Six Twins Players Receive Major Bonuses Via New MLB Pool System

[Seth Stohs]

Six Minnesota Twins players received a nice bonus from the league on Monday, thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement signed in 2022. 

Image courtesy of David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the two sides (players and owners) agreed to provide bonus money for pre-arbitration eligible players who perform well based on a joint Wins Above Replacement (WAR) calculation. The idea is that these players barely make the league minimum for their first three MLB seasons. Then, through the arbitration process, they can start earning some money. This system eases the frustration and inequity of that framework for young players.

The league sets aside $50 million. Specific amounts are earned for receiving Rookie of the Year, MVP, or Cy Young votes, or finishing first- or second-team All-MLB. For those award allocations, a player can only receive one bonus each year, whichever is higher. For instance, Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was named Rookie of the Year and was first-team All-MLB. The award for winning Rookie of the Year is $750,000. For finishing first-team All-MLB, he gets $1 million. He would only receive the $1 million award. 

The remainder of the award pool is spread out between the top pre-arbitration players in baseball, based on the blended WAR metric negotiated by the two sides. Carroll’s total bonus was $1,812,337. That ranked second to Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, who received $1,865,349. Ten players earned a bonus over $1 million. 

This year, a total of 101 players earned a bonus through this program. Twenty-five players earned at least $500,000. None of the Twins players reached that level, but several 2023 Minnesota Twins earned a significant (if retroactive) raise. Only two teams (the Orioles and Tigers) had more players receive a bonus. Both of those clubs had seven recipients. Here's the Twins list: 

• Bailey Ober ($432,752)
• Edouard Julien ($397,629)
• Joe Ryan ($341,931)
• Royce Lewis ($341,190)
• Ryan Jeffers ($300,304)
• Jhoan Duran ($271,789)

It may surprise some that Ober leads that pack, but the righthander was remarkably consistent throughout the 2023 seasons, despite some interesting circumstances. He made 26 starts, and was 8-6 with a 3.43 ERA. He nearly matched his innings pitched total from 2021 and 2022 combined (148 1/3) with 144 1/3 innings pitched in 2023. Because of his injury history (which included some leg injuries in 2023), the Twins carefully managed his workload at times. He began the season with a couple of starts with the Saints. In late August, he was sent down to Triple A again just to keep his innings count down, after only throwing 56 innings in 2022. But Ober's consistency throughout the year was ballast for the ship of the rotation. 

The league minimum was $720,000 in 2023 (it will be $740,000 in 2024). Here are the ‘regular’ salaries of those players in 2023: 

• Bailey Ober ($730,000) 
• Edouard Julien ($720,000) - pro-rated to 135 service days (~$540,000)  
• Joe Ryan ($730,250)
• Royce Lewis ($727,100) 
• Ryan Jeffers ($741,650)  
• Jhoan Duran ($720,000)  

Short story long, this allotment is a nice little bonus for these players heading into the holiday season. For some, it's more than 50-percent raise.

Again, this is based on a formula called the Joint WAR. It uses the more popular WAR, Baseball Reference, and FanGraphs, though the exact formula is not publicly available. 

• Bailey Ober: bWAR (3.0), fWAR (2.4)  
• Edouard Julien: bWAR (2.6), fWAR (2.8) 
• Joe Ryan: bWAR (1.2), fWAR (2.2) 
• Royce Lewis: bWAR (2.4), fWAR (2.4) 
• Ryan Jeffers: bWAR (3.3), fWAR (2.7)  
• Jhoan Durán: bWAR (1.9), fWAR (1.0) 

In total, the pool for this player bonus is $50 million, funded equally by all 30 teams. The players are paid by their respective teams, and then the Commissioner’s Office reimburses the clubs. For the Twins, this system yielded almost $2.1 million in extra money in the pockets of their best young players, after they paid in just under $1.7 million for their share of the pool.

Congratulations to all six players!

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[Cory Engelhardt]

This is so good. Thank you for sharing the great news!

[Old fox]

I’m happy for these young players & encourage other young prospects to motivate expanding skills.

