Both Gurriel and Iglesias will receive $1.25 million, as long as they get to play with the big team at the Miami Marlins stadium. (Photo: Cuban Newspaper)
In recent weeks, before the start of the 2023 Major League Baseball (MLB) season, the Miami Marlins announced the recruitment of Cubans Yuli Gurriel and José Iglesias. Both arrived as free agents under a minor league agreement, for which the financial amount and other details of their contract were not known.
Now, thanks to an investigative report from the AP agency where the figures of the 148 free agents who reached agreements with MLB teams during the preseason are revealed, it was possible to know the money that the Miami Marlins allocated for these two Cubans.
Both Gurriel and Iglesias will receive 1.25 million dollars, as long as they get to play with the big team, something that the Spaniard already did a couple of days ago. For his part, Iglesias did not appear at first in the roster starting 40-man Marlins.
However, he also did not exercise the option to get out of the contract as agreed, for which it is expected that during the next few weeks and taking into account his performance in triple AAA, he can be raised.
Under these conditions, with the 1.25 million insured, the natural player from Sancti Spíritus already accumulates more than 63 million dollars earned as salary in his nine years of service in the MLB, according to Baseball-Reference.
Gurriel had a career-high salary of $14.4 million in 2017, and during his career in Houston, except for his first year ($1.9 million), he always exceeded $6 million per season. Sportingly, he was also successful with the Texan club by winning two World Series.
In the case of José Iglesias, if he finally manages to get the full money from the contract signed with the Marlins, he will exceed 38 million in salary income during the 14 years he has remained in the MLB. His best year was in 2018, when the Detroit Tigers paid him $6.2 million.
The percentage of taxes that MLB players pay to the IRS depends on several factors, including their country of residence, the state in which they play, their immigration status, and their annual income. In the extreme case, they may be subject to federal income tax of up to 37% and would additionally have to pay state and local taxes, which can further increase their tax burden.
On the other hand, on the amount of the contracts that they manage to sign with the teams, their agents and representatives are authorized to collect up to 5% of the income in the first contract signed by the player, and up to 4% in subsequent contracts. . However, agents and players may negotiate different percentages depending on individual circumstances.
Baseball players may also have other sources of income derived from their performance and relevance in the game, since many brands summon them to advertising campaigns.