Left-hander James Paxton and the Boston Red Sox are in agreement on a one-year, $10 million contract with a two-year club option, sources familiar with the deal told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Tuesday.

Those sources, or Passan, may have left out some details:

He’ll be paid $6MM in 2022. Then he has a $13MM option for ’23; if declined, Paxton gets a $4MM player option. If the ’23 option is picked up, the club has another $13MM option on ’24.

Might be just $6M for the rehab season.

Then he has a $13MM option for ’23

This is somewhat ambiguous phrasing from mlbtraderumors. The tweet they are using as a source makes clear that it is a team option.

So it could be 3/$32, or 2/$19, or 2/$10, or 1/$6. And in terms of production, assuming 2022 is effectively a lost season, it's 2/$32 or 1/$19 or 1/$10 or 0/$6. I'm assuming the 1/$10 is the least likely... It would mean his rehab would go poorly enough that Boston doesn't want to exercise the option, AND poorly enough that Paxton doesn't think he can do better than 1/$4 on the open market. I suppose that could happen if his rehab extends by a whole year, in which case it's $10m thrown in a hole, which was what I already thought the downside was yesterday.

So it could be 3/$32, or 2/$19, or 2/$10, or 1/$6.

Aren't the option years a package deal? This appears to be either 1/$6, 2/$10, or 3/$35. And if it's 2/$10 that's not a good thing...

It's 1/$10, 2/$19, or 3/$32. There is no way they pay less than $10 million ($6 for 2022, and $4 to decline the 2023 option).

EDIT: I guess the confusion is over who holds the options? Aside from some inelegant phrasing, all the reporting I've seen indicates the options are club only.

It's 1/$10, 2/$19, or 3/$32. There is no way they pay less than $10 million ($6 for 2022, and $4 to decline the 2023 option).

EDIT: I guess the confusion is over who holds the options? Aside from some inelegant phrasing, all the reporting I've seen indicates the options are club only.

The Chris Cotillo tweet https://twitter.com/ChrisCotillo/status/1466262496084385794 indicates that the $4m is a player option. If that tweet is correct, there is a plausible path to it being 1/$6m: if his value after 2022 (as perceived by both the Sox and Paxton) is around 1/$8m, both parties would decline their option.

Ahhhh gotcha. Cots confirms:

22:$6M, 23:$4M player option or 23-24 club options, to be exercised or declined simultaneously, at annual salaries of $13M plus performance bonuses earned in 2022