[D.C Twins]

Very happy to see the MLB rewarding high performance players with limited/no bargaining power!

[FLYBOY1979]

Merry Christmas guys.

Go Twins

[Fatbat]

I’m very impressed with ownership and the union working together to pay the young players that perform the best!! WOW! I’m just gonna venture a guess that the formula is pretty simple. Specified award$ + (Bwar + Fwar) / 2 = total bonus paid down til the $$$ runs out. 🥸

[Fat Calvin]

Congrats to those guys!

[SteveLV]

Certainly nice gains for those guys.

But let's get real:  101 guys split up $50M, or 71% of Ohtani's contract with the Dodgers.

Yep, system is quite equitable and fair.... 

[Twins_Fan_For_Life]

I had no idea that this system existed. Thank you for your excellent article and congratulations to the six players

[Richie the Rally Goat]

32 minutes ago, SteveLV said:

Certainly nice gains for those guys.

But let's get real:  101 guys split up $50M, or 71% of Ohtani's contract with the Dodgers.

Yep, system is quite equitable and fair.... 

it’s not supposed to be equitable, it’s supposed to a merit bonus for pre-arb players

[Jocko87]

1 hour ago, D.C Twins said:

Very happy to see the MLB rewarding high performance players with limited/no bargaining power!

Agreed but very odd that they still award the high performance players who already exercised their bargaining power.  Seems like they should be ineligible for selling out their arbitration. 

[h2oface]

Great to see the bonuses. The MLB CBA is so veteran skewed, and the young players have no real power to change the CBA. To pay Vasquez around 10 million and Jeffers less than a million for doing a better job, for example, is comical. And Correa.............. but that kind of inequity happens to every team, and so it goes.

Perhaps there should be a salary base for each player, and the remaining payroll money could be dealt out each year according to how each player actually performed and contributed. Watching veteran players suck up the coin for sucking and other young players get shafted comparatively for far out performing them just because they have less years under their belt is a reality that cries injustice. If owners were fair, they would dole out bonuses to the deserving just because they deserve it, regardless of the contracts. 

[Trov]

5 hours ago, h2oface said:

Great to see the bonuses. The MLB CBA is so veteran skewed, and the young players have no real power to change the CBA. To pay Vasquez around 10 million and Jeffers less than a million for doing a better job, for example, is comical. And Correa.............. but that kind of inequity happens to every team, and so it goes.

Perhaps there should be a salary base for each player, and the remaining payroll money could be dealt out each year according to how each player actually performed and contributed. Watching veteran players suck up the coin for sucking and other young players get shafted comparatively for far out performing them just because they have less years under their belt is a reality that cries injustice. If owners were fair, they would dole out bonuses to the deserving just because they deserve it, regardless of the contracts. 

The players have agreed to this system.  The system has gone through changes over the years, but the players agreed. The big issue with the players in recent years was that teams learned you can win with young cheaper guys more than you generally can with vets making much more.  The system shifted and so the players wanted something for the young controlled guys.  However, the vets want theirs, just as the vets before them. I am sure if the players wanted to work out a system based on actual output they would, but then many of the high priced vets would lose money.  

[Seth Stohs]

6 hours ago, h2oface said:

Great to see the bonuses. The MLB CBA is so veteran skewed, and the young players have no real power to change the CBA. To pay Vasquez around 10 million and Jeffers less than a million for doing a better job, for example, is comical. And Correa.............. but that kind of inequity happens to every team, and so it goes.

Perhaps there should be a salary base for each player, and the remaining payroll money could be dealt out each year according to how each player actually performed and contributed. Watching veteran players suck up the coin for sucking and other young players get shafted comparatively for far out performing them just because they have less years under their belt is a reality that cries injustice. If owners were fair, they would dole out bonuses to the deserving just because they deserve it, regardless of the contracts. 

I don't know. I like to think that with 26 years of experience at my job I should be making more than someone in their 2nd year of doing the same job. 

