Tony Paul

The Detroit News

The Major League Baseball playoffs are a cash cow, and the players on the eligible teams reap some nice rewards.

But Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera, apparently, couldn't care less.

According to a report by USA Today's Paul White, when Max Scherzer went around to collect signatures for playoff shares Wednesday afternoon in Baltimore, Cabrera declined to sign his name.

"I just want the ring," Cabrera told his teammates, who were confused by his unwillingness to sign.

Cabrera initially appeared unsure about what he was being asked to sign.

Playoff shares are valued at thousands of dollars, though they vary from team to team depending on how many full and partial shares the players vote to award.

The values go up for every round of the playoffs, too. World Series champion players typically receive a few hundred thousand bucks.

Cabrera makes $22 million this year and next, $28 million for 2016 and 2017, $30 million every year from 2018-21, and $32 million in 2022 and 2023.

But, still, it's rare for even the best-off professional athletes to decline free money.

"OK, more for us," Scherzer told Cabrera, according to USA Today's White.

There is a chance, of course, that Cabrera could eventually change his mind and sign the paperwork.

Cabrera, 31, already has one World Series championship ring, earned with the Marlins in 2003. But he's come up empty in three postseasons with the Tigers.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

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