Milwaukee signed Geoff Jenkins to a three-year, $23M contract extension yesterday. This extension picks up after his current four-year, $18M contract expires following the 2004 season in which he will receive a salary of $8.55M. The deal reportedly includes a $1M signing bonus in addition to a salary of $7M in 2005, $7.5M in 2006, and $7M in 2007, as well as a $500,000 buyout on a $9M option for 2008. Numerous escalator and bonus clauses could make the contract worth almost as much as $39M over four-years. At the end of the first three years, Jenkins will receive a bonus of $250,000 for every season in which he made 600 plate appearances. If Jenkins accumulates a total of 1,700 PA between 2005-2007 the option becomes worth $9.5M with 1,800 PA it jumps to $9.75M.

The Brewers included a full array of award bonuses, which supposedly will be split 60/40 between Jenkins' base salary and the option buyout. Finishing the in the top five in NL MVP voting will earn him $750,000 while finishing between sixth and 10th in the balloting will result in a $500,000 bonus. If he's elected to start in the All-Star game, he'll receive $400,000. As a non-starter in the All-Star game, the bonus drops to $100,000, and if he makes the team as the 25th man, he'll only receive $50,000. Reportedly, he's also eligible to earn $50,000 for the MVP of a Division Series, League Championship, or World Series. I can understand including such optimistic clauses even when the Brewers currently appear well removed from the playoffs, since beyond the possibility of a surprise post-season run lies the fact that this deal doesn't include a no-trade clause. However, I'm surprised at how many contracts apparently include clauses for awards that don't yet exist as in the case of the Division Series MVP.