Yanks’ failed title run still features big payouts
The Yankees may not have completed their championship chase, but getting close still pays.
The ALCS runner-up Bronx Bombers issued 71 full shares to their players worth $114,367.19 each.
The total was taken from a total pool of about $80.86 million formed from gate receipts across the playoffs.
The further you make it, the more your team is rewarded, hence the World
Champion Nationals players earning full shares of more than $382K while AL pennant-winning Astros took about $256K.
The $80M-plus pool — of which the Yankees and NL runner up Cardinals received $9,703,337.49 — was the third-largest players pool ever.
Last year, the Yankees received about $43K each as a reward for losing in the ALDS to the eventual champion Red Sox.
The dissemination of shares, which is often granted as a show of appreciation by the players to their coaches and support staff‚ was mired in controversy when former set-up man David Robertson rallied a quorum of players to withhold shares to numerous traveling members within the organization, clubhouse attendants, batting practice pitchers, and team analytics liason Zac Fieroh.
Assistant hitting coach P.J. Pilittere received just half a share.
Robertson was in the final season of a four year, $46M deal, so his stinginess over the team’s playoff earnings was reportedly received poorly within the organization. The veteran reliever signed with the Phillies in the offseason.
The players’ pool is formed from 50% of the gate receipts from the Wild Card Games; 60% of the gate receipts from the first three games of the Division Series; 60% of the gate receipts from the first four games of the League Championship Series; and 60% of the gate receipts from the first four games of the World Series.