Cleveland Indians: Analyzing Edwin Encarnacion’s Odd Bonus

Edwin Encarnacion called Toronto home for the past eight seasons of his career. Encarnacion enjoyed three all-star berths in this time, and took home the RBI crown in 2016. This constant production led Encarnacion to be one of the most sought after free agents this off-season; causing him to cash out with the Cleveland Indians.

Back in December Edwin Encarnacion inked a three-year, 60 million dollar contract with the Cleveland Indians. Encarnacion’s deal was the second highest in terms of annual salary behind Yoenis Cespedes, and was the seventh highest gross amount. This pay-day for the slugger was well deserved as Encarnacion has turned himself into a superstar over the last five years.

Encarnacion received a 5 million dollar signing bonus, and otherwise worked out a fairly simple deal. There are no trade clauses that we know of, and outside of a 2020 club option there isn’t much peculiarity. That is, except for the odd bonus that the Indians threw in along with Encarnacion’s high salary.

We’ve seen bonuses that weren’t normal before – yes I’m looking at the milestone bonuses the Yankees gave Alex Rodriguez. However, this one seems to be a plea for help from a ball club that struggles to fill their stadium. Edwin Encarnacion is receiving money bonuses based on the attendance that the Indians manage to get each and every year.

Encarnacion himself will be paid $150,000 each time the Indians hit 2M, 2.15M, 2.30M, 2.5M, and 2.75M fan attendance each year. Also, if the Indians can hit the three million mark Encarnacion will be paid a quarter of a million dollars. As Jon Heyman states, Encarnacion can earn an extra million dollars for something that honestly is out of his control. Simple math tells us that Encarncion gets all of that money, he will be paid one dollar for every twelve fans that show up to watch the Indians.

This odd bonus is directly caused by the Indians lacking attendance numbers. Despite winning the AL pennant, the Indians still had horrible attendance in 2016. Last season, 1,591,667 fans saw themselves at Progressive Field to watch the Indians. This was good for 28th in the league, a mark they haven’t been able to best since 2011. The way the trends have been, Encarnacion won’t receive a single dollar of his odd bonus.

It is quite obvious that this is a plea for help from the Cleveland Indians. Heck, I know it was a historic but game 7 seemed like it was played at a neutral site. There were arguably more Cubs fans at that game than Indians fans.

This deal is all the more perplexing to me because Edwin Encarnacion isn’t really a superstar. Yes, he has the stats to be an elite player, but he doesn’t have the same marketability as say Bryce Harper or Mike Trout. Yes, those guys are on a whole different level, but Encarnacion found himself in the back seat in Toronto. With Corey Kluber and Francisco Lindor, it’s hard to see Encarnacion being that big of a market factor.

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But hey, who knows what happens in terms of attendance. All I know is that Edwin Encarnacion has the potential to make more money than I can even comprehend over something he doesn’t even control.