Bad news, Phillies fans.
Curt Schilling announced today that he is signing a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox, with a base salary of $8 million and incentives up to $14 million. You won’t see ol’ Curt in red pinstripes again.
One of the incentives stuck out to me. Schilling can earn two million dollars in “weight incentives.” Yeah, that means what you think it means. If Schilling maintains a certain weight through the season, the money is his – about $4 for every minute he isn’t fat.
As ridiculous as it sounds, it makes sense that Schilling would be worth more when he’s in shape than when he’s, shall we say, round. All organizations have a vested interest in the health of their employees. Penn might even do well to follow Boston’s example.
Raising $3.5 billion is no easy task, and Penn president Amy Gutmann has few pounds to spare. I know her contract was just extended, but the Trustees might want to consider offering some weight incentives of their own. We want Dr. Gutmann to be healthy, for her sake and for the sake of the capital campaign.
If I can’t have all-time favorite Phillie back in town, it would at least be good to know things are in good shape with my school.
Tags: Amy Gutmann, baseball, Phillies
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November 7th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Schilling is his own agent, so maybe he put this clause in the contract himself to keep him motivated?
November 8th, 2007 at 12:35 am
He actually was the one to suggest it. From the article: “I inserted the weigh-in clause in the second round of offers, counter-offers,” added Schilling. “Given the mistakes I made last winter and into Spring Training, I needed to show them I recognized that, and understood the importance of it…”