Article: Bonus More Than Triples Justin Steele's 2023 Earnings

[Seth Stohs]

On Monday, Major League Baseball announced the recipients of their pre-arbitration bonuses. Cubs lefty Justin Steele received one of the largest bonuses handed out. Two other Cubs also got some bonus money to spend before the holidays.

Image courtesy of © Kamil Krzaczynski, USA Today

In the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the two sides (players and owners) agreed to provide bonus money for pre-arbitration eligible players who perform well. The idea is that these players barely make the league minimum for their first three MLB seasons. Then, through the arbitration process, they can start earning some money. The bonus is considered an incentive for teams to call up their young prospects, rather than playing the service time game.

The league sets aside $50 million for these players. Specific amounts are earned for receiving Rookie of the Year, MVP, or Cy Young votes, or finishing first- or second-team all-MLB. For those award allocations, a player can only receive one bonus each year, whichever is higher. For instance, Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll was named Rookie of the Year and was first-team All-MLB. The award for winning Rookie of the Year is $750,000. For finishing first-team All-MLB, he gets $1 million. He would only receive the $1 million award. 

The remainder of the award pool is spread between the top pre-arbitration players in baseball. It is based on a formula using bWAR and fWAR. Corbin Carroll’s total bonus was $1,812,337. That ranked second to Mariners outfielder Julio Rodriguez, who received $1,865,349.

A total of 101 players earned a bonus through this program. Ten players earned a bonus over $1 million. 

Cubs left-hander Justin Steele ranked among the biggest beneficiaries, with an impressive $1,673,331 bonus earned. The first $1 million of that bonus was due to finishing fifth in the National League Cy Young Award balloting. Here's the full list of Cubs recipients: 

• Justin Steele ($1,673,331)
• Adbert Alzolay ($263,794)
• Javier Assad ($261,955)

Steele got his feet wet with the Cubs in 2021, when he went 4-4 with a 4.26 ERA in 57 innings. In 2022, he made 24 starts and went 4-7 with a 3.18 ERA over 119 innings. Things fell into place for Steele in 2023. In 30 starts, the now-28-year-old went 16-5 with a 3.06 ERA in 173 1/3 innings. His strikeout percentage remained the same (24.6%) from 2022 to 2023. Where he made vast improvement was in strike-throwing. His walk percentage dropped from 9.8% to 5.0%, and he did that while making just $20,000 over the league’s minimum salary. 

The league minimum was $720,000 in 2023 (it will be $740,000 in 2024). Here is a look at the ‘regular’ salaries of these players in 2023: 

• Justin Steele ($740,000) 
• Adbert Alzolay ($744,750) 
• Javier Assad ($721,500)

So yes, Steele more than tripled his 2023 salary with this bonus. Think about that for a minute. Instead of claiming $740,000 of income, he will need to claim just over $2.4 million in earnings. That just might put him in a different tax bracket.

Short story long, this allotment is a nice bonus for these players heading into the holiday season. 

Again, this is based on a formula called the Joint WAR. It uses the popular Wins Above Replacement (WAR) calculations - Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs - though the exact formula is not publicly available. 

• Justin Steele: bWAR (3.0), fWAR (4.9)  
• Adbert Alzolay: bWAR (1.8), fWAR (1.5) 
• Javier Assad: bWAR (2.3), fWAR (0.9) 

Alzolay has been up and down with the Cubs going back to 2019. Early in his career, he had opportunities as a starter. In 2023, he made 58 appearances, all out of the bullpen. He responded very well, with his best season. He went 2-5 with a 2.67 ERA and 1.02 WHIP, and he did so while taking on many more high-leverage situations. He had 22 saves on the season. He threw his fastball a little bit harder but less frequently. He increased his slider usage from 31% to 45%, adding nearly two miles per hour. He put things together. 

Javier Assad debuted in 2022 and had a respectable 3.11 ERA over 37 2/3 innings. He made a few more starts for the Cubs in 2023 but found a more suitable role out of the bullpen. He went 5-3 with a 3.05 ERA over 32 games (10 starts) and 109 1/3 innings. The hope is for Assad to continue to make strides in 2024. He has a starter’s pitch mix, including five pitches. Maybe as his role becomes more and more defined, the 26-year-old would drop a pitch or two. He gets good movement, so he will be interesting to follow. 

In total, the pool is $50 million. The players are paid by their respective teams, and then the Commissioner’s Office reimburses the teams. With about $2.1 million going out to Steele, Alzolay, and Assad, the Cubs will line their players' pockets with more than their share (just under $1.7 million) of that $50-million league pool. They'll hope to be claiming a similar amount in 2024, regardless of the moves they make to shore things up this winter. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Christopher Morel, Miguel Amaya, Assad, Jordan Wicks, and others are still in line to benefit from the system if they perform well in substantial playing time.

Congratulations to all three of these players!

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[squally1313]

Congratulations to our solid #3 pitcher!

[Matthew Trueblood]

26 minutes ago, squally1313 said:

Congratulations to our solid #3 pitcher!

It's the holidays, Squally. Where's your generosity of spirit? He's a solid second guy!