I get that in theory the best system for the players would be everyone get one year contracts and be a free agent every year... but I don't want guys jumping around that much. I want the young players to stick around 5-6 years, or more. So there needs to be  a system. and players should be rewarded for longevity. They've earned that right in a free market to earn what someone is willing to pay them. 

This is just a nice incentive for those pre-arb guys who don't have the ability to negotiate  what winning an MVP award might be worth. 

[roger]

And Merry Christmas to all.  Well, not all but this group certainly has a pleasant surprise under their trees this year.  As for the Twins, they wouldn't have been in the playoffs without this group.  Considering there were 101 young guys earning these bonuses and there are 30 teams, the average team should have about 3.33 players earning the bonus.  Seeing the Twins with six confirms they have a very good young group which should bode well for them going forward.

When I read this in this morning's Strib, told Bonnie.  Her comment was that the group making the minimum were paid ONLY $720,000.  Add me to those who wish the top players made a bit less and all these exciting young guys got a lot more.  But who says life is fair? 

You answered many of my questions, such as where this money came from and how much each team paid into it.  Thanks, Seth, and Merry Christmas.  

[Cap'n Piranha]

2 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I don't know. I like to think that with 26 years of experience at my job I should be making more than someone in their 2nd year of doing the same job. 

I get that in theory the best system for the players would be everyone get one year contracts and be a free agent every year... but I don't want guys jumping around that much. I want the young players to stick around 5-6 years, or more. So there needs to be  a system. and players should be rewarded for longevity. They've earned that right in a free market to earn what someone is willing to pay them. 

This is just a nice incentive for those pre-arb guys who don't have the ability to negotiate  what winning an MVP award might be worth. 

What if the guy with 2 years of experience is doing 2-3x as much work?  Should the person with 26 years of experience still get paid more for doing less, just because they've been there longer?

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I get that in theory the best system for the players would be everyone get one year contracts and be a free agent every year... but I don't want guys jumping around that much.

Yeah, that's not working so well for college football right now.

[Cap'n Piranha]

The only way this ever gets truly fixed is to let the MLBPA distribute revenue to the players.  The owners would provide the MLBPA with the agreed-upon split of the revenue, and the MLBPA distributes those billions however they see fit.

To ensure that players don't just collude to form a superteam, all players will be under team control until they turn 27.  After that, there would be a limit to how many over-27's a team can have (this would need to be negotiated, and would probably include a minimum and maximum).

[sweetmusicviola16]

Interesting to see the Twins will make over 400k on this deal. Would be nice to see the Pohlad's give the young players who got them to the PO's an added extra bonus instead of pocketing it.

[jorgenswest]

8 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Interesting to see the Twins will make over 400k on this deal. Would be nice to see the Pohlad's give the young players who got them to the PO's an added extra bonus instead of pocketing it.

Where does the 400K come from? Isn’t it reflective of the Twins having more good young players receiving money than the share the Twins had to pay into the pool? Maybe I misunderstood the 2.1 and 1.7.

[Cap'n Piranha]

36 minutes ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

Interesting to see the Twins will make over 400k on this deal. Would be nice to see the Pohlad's give the young players who got them to the PO's an added extra bonus instead of pocketing it.

The money goes directly to the players, the Pohlads get nary a cent.  The MLB-wide pool is paid for by all teams, at different levels based on revenues.  So the Twins' responsibility to the pool was $1.7M.  Twins players received $2.1M from the pool.  The only place that $400k comes into the picture is that the Twins don't have to pay their players the bonus, so they're paying $400k less than they would have if they had to pay directly.  That said, there is no mechanism for teams to just hand out bonuses to players because they want to, so the POhlads are making no money here.  In fact, they're spending $1.7M more than they would have under previous CBAs.

[Woof Bronzer]

16 hours ago, SteveLV said:

Yep, system is quite equitable and fair.... 

The system is specifically designed to not be equitable - i.e., to reward higher performing players for their performance.  All MLB players don't need a participation trophy.  

[NotAboutWinning]

8 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I don't know. I like to think that with 26 years of experience at my job I should be making more than someone in their 2nd year of doing the same job.

