Rather than look only at the deals the Diamondbacks are or are not signing, we are defining some of the terms being thrown around in free agency this winter in an effort to better understand how baseball’s free market behaves. Today, we look at performance-based incentives, what are they, and are they turning baseball into a commission economy?
As teams resist giving out large guarantees, players are countering with “incentive-laden” deals. Adam Wainwright‘s current deal is a perfect example of this.
The Cardinals have laid out essentially every possible circumstance for his 2019 season and paid him accordingly.