$60 Million Dollar Man! Texas Rangers Ace Earned Deferred Windfall From Nationals on Monday
In 2024, pitcher Max Scherzer is receiving payments from not just the Texas Rangers and the New York Mets, but also from the Washington Nationals.
When the Texas Rangers acquired Scherzer last season, the New York Mets agreed to cover part of his remaining salary. For the final year of Scherzer’s contract, the Mets are paying $30.83 million, while the Rangers are contributing $12.5 million, totaling around $43 million.
However, Scherzer’s earnings for 2024 don’t stop there.
In Major League Baseball, July 1 often triggers significant payouts on deferred contracts, marking the start of the fiscal year for many businesses. This date is famously known as “Bobby Bonilla Day” in New York, as the Mets pay Bonilla $1.19 million annually until 2035 to settle his contract from 2000. Similarly, Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. receives $3.59 million from the Cincinnati Reds, making him the fifth-highest-paid Red this year. Former Rangers slugger Chris Davis also benefits from deferred payments, receiving $9.16 million from the Baltimore Orioles this year, part of $65 million in payments through 2037.
Scherzer, too, benefits from deferred payments. His seven-year, $210 million contract with the Washington Nationals in 2015 included deferred money, which continued even after he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021. This year, he’s receiving $15 million in deferred payments from the Nationals, bringing his total earnings in 2024 to nearly $60 million from three different teams.
