Five Astros Claim Pre-Arbitration Money

The Houston Astros had five players who received pre-arbitration bonuses based on their play for the 2023 season, Major League Baseball released on Monday.

Those players were Chas McCormick, Jeremy Peña, Yainer Diaz, Bryan Abreu and JP France. All of their bonuses were based on a WAR formula.

McCormick received the biggest bonus, which was $453,601. McCormick batted .273 with 22 home runs and 70 RBI, all of which were career highs for the third-year player.

Peña received $362,362 after a second MLB season in which he batted .263 with 10 home runs and 52 RBI, one season after finishing fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and a Gold Glove.

Diaz reaped a $333,108 bonus in his rookie season as he batted .282 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI in 104 games. He ended up finishing fifth in American League Rookie of the Year voting. He will be the Astros’ starting catcher in 2024.

Abreu, a reliever, netted a bonus of $304,107 after he went 3-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 72 games with 100 strikeouts in 72 innings.

France, a rookie, received a $275,335 bonus after he went 11-6 with a 3.83 ERA in 24 games (23 starts) with 101 strikeouts and 47 walks.

Payments from a $50 million pool went to 101 players who didn’t have the service time for salary arbitration for 2022, which was two years, 228 days.

Players can receive bonus money for at least one award per season, with the rest of the money dispersed based on a WAR formula.

Those awards include $2.5 million for winning a MVP or Cy Young Award; $1.75 million for second in the voting; $1.5 million for third; $1 million for fourth, fifth or selection to the all-MLB first team; $750,000 for Rookie of the Year; and $500,000 for second in Rookie of the Year voting or all-MLB second team.