How To Make 10 Million Dollars

You wanna make $10 million? Can you squat? Can you frame a pitch? Can you hit .227 with 14 home runs in Double-A? Ah, there might be the rub.

Jeff Mathis is a career backup backstop. He's never recorded more than 328 plate appearances in a season -- for the Angels in 2008. That year he hit .194 and slugged nine homers.

In his best season at the plate, 2012, Mathis batted .218 with nine walks and 68 strikeouts for Toronto. But he did punish opposing pitchers with eight home runs in 227 PAs. In 2011 he batted .174/.225/.259, the same year Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers hit .186/.230/.250.

In case you're wondering, the wiffle bat is egalitarian. Mathis can't hit lefties or righties, at home or away, in day games or night games and in any month except April. In the season's first month, Mathis torches the league for a .232/.285/.399 line, or nearly average for a catcher. But then May blooms and Mathis slugs .223.

The 32-year-old Floridian is considered a defense-first receiver. In 2013, he became Jose Fernandez's personal catcher. Fernandez earned a 1.56 ERA throwing to Mathis, 3.27 to everybody else. 

He is credited with 8.8 WAR defensively behind the dish. It offsets his sub-replacement hitting, so that overall he's contributed a solid win divided among three teams across 11 years. 

Like Tiger Woods and Albert Pujols, Mathis is struggling to match his lofty production of yesteryear. This season for the Marlins, he's been used sparingly and delivered a .321 OPS, or about what Jason Kipnis is batting.

For services rendered, Mathis is working off a three-year, $4.5 million contract and will become a free agent at the end of the season. If no one offers him a roster spot, he'll have earned more than $10 million in the Majors and will retire comfortably well below the Mendoza line.