But do you get 30x the amount the 2nd year person is making?

[Richie the Rally Goat]

11 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I don't know. I like to think that with 26 years of experience at my job I should be making more than someone in their 2nd year of doing the same job. 

I get that in theory the best system for the players would be everyone get one year contracts and be a free agent every year... but I don't want guys jumping around that much. I want the young players to stick around 5-6 years, or more. So there needs to be  a system. and players should be rewarded for longevity. They've earned that right in a free market to earn what someone is willing to pay them. 

This is just a nice incentive for those pre-arb guys who don't have the ability to negotiate  what winning an MVP award might be worth. 

Economically speaking, more experience would help you be more productive at you work, no?

20+ years into my supply chain management career, and I’m far more productive than the youngsters.

the difficulty with comparing an administrative job to pro athletes is my job doesn’t require the reflexes, strength, and hand-eye coordination that theirs do. Those skills have a different productivity over experience curve.

MLB isn’t a free market, and this discussion will likely get too deep in the weeds quick, but shouldn’t pay peak when the production does?

[h2oface]

14 hours ago, Trov said:

The - OLDER VETERAN - players have agreed to this system.  The system has gone through changes over the years, but the- OLDER VETERAN - players agreed. The big issue with the players in recent years was that teams learned you can win with young cheaper guys more than you generally can with vets making much more.  The system shifted and so the players wanted something for the young controlled guys.  However, the vets want theirs, just as the vets before them. I am sure if the players wanted to work out a system based on actual output they would, but then many of the high priced vets would lose money.  

The older players have agreed to this system. They got progressively more jealous and perturbed that the draftees were getting such large bonuses and had done nothing, so they changed it to the draft pool and slot money starting in 2012 to try to control it (Stephen Strasburg signed with the National in 2009 as the number one overall, and his contract was over $15.1 million dollars before the change). and the owners liked that too (at least the small market team owners did). The young 1st and second and third year players that are stars do not get compensated with the "value" they provide with great seasons for their performance for those years, nor can they negotiate a better contract, thanks to the MLBPA that they have virtually no representation on. They get minimum salaries that the older players have decided in the CBA for them to get, and the younger players have no say in the matter. That is the point. They have not agreed to this system. They are a victim of it with no representation.

[h2oface]

13 hours ago, Seth Stohs said:

I don't know. I like to think that with 26 years of experience at my job I should be making more than someone in their 2nd year of doing the same job. 

I think we all like to think that as we age. But equal work and equal performance cries for equity in pay, just as equal pay for men and women in the same job does. And then there is the ageism arc. Maybe 26 years at the same job and you need refreshed, and aren't performing and keeping up with the times, and become a liability? Maybe not? It really is a case by case basis, and just because we think experience matters, it doesn't guarantee performance. Sometimes it just produces complacency and entitlement. Contracts will always be a gamble, I suspect. Some will be paid too much, and some not enough. And those on the right side of the gamble rarely if ever renegotiate to make it fairer.

[tony&rodney]

4 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

But do you get 30x the amount the 2nd year person is making?

The compensation in baseball for these young (inexperienced) players is a good thing to an extent. 

CEO pay is 254+ times the pay of median workers. Free market system has never been free. We all get to work somewhere. All is well that ends well: good for Ober and good for Ohtani. The compensation reward tells a story too ... Ober and Julien were the Twins most valuable young players.

[Shaitan]

Any statisticians want to determine my WAR at work?

[SaintPaulRocks]

Question, does this arrangement mean Ohtani received the bonus for MVP?

Another question, since arbitration contracts are somewhat based off of previous years earnings, will this be incorporated into first year arbitration contracts?

Example of Jeffers estimated arbitration of $2.3 but since he actually earned $1.05. Will he be starting at a higher baseline? 

[SteveLV]

No, because Ohtani is not a pre-Arb eligible player.

No, Arb figures are based on their actual salaries, to my knowledge.  This is literally a bonus pool of $50M spread out to younger players (who are getting a lousy deal under the CBA, and this mitigates that a tiny bit).