The Angels signed first baseman Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $254 million free agent contract earlier this month. All of that money is guaranteed, and now it has been revealed that the massive deal also carries $10 million worth of milestone-based incentives.
According to Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports, Pujols will get an additional $3 million from the Halos if he reaches 3,000 hits and $7 million if he manages to top Barry Bonds’ record of 762 career home runs.
Pujols will begin his tenure in Anaheim with 2,073 career hits and 445 home runs. If the 31-year-old is able to maintain the kind of offensive pace he produced in 11 years with St. Louis, he should reach 3,000 hits within the next five or six seasons. The home run record is more of a stretch, but it might be attainable if Pujols mashes for all 10 years of the contract. He’d need to average 31.7 dingers per season through 2021.
Pujols is a .328/.420/.617 career hitter with a 1.037 career OPS. He had 173 hits and 37 homers in 2011.
