Rockies Offer Kim Incentive-Laden Deal

Colorado Rockies’ pitcher Kim Byung-hyun (27, photo) will be able to earn a maximum of $6.25 million this year.

The Rockies announced on their website that Kim will be eligible to earn a one million dollar bonus if he pitches more than a specified amount of innings.

In addition, if Kim satisfies the options of the renewed contract, his next year’s salary will increase to $2.5 million plus a $1.5 million signing bonus.

However, if he rejects the offer, Kim will only get $250,000 as a buyout option.

A buyout is given to a player when his club forfeits his contract renewal option.

Kim’s earnings will depend on his performance this year.

The specifics of the innings incentives and the renewal options are not known yet, but, the Denver Post predicts that Kim will make twice his income if he pitches over 200 innings.

Kim pitched 148 innings last year; and it was by far the most innings he has pitched in a season since his major league debut in 1999. As a starting pitcher, he has pitched 125 and two-thirds innings in 22 games, averaging 5.71 innings per game.

Pitching 200 innings this season does not seem impossible if Kim makes at least 34 starting pitches.

Hwan Soo Zang zangpabo@donga.com