Earlier this week, the Cleveland Indians officially announced their three-year contract with slugger Edwin Encarnacion. The two sides agreed to a deal last month, but it wasn't until after the holidays that Encarnacion could get to Cleveland for his physical.
Here's a snippet of the press conference:
The contract terms are fairly straight forward. It's a three-year deal worth $60 million guaranteed with a $20 million club option for a fourth year. Encarnacion will make $13 million in 2017, $17 million in 2018, and $20 million in 2019. He also received a $5 million signing bonus. The option includes a $5 million buyout.
There is also one unique quirk to the contract as well. Encarnacion can earn another $1 million each season based on the team's attendance:
Encarnacion will start earning attendance bonus at 2M Indians home attendance. Can make up to $1M/yr in crowd bonuses.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) January 6, 2017
Attendance has been an issue for the Indians in recent years, even in 2016, when the club was in first place pretty much all summer. The Tribe drew only 1,591,667 fans last season, third fewest in baseball. Only the Athletics (1,521,506) and Rays (1,286,163) drew less. Here is Cleveland's attendance in recent years:
- 2016: 1,591,667 (28th among the 30 teams)
- 2015: 1,388,905 (29th)
- 2014: 1,437,393 (30th)
- 2013: 1,527,926 (29th)
- 2012: 1,603,596 (29th)
Last season was the first time since 2011 that the Indians did not finish in the bottom two of attendance, and even then they were only 70,161 fans away from ranking 29th. You have to go all the way back to 2008 for the last time the Indians drew at least two millions fans in a season.
The good news is the Encarnacion signing combined with the team's run to Game 7 of the World Series has boosted ticket sales. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain-Dealer had the story last month:
The Indians' offices were scheduled to close for the holidays Friday, but when news broke Thursday night that Encarnacion was coming to Cleveland on a three-year, $60 million deal, the team opened its ticket office at Progressive Field. Twelve people worked the phones and by the end of the day they had sold nearly 200 season ticket accounts.
A spokesman said that was a big increase over a normal day in the team's ticket office.
Two million fans is a fairly modest goal -- 22 of the 30 teams drew at least two million fans in 2016 -- and hey, the Indians will be thrilled if they have to pay Encarnacion that $1 million bonus. That means attendance is up and the team is making more money.
Props to the Tribe and Encarnacion's agent for getting creative with the contract. This is a win-win clause. You don't see many of those.
