Miguel Cabrera will get $2 million for MVPs and $1 million for Triple Crowns - MLB

As part of his new eight-year, $253 million extension with the Tigers reigning back-to-back MVP Miguel Cabrera has bonuses for winning the award again or capturing another Triple Crown in the future.

Via the Associated Press, beginning in 2016 his contract will pay an additional $2 million for each MVP award and another $1 million for each Triple Crown, which is leading the league in batting average, home runs, and runs batted in.

So, if the deal would have been in place previously Cabrera would have been in line for an extra $3 million in 2012 and $2 million in 2013. Interestingly, he won the so-called sabermetric Triple Crown in 2013 by leading the league in batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, but the Tigers didn’t put any bonuses for that into the extension.

MVP voting will also have an impact on the 2024 and 2025 team options in his contract, because they kick in for $30 million each season if he finishes among the top 10 vote-getters the previous year. All of which means baseball writers with MVP votes have the ability to make Cabrera a whole bunch of extra money, particularly since a top-10 finish typically only requires a few up-ballot votes. Of course, who knows what the MVP voting process will look like come 2025. By that point they might just let Mike Trout pick a winner each year.

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CINCINNATI — The Los Angeles Dodgers placed pitcher Noah Syndergaard on the 15-day injured list Thursday with a blister on the index finger of his right throwing hand.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the timetable for Syndergaard’s return is unknown despite the 15-day designation.

“The physical, the mental, the emotional part, as he’s talked about, has taken a toll on him,” Roberts said. “So, the ability to get him away from this. He left today to go back to Los Angeles to kind of get back to normalcy.”

Syndergaard allowed six runs and seven hits in three innings against the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday night, raising his ERA to 7.16.

Syndergaard (1-4) has surrendered at least five runs in three straight starts.

Syndergaard has been trying to return to the player he was before Tommy John surgery sidelined him for the better part of the 2020 and 2021 seasons.

Roberts said Syndergaard will need at least “a few weeks” to both heal and get away from baseball and “reset.”

“I think searching and not being comfortable with where he was at in the moment is certainly evident in performance,” Roberts said. “So hopefully this time away will provide more clarity on who he is right now as a pitcher.

“Trying to perform when you’re searching at this level is extremely difficult. I applaud him from not running from it, but it’s still very difficult. Hopefully it can be a tale of two stories, two halves when he does come back.”