Here are baseball’s 10 highest-paid players for 2020:
last Saturday. “The players need to be better, but I am not a quitter in general, and there is no reason to quit now." This scenario puts Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg in the No. 1 spot on the earnings list for the first time, with $19 million in salary and endorsements.
Last year’s top-paid player, Mike Trout, pulled in $39 million. Baseball in a pandemic features cardboard cutout of fans in a game between the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians.The shortened season means signing bonuses, deferred payments and endorsements all play a dramatically larger role than usual in the pecking order of MLB pay. Strasburg signed a seven-year, $245 million contract in December, which set a record for a pitcher that lasted a week until Gerrit Cole surpassed it with a nine-year, $324 million deal to play for the New York Yankees. Cole ranks No. 7 on this year’s earnings list with $14 million since his salary should be a straight $36 million annually without any bonuses, leading to a 63% haircut on his original 2020 pay. Strasburg had the right to opt out of the final four years of his contract with the Nationals, which he did in November. That triggered payment of a deferred $30 million he was due on that old deal, which has to be paid out in full over three years, regardless of how many games he plays this year. He can thank uber-agent Scott Boras, whose clients dominate the list with five of the top eight active players. Boras also has a trio of clients, previously released by their teams, who are due more than $60 million combined—Prince Fielder , Jacoby Ellsbury and Wei-Yin Chen —and none of it is subject to the 63% cut. None of the three were expected to play at all in 2020 because of injury or poor performance, but players released by their teams with guaranteed contracts are owed 100% of the money, even in a pandemic. Ellsbury’s pay is still subject to a dispute between the union and the Yankees, the world’sThree of Strasburg’s fellow National League hurlers—Clayton Kershaw, Jon Lester and Max Scherzer—rank among the top five MLB earners thanks to signing bonuses in their existing contracts that call for staggered pay, this year included. The bank accounts for MLB players are also getting hit off the field. They already lag their peers in football, basketball and soccer in terms of endorsement agreements. Most MLB players only have deals showcasing the glove, cleats or bat they use, and almost all of those deals are slashed for the lower number of games in the 2020 season. The sport’s newest nine-figure contract signee, Mookie Betts, just missed the cut for this year’s list at $12.5 million, which includes $2.5 million from memorabilia—including trading cards—and from sponsors like Nike’s Jordan Brand, Axe Bat, BodyArmor and Wilson. Betts signed a 12-year, $365 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Dodgers last month, the sport’s second-largest deal after Trout’s 12-year, $426.5 million agreement. Betts gets a $65 million signing bonus paid over 15 years starting in 2021.Mark Goldman-Icon Sportswire via Getty Imagesreached the pinnacle of baseball last year when he was named World Series MVP after leading the Nats to their first title in franchise history. His new contract includes a $35 million annual salary, but $11.4 million is deferred each year until after the contract ends.took a slight annual pay cut on his three-year, $93 million deal signed in November 2018. But the deal includes up to $5.5 million in yearly performance bonuses. Kershaw is the rare MLB player who signed a new national endorsement deal during the pandemic, as the new face of Hankook tires.is tied to Southern California through the decade after signing a 12-year, $426.5 million deal with Los Angeles last year. His endorsement portfolio includes Nike, BodyArmor, Rawlings, Topps, J&J Snack Foods and more.since being diagnosed with lymphoma in 2006 at 22 years old. His résumé includes three World Series titles, five All-Star selections, a no-hitter and nearly 200 career wins. He is in the final guaranteed season of his six-year, $155 million Cubs deal, which included a $10 million bonus for 2020. He’s owed an additional $10 million after the season if the Cubs don’t want to pick up his $25 million option year in 2021. Lester donates all of his off-field income to the NVRQT campaign, which helps raise awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research.of the seven-year, $210 million contract he signed ahead of the 2015 season with the Nationals, with two Cy Young Awards and a World Series title. Half of the contract was deferred and will be paid out in $15 million annual installments each July 1 from 2022 to 2028. Scherzer had $15 million of his $50 million signing bonus due in 2020.will earn an estimated $4.5 million off the field this year from memorabilia and sponsors Under Armour, Rawlings, Gatorade, Blind Barber and Johnson & Johnson.with the Nats in 2019 into a seven-year, $245 million free-agent contract with the Angles last winter, including a $4 million signing bonus. His endorsement partners are Rawlings, Marucci and Adidas., signed with the Yankees in December, pays a straight-line $36 million per year, with no deferrals. The righty’s 326 strikeouts last year were the most in baseball since Randy Johnson had 334 in 2002.signed in 2019, is the rare MLB contract with a full no-trade clause and an opt-out option. The opt-out allows the third baseman to be a free agent after the 2021 season if he wants a change of scenery or wants to seek a bigger contract.in career wins and strikeouts . He’s under contract with the Astros for $33 million through 2021, when he will be 38 years old. The right-hander’s endorsement partners include Under Armour, Rawlings, GlaxoSmithkline , USAA, Breitling, Supercuts and Ford.Earnings are based on base salaries, deferred payments and signing bonuses paid during a 60-game season in 2020, plus estimates for off-field income from endorsements, licensing and memorabilia.
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