Writers won't vote for players with award clauses (changed)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Baseball players no longer would receive bonuses for winning the Most Valuable Player, Cy Young or rookie awards bestowed by the Baseball Writers' Association of America under a rule passed Wednesday.

Starting in 2013, players with such bonus clauses in their contracts will be banned from receiving votes for any BBWAA awards. Hall of Fame voting is not affected, nor are manager of the year or non-BBWAA awards such as the World Series MVP or Gold Glove.

"We've been on record for the past 20 years as being opposed to bonus clauses related these awards," said Jack O'Connell of the BBWAA. "The idea behind this was to toughen our stance against these clauses."

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez earned a $1.5 million bonus for winning the AL MVP in 2007, and Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling has a clause in his agreement for next year that would pay him $1 million if he receives even a single third-place vote for the Cy Young Award.

"The Schilling thing is disturbing because he doesn't even have to win," said O'Connell, noting that Schilling joked about a kickback to the voter if he collected the bonus. "That's something that none of us finds very funny."

Only a handful of players have contracts that cover 2013, when the rule would take effect. The lag time was designed to give agents and teams an opportunity to adapt to the ban.

This is a brilliant idea. Now if the BBWAA could make it a policy of voting correctly. Rollins for MVP???

Still, they do a better job than the coaches do when selecting Gold Gloves.

I agree with you Catbox!

Nothing more to add other than "I agree!"

I like the idea of "incentive-laden" contracts being tied to achievements that the players actually have some control over, such as stats, victories, games played, etc....

Retreating from the hardline it adopted at the recent Winter Meetings, the Baseball Writers' Association of America has decided on a moratorium on its resolution to disqualify from its awards players who can earn bonuses through them.

The BBWAA's board of directors voted 7-0 on Thursday to table implementation of the resolution, which had been approved by a 41-21 membership vote on Wednesday.

While the original resolution called for the ban to begin in 2013, allowing time to consider alternatives to a system that makes baseball writers who vote on the awards "uncomfortable," this decision was made to prioritize meetings with MLB and Major League Players Association representatives to address those issues.

Said the BBWAA in a statement, "It is the goal of the BBWAA to work out a compromise acceptable to everyone."

Affected are the major awards determined by a panel of BBWAA voters: the league Most Valuable Player, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards.

Thanks for the update