Delmon Young signed a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason, but there are incentives in the deal that will allow him to earn up to $2.75 million in bonuses. Some of those are performance-based incentives, but $600,000 of it has to do with the former Detroit Tiger watching what he eats.
According to an Associated Press report, Young will be weighed on six different occasions throughout the season. Each time he makes weight, he earns $100,000. The first three times, he must weigh no more than 230 pounds. The second three he can weigh up to 235.
“You can get carried away with the clubhouse food and late-night room service watching a movie,” Young told reporters on Wednesday. “Some ice creams and good luck cakes and stuff like that. Going back out in the outfield you have to stay lighter and everything. DH’ing, you know, you can be big.”
Young, who was named the MVP of the American League Championship Series for Detroit last year, primarily served as the team’s designated hitter. Now that he is with an NL team, he will have to play the field almost every time he’s penciled into the lineup card (aside from interleague play).
Young reportedly lost more than 30 pounds between the 2009 and 2010 season when he was with the Minnesota Twins, dropping from 239 to 207. He ended the 2012 season weighing in at 240, so it shouldn’t be that difficult to get down to 230 — assuming he didn’t stock up on Hostess products and stuff them down his gullet for the past three months. Who knows, maybe dropping a few pounds will prevent Young from making embarrassing throws like this.
H/T The 700 Level
