The MLB announced today that Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement is being rewarded for his solid 2024 season with a nice sum of money from the league.
The most recent collective bargain agreement decided to pool a total of $50 million and divided among the best players that have had a great season but do not have enough service time to reach arbitration.
As a part of MLB's most recent collective bargaining agreement, a total of $50 million is put into a pool and divided amongst the game's best players who don't have enough service time to reach arbitration yet. -Treuden
MLB announces Blue Jays Ernie Clement is receiving a pre-arbitration bonus
Clement is coming off a great breakout season with the Blue Jays as he was a Gold Glove finalist and due to that has been award with $245,805 as a pre-arbitration bonus.
The lone Blue Jays representative on the list is 28-year-old Ernie Clement, whose late start to his big league career has earned him a $245,805 bonus, which is a nice little bit of extra spending money around Christmas. -Treuden
While this is a nice bonus for Clement, his bonus is on the smaller side of things as Kansas City Royals Bobby Witt Jr is taking home a total of $3.08 million including an extra $1.75 million for finishing second in AL MVP voting.
That's exactly how Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. took home roughly $3.08 million from the pre-arb bonus pool this year even after signing a gigantic extension to remain on the Royals for the foreseeable future. His second-place finish in the AL MVP voting earned him a $1.75 million bonus from the pool as well thanks to some of the fine-print details in that CBA agreement. -Treuden
While Clement did have a great season in 2024 with the Blue Jays due to their disappointing overall season, Clement's future in Toronto might not last long as the team is still in need of filling many holes in their lineup.
Clement might end up being traded because he has great trade value and the Blue Jays could afford to move him especially if they end up going after a first baseman which would relocate Vladimir Guerrero Jr to third.