Minnesota Twins offer Phil Hughes his $500k bonus
The Minnesota Twins watched in amazement yesterday as Phil Hughes wrapped up his first season as a free agent signing. While he had a bit of a tough period in the middle of the summer, he looked every bit of the Twins ace. Yesterday, he set a new major league record, but he came up just an out short of a nice incentive.
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Thanks to a rain delay in Minneapolis yesterday, Hughes had his game end, likely before his arm was ready. Despite getting the win over the Diamondbacks, he was cruising and could have went out for another inning.
Since he was put on ice during the rain delay, he was pulled from the game for reliever Jared Burton. As it stood, Hughes finished his 2014 season needing just one more out to kick in a $500,000 bonus for pitching 210 innings this season.
Twins fans seemed split with some assuming that Hughes would be given an opportunity to pitch in relief this weekend to get his final out, and the other side thinking that Minnesota was trying to save a buck. Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com is here to shed some light on the situation.
Twins offered Phil Hughes the chance to pitch this weekend but he declined.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) September 25, 2014
Hughes said he was surprised Twins offered him a chance to pitch in relief to reach $500K bonus. But said he didn't want to risk injury.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) September 25, 2014
Hughes also said simply being given the $500K bonus despite not reaching 210 IP mark would set a bad precedent. Said it wasn't meant to be.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) September 25, 2014
Hughes also wanted to thank the fans who campaigning for him to get the $500K bonus. Said it's not often fans want players to get paid more.
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) September 25, 2014
As a Twins fan myself, this is a feel good story all around. Phil Hughes was every bit the ace I assumed he would be leaving the joke of a baseball stadium that is Yankee Stadium, he set a major league record, and he went out with a feel good story.
Hughes isn’t going to be hurting without the bonus, but I bet he feels pretty good knowing there were plenty of people going to bat for him to be afforded the opportunity. A feel good story all around.
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