DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers agreed to pay Miguel Cabrera a baseball record $292 million over the next 10 years, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. ADVERTISING DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers agreed to pay Miguel Cabrera
DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers agreed to pay Miguel Cabrera a baseball record $292 million over the next 10 years, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person, who said the contract is subject to a physical, spoke Thursday night to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced.
Cabrera is due $44 million over the final two years from his $152.3 million, eight-year contract that runs through 2015, and the person says Cabrera will make $248 million over eight seasons in the new deal.
Depending on whether Cabrera’s deal is structured as one 10-year contract or an eight-year deal starting in 2016, it will either surpass Alex Rodriguez’s $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees for richest contract or Clayton Kershaw’s record for average annual value of $30,714,286, a deal he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in January.
Cabrera, who turns 31 next month, has been voted AL MVP in each of the last two seasons. He is the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons since Frank Thomas did it two decades ago.
The Venezuelan slugger won the Triple Crown in 2012 — becoming the game’s first player to lead either league in batting average, homers and RBIs since 1967 — and followed that up with another strong season at the plate despite struggling to stay healthy. Cabrera led the majors with a .348 batting average last year and his 44 homers and 137 RBIs were both second to Baltimore’s Chris Davis.
Lester to start Red Sox opener at Baltimore
FORT MYERS, Fla. — Jon Lester has been picked to start on opening day for the Boston Red Sox.
Boston manager John Farrell announced Thursday that Lester will pitch Monday in Baltimore against the Orioles. The news came as no surprise, but Farrell had waited to make an announcement.
It will be Lester’s fourth consecutive opening day start, the fifth-longest streak in team history behind Pedro Martinez (seven), Roger Clemens (seven), Dennis Eckersley (five) and Cy Young (five).
Lester went 15-8 with a 3.75 ERA in 33 starts and 213 1/3 innings last year, helping the Red Sox to their third World Series championship in 10 years. The 30-year-old left-hander is 100-56 with a 3.76 ERA in eight seasons with Boston.
Reds RHP Cueto to start opening day
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Johnny Cueto is set to start on opening day for the Cincinnati Reds for the third straight season.
First-year manager Bryan Price said Thursday that Cueto will pitch Monday at home against St. Louis.
Price had to sort through a series of minor injuries, including Cueto’s tender right shoulder, before making the final determination. Cueto missed a turn this spring because of soreness.
Tony Cingrani will pitch the second game.
MLB’s high-tech replay room opens Sunday
NEW YORK — After deciding close calls on the field since 1876, baseball opens a high-tech control room this weekend where the fates of batters, pitchers, runners and fielders will be decided by umpires up to 2,600 miles away in the building where the Oreo cookie was invested.
Starting with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ game at the San Diego Padres on Sunday night, the U.S. opener of the 2014 season, players, managers and fans will turn their attention to the ROC — the Replay Operations Center. In a dimly lit room of just under 1,000 square feet in the Chelsea Market in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, umpires and technicians will make the decisions that could decide games and championships.
By wire sources
