Nats' Crazy Contract Clauses

Today, ESPN's Jayson Stark put together a fantastic list of "small print" catches from this year's contract signings. Here's a summary of the Nats have two players that have made the list. I highly recommend you head over there to read Stark's article, though. It's really fascinating. Especially the part about the SIX Pirates players, including former Nat Scott Olsen, that will get big bonuses if they are named World Series MVP. Yea... on to more realistic possibilities...

Jayson Werth - No surprises here. The hundred million dollar plus man's deal is not related to his beard though, unfortunately. It's written directly into Werth's contract that he will wear #28 in DC. No negotiation between him and Michael Morse about this, it seems. As long as Jayson's getting paid in DC, he'll be wearing #28.

Chien-Ming Wang - As Stark says, Wang's contract is incredibly incentive laden, so it's not surprising he's got a weird one here or there. But if this former AL pitcher out hits all NL pitchers in 2011 (should he even appear in a game), he'll earn an extra $50,000. If that happens though, it's probably the other millions that the Nationals will be more excited about, because it means he'll be winning and pitching a bucket of innings.

Honorable Mention former Nats 1B Adam Dunn - I don't mean to reopen old wounds here folks, but this honorable mention is due here. Dunn's new contract with the White Sox, where he'll be mainly a DH, will pay him $25,000 if he wins a Gold Glove. Not sure it would have made much of a difference if he was still playing in DC, though. (see: Pujols, Albert)