Nats players spread the wealth

Each year, teams that make the playoffs are given a bonus, a financial reward for reaching the postseason.

The bonus pool that each team receives depends on how deep into that playoffs that team advances, and the amount that each player receives is based upon how generous the group is as a whole.

Typically, this bonus amount ranges from what it would cost to buy a Kia to what it would cost to buy a Rolls Royce Phantom.

Make it to the World Series, you're getting a very nice chunk of change in return. Not that players typically need much motivation to make that happen.

The bonus pool is formed from 50 percent of the gate receipts from the wild card games, 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first three games of the Division Series, 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the League Championship Series and 60 percent of the gate receipts from the first four games of the World Series.

That pool is then divided among the 10 teams that made the playoffs: the two World Series participants, the two League Championship Series runners-up, the four Division Series runners-up and the two runners-up in the wild card games.

Players on each postseason team get together as a group and meet to determine how many shares they want to award. Each player gets a full share, and typically so do coaches, some of the traveling staffers and other team employees.

This year, the total players' pool was $62,026,461.86, with the World Series-winning Giants receiving a record high of $388,605.94 per full share.

The Nationals issued 58 full shares and a total of 10.52 partial shares, putting the value of each full share at $29,418.13.

That was the most full shares issued by any postseason club, meaning that the Nats voted to spread their bonus money around among more people than any other playoff team.

For the highest-paid Nationals players, getting another $30,000 in their bank accounts is nice, but nothing that will change their lives one way or another. For some of the team staffers, for some of the younger players, it can be an enormous boost.

Picture yourself grinding it out in the minors for years, making far less money than the average fan would imagine and eating ramen and pizza to try and save cash. You make it up to the big leagues, appear in a few games and get to be a small part of a postseason push.

The experience is valuable, for sure. But those are the players that I think about when these bonus pool amounts are announced every year.

Some fans may roll their eyes at the news of a player who makes $12 million earning another $30,000 as a bonus. But to me, the bonuses are more about the minor leaguers, the team staffers who play a part behind the scenes and some minor league coaches who are awarded a full or partial share.

These are the ones that can be really impacted by the bonuses, and it's nice to see the Nationals distributing their bonus pool earnings to a number of different people, not just those who contributed between the lines.

On a non-financial note, Ryan Zimmerman, his wife Heather and some members of the Nats front office are taking time this morning to prepare Thanksgiving meals at Food & Friends.

The group will spend time prepping, chopping, portioning and packaging holiday meals for clients with life-challenging illnesses who receive meals and groceries from Food & Friends throughout the year.

This is now the seventh year that the Nationals have been been involved with helping at Food & Friends, assisting the organization in its effort to provide home-delivered meals, groceries and nutrition counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS, cancer and other illnesses throughout the Washington Metropolitan area.