The AP released a lengthy list of players who were awarded bonuses following the 2025 season and it kind of seems like Matt Shaw was screwed. These bonuses are distributed from a pool that all 30 MLB teams put money towards as a way to compensate pre-arbitration players who have contributed to their teams. Players who aren't on guaranteed deals and have not yet reached their arbitration years are often making the league minimum salary or well below the value that they provide their respective teams.
Here's how the bonuses are broken down.
An eligible player gets $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 all-MLB first team, $750,000 for Rookie of the Year, $500,000 for second in Rookie of the Year voting or all-MLB second team. A player is eligible to receive a bonus for only one award per year, for the highest amount eligible for. The remaining money is allocated by a WAR formula.
Keep in mind that last sentence when we talk about Shaw in a bit. Three Cubs did receive a bonus.
Pete Crow-Armstrong: $1,206,207
Cade Horton: $858,806
Michael Busch: $483,708
According to Cot's Baseball Contracts, Pete Crow-Armstrong's 2025 salary was $771,000, while rookie Cade Horton earned $580,215 this past season. So, they both ended up with a bigger bonus than their salary in 2025. As for Michael Busch, the 28-year-old will certainly enjoy his nearly $500k bonus, which was close to his $780,500 salary.
All right, let's get to Shaw. There aren't many details on how the bonuses are split up other than players earning awards and then their WAR. Well, taking a look at seven other position players near the bottom of the list that did receive a bonus, Shaw either equalled their WAR in 2025, or actually had a higher WAR than them.
Vinnie Pasquantino: $245,479 (1.5 fWAR, 2.4 bWAR)
Dominic Canzone: $222,066 (1.5 fWAR, 1.6 bWAR)
Chase Meidroth: $218,320 (1.3 fWAR, 1.3 bWAR)
Jared Triolo: $216,057 (1.5 fWAR, 2.3 bWAR)
Joey Ortiz: $212,245 (1.4 fWAR, 0.3 bWAR)
Matt McClain: $206,056 (1.4 fWAR, 0.0 bWAR)
Daylen Lile: $150,000 (1.4 fWAR, 0.8 bWAR)
Matt Shaw: NO BONUS (1.5 fWAR, 3.1 bWAR)
If you go by bWAR, Shaw was significantly more valuable than all those guys after his second-half improvement on offense and near gold-glove caliber defense at third base throughout his rookie season.
You can see the entire list here.
