About Those Incentives in Mark Reynolds’ New Contract

When the Cleveland Indians gave Mark Reynolds a one-year, $6 million contract to be their new first baseman last week, they included performance bonuses that could escalate the value of the contract to a total of $7.5 million overall.

Something tells me that there a couple of these incentives that Reynolds may have trouble reaching.

New Indians first baseman Mark Reynolds can earn an extra $100,000 if he wins the AL MVP and $50,000 if he wins World Series MVP

— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) December 11, 2012

Now, I’m not saying Reynolds has no shot at reaching the full earning potential of his contract, but it’s going to be tough to get that last $150,000. Cleveland lost 94 games last season and is still dangling two of their best players as trade candidates. Meanwhile, Reynolds is a career .235/.332/.475 hitter who has ony ever lead the league in one category and that was strikeouts. Four times in a row.