First baseman Albert Pujols officially joined the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday when Major League Baseball and the players' association confirmed the terms of his 10-year contract and agreed that its guaranteed value is $240 million.
The deal was reached four weeks ago, on the final day of the winter meetings, took nearly a month to complete and has three separate agreements.
The team and Pujols will enter a 10-year, personal-services agreement after the playing contract expires or Pujols retires, whichever is later. That deal will pay $1 million a year, and because it is contingent on Pujols actually working for the team, it is not considered guaranteed money for the purposes of baseball's luxury tax.
There also is a marketing agreement that will pay Pujols for milestone accomplishments — $3 million for 3,000 hits and $7 million for a record 763rd home run. He currently has 2,073 hits and 445 home runs.
Including all three agreements, Pujols could make as much as $265.75 million over 20 years. That includes $875,000 in possible award bonuses each year for accomplishments such as most-valuable player, World Series and league championship series MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger, and making the All-Star team.
Like C.J. Wilson's $77.5 million, five-year contract, which also was agreed to Dec. 8, Pujols' deal is heavily backloaded. His 2012 salary will be $12 million, down from the $16 million he made last season in the option year of his contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Pujols' salary will increase to $16 million in 2013 and $23 million in 2014, then will increase $1 million a year until he makes $30 million in 2021, when he will be 41.
In addition to his salary, Pujols will receive: four season tickets to home games over the next decade; a hotel suite on trips; a luxury suite at the ballpark for the Pujols Foundation, his charitable group, for 10 home games a year; and the right to buy a luxury suite between first base and third base for all home games.
It is only the third $200 million contract in baseball history, behind Alex Rodriguez's $252 million deal with Texas after the 2000 season and his $275 million deal with the New York Yankees after the 2007 season. Pujols' average salary matches that of pitcher Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies for third highest among current players, behind Rodriguez and Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard ($25 million).
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