Or he could just play baseball all summer and get paid about half a million dollars to do it. Beats selling insurance. But he won't get half a million playing in AAA. He would be on a split contract, MLB minimum if in the majors, something like $15K or $20K (if lucky) playing in Colorado Springs... That is very common for players (pitchers and position guys alike).. Major league minimum is around $535K (as an aside, I remember BJ Surhoff's rookie year the minimum was $62,500). But you are right, his contract last year was guaranteed. I think he'll make more than 15 - 20K based on service time but I don't know how much that is.