Los Angeles Dodgers Kenta Maeda Contract Details

The financials of the Dodgers’ incentive-heavy deal with Kenta Maeda came to light after his press conference.

We’ve all known the foundation of Maeda’s shocking deal for a while. It was initially reported by Chris Meola that Maeda’s deal would be for eight years with a total of $24 million guaranteed and $10-$12 million in incentives every year.

While Meola had the contract first, he was off by a million dollars, as Joel Sherman reported that the deal was for eight years and a total of $25 million. The Associated Press’ Beth Harris wrote that it was $25 million, and laid out the incentives.

According to Bill Shaikin, Maeda took a physical that wasn’t completely clean and that was sent to all teams, which limited his market. The Dodgers were still interested and he seemingly passed their physical, but that still explains the incentive heavy contract.

Jan 7, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Kent Maeda addresses the media at a Los Angeles Dodgers press conference to announce the signing of the Japanese pitcher to an eight-year contract at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Every year, Maeda will receive $150,000 if he’s on the active opening day roster. $6.5 million of the incentives is based on the number of starts Maeda makes ($1M for 15 starts, $1M for 20 starts, $1.5M for 25, 30 and 32 starts each).

The remaining $3.5 million in incentives is based on the number of innings Maeda pitches. He gets $250,000 when he reaches 90 innings, and then another $250,000 for every additional 10 innings up to 190. If he gets to 200 innings pitched, he receives another $750,000.

The contract, if Maeda hits every incentive, will give him $106.2 million over eight years, which still only adds up to a bit more than $13M/year. For Maeda to hit that number, he must start 32 games and pitch in 200 innings, at least. For reference, only 36 pitchers in the league started 32 games or more last year (including three Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Alex Wood) and only 28 pitchers topped 200 innings (including Kershaw and Grienke).

Next: Dodgers Make Maeda Deal Official

It’s really hard to see a downside to this contract. Maeda could be a complete bust, and even if he is the financial commitment to him is minimal. His physical may have scared some teams away, but in his press conference he sounded completely confident in his arm and he’s never missed any notable time in his career.

The financials of the Dodgers’ incentive-heavy deal with Kenta Maeda came to light after his press conference.

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