go against the luxury tax ceiling, according to reports.

The post-retirement deal: Pujols’ contract also includes a 10-year personal-service agreement that kicks in either after the contract expires or after Pujols retires.

In it, Pujols will be paid $10 million ($1 million a year) and will serve, among other things, as a consultant to owner Arte Moreno. Details of what that role will entail are still pretty foggy.

Because it comes as post-retirement work, the $10 million of that deal also will not count towards the luxury tax.

The night before the deal, Angels owner, Arte Moreno, personally called Pujols to talk about these marketing and post-retirement options. His goal was to make him feel like more than a ball player, like he was part of a community and family. Moreno’s wife even talked to Pujols wife. Goes a long way towards explaining how the Angels snuck in and stole this deal from everyone.

More details on the contract:

The contract will pay him $12 million in 2012, $16 million in 2013 and $23 million in 2014, then increase by $1 million each season until reaching $30 million in 2021.

Pujols can also reach up to $875,000 in incentives each season. As BizOfBaseball.com details, he’ll earn $500,000 for winning the American League’s Most Valuable Player award, $75,000 for finishing second or third in MVP voting, $75,000 for a Gold Glove award, $75,000 for a Silver Slugger, $50,000 for making the All-Star team, $100,000 for being World Series MVP and $75,000 for a League Championship Series MVP.

The Major League Baseball Players Association values the contract at exactly $246,841,111, according to the LA Times, making it the third largest in history.

 

Photo credits – Pujols / Stadium

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