DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Tigers agreed to pay Miguel Cabrera a baseball record $292 million over the next 10 years, according to a person with knowledge of the deal.
The person, who said the contract is subject to a physical, spoke Thursday night on condition of anonymity because the agreement had not been announced.
Cabrera is due $44 million over the final two years from his $152.3 million, eight-year contract that runs through 2015, and the person says Cabrera will make $248 million over eight seasons in the new deal.
Depending on whether Cabrera's deal is structured as one 10-year contract or an eight-year deal starting in 2016, it will either surpass Alex Rodriguez's $275 million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees for richest contract or Clayton Kershaw's record for average annual value of $30,714,286, a deal his signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in January.
Cabrera, who turns 31 next month, has been voted AL MVP in each of the last two seasons. He is the first player to win the award in consecutive seasons since Frank Thomas did it two decades ago.
The Venezuelan slugger won the Triple Crown in 2012 - becoming the game's first player to lead either league in batting average, homers and RBIs since 1967 - and followed that up with another strong season at the plate despite struggling to stay healthy. Cabrera led the majors with a .348 batting average last year and his 44 homers and 137 RBIs were both second to Baltimore's Chris Davis.