The bank accounts for the two biggest Cincinnati Reds stars got larger this past week. Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene each got bonuses of over half-a-million dollars for their performances in the 2024 season.
Since the most recent collective bargaining agreement, all 30 teams have chipped in a little under $2,000,000 each to form a $50,000,000 pool of “bonus” money to be given out to pre-arbitration players.
An eligible player gets $2.5 million for winning an MVP or Cy Young Award, $1.75 million for second in the voting, $1.5 million for third, $1 million for fourth, fifth or All-MLB first team, $750,000 for Rookie of the Year, $500,000 for second in Rookie of the Year voting or All-MLB second team. The remainder of the money is given out based on a WAR-based formula that was agreed upon in the CBA.
Shortstop Elly De La Cruz earned more from the bonus pool in 2024 than he earned from the Reds. Cincinnati paid their superstar the league minimum – $742,500. As a part of the bonus pool and his excellent 2024 season, he earned $860,710. The Major League Baseball stolen base leader more than doubled his earnings with the bonus and pushed his payout to $1,603,210 for his performance on the field last season.
That was the 11th highest bonus from all of the 101 eligible players for the pool. Bobby Witt Jr. got the top bonus of $3,077,595. Only Paul Skenes and Gunnar Henderson earned bonuses above the $1.75M mark (along with Witt Jr.).
Hunter Greene, unlike De La Cruz, was paid significantly more by the Reds than he earned as a bonus. Greene, who signed a contract extension with Cincinnati, got $3,333,334 for his base contract in 2024. His earning Cy Young votes this past season earned him a bonus of $1,000,000 on top of that from the club. The right-handed starter got another chunk of money to go with that as he is the recipient of an additional $529,910 from this bonus pool – with that number representing the 21st largest bonus of the group. In total those three push his earnings up to $4,863,244 for his efforts.
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