MLBWith an average annual salary of $43.3 million (more than €38 million), Max Scherzer will soon be able to call himself the highest paid baseball player ever. The 37-year-old bowler trades the Los Angeles Dodgers for the New York Mets and will earn at least $130 million (over €114 million) over the next three seasons.
Scherzer thus broke the record for fellow bowler Gerrit Cole, who receives an average annual salary of $36 million with the New York Yankees. Cole signed a contract in 2020 that will earn him $324 million over nine years. Mike Trout is still the biggest contract in Major League Baseball (MLB) history ($426.5 million for 12 years in 2019), but the LA Angels star earns less than Scherzer per year.
The standard deal for an experienced free agent Scherzer doesn’t stand alone. As the collective labor agreement expires on Wednesday and the club’s owners may be suspended, money has been dumped into MLB in an unprecedented manner in recent weeks. Barely a month after the American baseball season ended, the clubs signed new contracts worth about $2 billion.
Scherzer wasn’t the only player making headlines. The Texas Rangers went on to sign big earners like Cory Seager (Dodgers, $325 million over 10 years) and Marcus Simin (Blue Jays, $175 million over 7 years). Tampa Bay Rays have extended the contract with Wonder Franco, who will earn $182 million over the next 11 years.
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