AL Central Opening Day Team Salaries
Posted by ubelmann on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Compiled from Cot's Contracts (an invaluable resource):
$99,171,833 -- Chicago
$95,180,369 -- Detroit
$71,439,500 -- Minnesota
$61,673,267 -- Cleveland
$61,671,500 -- Kansas City*
* I adjusted these numbers to reflect what the club is actually paying out this year (which seems like the relevant number) rather than what the players on their roster this year are earning.
A lot of national coverage tends to consider all of the "flyover state" teams as small market teams with low budget. It's not that simple if you look at the numbers, though. Detroit has a $24M edge on the Twins in payroll, which is pretty close to the $25M they are paying Magglio Ordonez and Gary Sheffield (a potential LF/DH combo, I might add) this year.
On the flip side, I can't believe that KC is paying so much for their mediocre (at best) roster. And Cleveland is playing with a pretty small budget these days.
I was at least partially motivated to post this since Oakland is coming into town, and usually when they come into town (thanks, Moss) the Twins are visiting the A's, and for those matchups all of the "little engine that could" stories tend to pop up. The Twins and A's (~$74M) are still at a disadvantage compared to teams with $100M-$170M payrolls, but it feels like they aren't at quite as much of a disadvantage as when they were back around $20-40M and the Yankees and Red Sox were still at $100M-$110M.
Loading ...
FYI, the Twins are visiting Oak-town. You'll be able to catch the games after dinner.
Yeah, I'm totally psyched for the West Coast road trip!
I think you might make a good copy editor, too, if you're ever looking for a different career track.
A good copy editor would have said "...catch the games after supper..." though.
Depends what part of the country one is from...
true. but there is less ambiguity.
Moss shares the same career as SBG. The job is somewhat more diverse, and probably a bit more lucrative, than copy editing. Thanks, but no.
The fact that Ordonez/Sheffield works out so closely to the difference in payroll really does get me dreaming:
Castillo, 2B
Mauer, C
Sheffield, DH
Morneau, 1B
Ordonez, LF
Cuddyer, RF
Hunter, CF
Bartlett, SS
Punto, 3B
All of the sudden, I find that I don't care at all how well Punto hits. And also, this would free up Kubel to be moved for pitching if necessary, or if you were really high on Kubel, you could use $12M on something other than Sheffield or Ordonez. Kubel hasn't seemed very amenable to pinch hitting, but I suppose if you wanted to use him as a bench player, he could fill in at LF, RF, and DH to give those guys a day off here or there, and would be a decent pinch hitting option for Bartlett or Punto (basically the only two guys you would consider pinch hitting for in that lineup) late in the game.
Anyway, my point isn't that the system is so unfair that it definitely needs to be reworked, just that there's still an obvious disadvantage for teams that can't (or won't) shell out as much money on payroll.
I saw an interesting tidbit today. ESPN Rumor Central lists Willy Mo Pena as possible on the trading block. They are unhappy with his defense, and already have a full time DH. He makes 3 mil per year and is under club control through next year. His splits against lefties this year is .280/.333/.560. I know the Twins really don't like to employ DH's who can't field a position (other than Matthew LeCroy), but we really do need another right handed power bat. Sounds like the asking price would be minimal. Would you trade a middle of the road pitching prospect for him??
ahhhh... I see your sneakiness ubes. Hide Punto at the bottom of the order to set up the top. (If by setting up the top you mean to guarantee Castillo always starting off a new inning)
Wow... this article totally floors me!!
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/baseball/whitesox/410224,CST-SPT-joe01.article
Poor poor picked on White Sox
Note how the author throws the AJ/Barrett deal as if it is somehow connected to the Twins.
and AJ never accidentally does anything. He was playing his petty little games and go caught.
Andy McFail connection. Fewer than six degrees of separation.
Punto couldn't have elbowed anyone in the ribs breaking up a play at 2nd -- he always slides headfirst.
Boo fricking hoo.
Unreal...Moss didn't think the Punto play was dirty at all. Clumsy, sure, but not dirty. It was odd that he didn't go head-first.
Surprising they didn't mention Cuddyer's hard slide into 2B to break up a possible GIDP. It was a perfectly legit play, but something they might cry over.