Detroit Tigers’ Magglio Ordonez gets his $18 million incentive
The Detroit Tigers front office probably cringed yesterday when Magglio Ordonez came up to the plate in the 5th inning against the Kansas City Royals. It gave Ordonez his 1,080th plate appearance since the start of the 2008 season which earned the DH/OF a guaranteed $18 million option on his contract. The incentive was put in his contract after he had a huge year in 2007, batting .363 with 28 HR’s and 139 RBI and 59 doubles. Ordonez has not been that same player from 2007 but he was productive last year (.317, 21 HR’s, 103 RBI) and the Tigers hope he can find that stroke again after a subpar and injury riddled season this year. Currently Ordonez is hitting .294 but only has seven HR’s and 40 RBI.
Jim Leyland is loyal to his players and he also thought that Ordonez in the lineup gave the Tigers the best chance to win. If the front office had a real issue with this they could have stopped it.