After continuously falling short of significant league-wide honors, Dylan Cease will be receiving a nice bonus in time for the holidays instead.
The White Sox starting pitcher is one of 100 MLB players who qualified for the first-ever pre-arbitration bonus pool and will be collecting the highest amount of them all. According to ESPN’s Jesse Rogers, Cease is set to gain over $2.4 million thanks to his dominant 2022 season.
| Player | Total Bonus |
|---|---|
| Dylan Cease | $2,457,426 |
| Yordan Alvarez | $2,381,143 |
| Alek Manoah | $2,191,023 |
| Zac Gallen | $1,670,875 |
| Julio Rodriguez | $1,550,850 |
| Mike Harris | $1,361,435 |
| Emmanuel Clase | $1,354,962 |
| Andres Gimenez | $1,308,805 |
| Adley Rutschman | $1,177,555 |
| Kyle Tucker | $1,146,555 |
All of this comes thanks to March’s new collective bargaining agreement that set aside $50 million for the top 100 eligible players according to MLB’s WAR metric. To be qualified, players must have less than three years of service time in the league. In addition to WAR, there are also bonuses for those eligible players who finished in the top two for Rookie of the Year voting, in the top five for MVP and Cy Young voting, and were named to either the first or second-team All-MLB.
Luckily for Cease, the 26-year-old made the 2022 season his best to date. The righty was the owner of a 14-8 record, 2.20 ERA (184.0 IP/45 ER), 227 strikeouts, 3.10 FIP, 1.109 WHIP, and 227 strikeouts in 32 starts. Despite being one of the more notable All-Star snubs, Cease finished the season ranked second among qualified AL starters in ERA, strikeouts, and opponents average (.190) and third in strikeouts per nine innings (11.10).
When it comes to his bonus, Cease earned an extra $707,425 due to his WAR ranking and $1.75 million for his second-place finish in the AL Cy Young race. Not a bad payday for someone who just earned a mere $750,000 off his salary this year.
As you can probably tell, the pre-arbitration bonus pool was considered a win for younger players – like Cease – who might be considered underpaid after putting up such strong numbers. Bonuses are apparently due to players by December 23, and will be paid by their team but then reimbursed by the league through a central fund later on. So no, this won’t take away from the White Sox’ already strict spending funds this offseason.
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Featured Photo: Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports
