Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com has the breakdown of Jayson Werth’s seven-year, $126 million contract with the Nationals. In a nutshell, it’s heavily backloaded.
Werth will get a $4 million signing bonus between January of 2011 and January and 2012 and will earn salaries of $10 million next season, $13 million in 2012, $16 million in 2013, $20 million in 2014 and $21 million from 2015-2017.
As Ben Goessling of MASNSports.com notes, the interesting part is that his salary reaches the $20 million theshold right when Ryan Zimmerman’s current contract is set to expire. Coincidence? There’s still plenty of time to get something worked out, but four years of Werth at $20 million-plus through his mid-to-late 30s would not be a fun parting gift for Nats fans if their franchise player decides to test free agency.