NEW YORK (AP) ― Albert Pujols officially joined the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday when Major League Baseball and the players’ association confirmed the terms of the first baseman’s 10-year contract and agreed its guaranteed value is $240 million.
The deal was reached four weeks earlier on the final day of the winter meetings and took nearly a month to complete. There are three separate agreements.
The team and Pujols will enter a 10-year, personal-services agreement following the playing contract’s expiration or Pujols’ retirement, whichever is later, a deal that will pay $1 million annually. But 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.
High-payroll teams such as the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox are likely to examine that structure closely and may emulate it in future agreements.
