DETROIT — Several young Detroit Tigers players received a nice end-of-year bonus from MLB’s pre-arbitration pool.
Catcher Dillon Dingler ($549,351); outfielders Riley Greene ($378,111) and Wenceel Perez ($219,286); first baseman Spencer Torkelson ($318,620); infielder Colt Keith ($224,454); and right-handed pitcher Reese Olson ($224,416) earned extra payouts from a pool of $50 million that is divided among eligible players.
The bonus pool was created in the collective bargaining agreement that went into effect in 2022. It’s designed to reward the production of players with fewer than three years of service time who are not yet arbitration-eligible and in many cases would otherwise make only the minimum salary ($760,000 in 2025).
An eligible player earns $2.5 million for winning an MVP or Cy Young Award, $1.75 million for finishing second, $1.5 million for finishing third, and $1 million for placing fourth or fifth. Players also receive $750,000 for winning Rookie of the Year or $500,000 for finishing second. A player can receive only one such award per year.
The remainder of the $50 million pool is divided based on a formula tied to Wins Above Replacement (WAR).
Players like Keith remain eligible even if they’ve already signed long-term deals, as long as their service time falls below the arbitration threshold.
Pittsburgh Pirates ace and NL Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes ($3.44 million) earned the largest payout from this year’s allotment.