St. Louis Cardinals give Adam Wainwright pointless bonus clause

Adam Wainwright is back with the St. Louis Cardinals for one more run.

He had signed a one year deal worth $17.5 million for the 2023 season back on Wednesday, a year he says will be his last. His contract has the usual bonus clauses, incentives for making the All Star Game, winning a Cy Young award, and so on down the line.

St. Louis Cardinals give Adam Wainwright outdated bonus clause in 2023 deal

Those clauses also include a $25,000 bonus should Wainwright win a Silver Slugger award. He had been a respectable hitter for a pitcher, posting a career .193/.220/.291 batting line with ten homers and 39 doubles in his 846 plate appearances. Wainwright has even won a Silver Slugger before, doing so back in 2017.

There is one problem with that clause for winning a Silver Slugger – the universal DH is in existence. Pitchers are not hitting in either league any longer unless one counts Shohei Ohtani. The Silver Slugger is not being given out for pitchers since they are not stepping in the batter’s box.

It is not as though Wainwright is going to play any other position either. He may have hit over .500 in high school, but that was over 20 years ago. Wainwright may have been a solid hitter for a pitcher, but that does not mean that the Cardinals are going to put him in the lineup over a position player. And, at 41 years old, he is not about to put on a fielder’s glove and try his hand in the outfield or at first.

The idea of Wainwright getting enough plate appearances to even be considered for a Sliver Slugger is fun to think about. The idea that the Cardinals could get him into the lineup at different positions and allow him that chance is certainly amusing. But if that actually happens, things may have gone so far awry that Ozzie Smith gets coaxed out of retirement as well.

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright has an incentive clause for a Silver Slugger award. That money is safe for the Cardinals’ ownership.