David Lennon of Newsday took a look at every MLB team’s payroll commitments from 2014 and beyond. The list does not include vesting or team options and the data was compiled using Cot’s Baseball Contracts:
1. Angels : $274.5 million, with Albert Pujols ($189 million from 2015 through 2021), Jered Weaver and C.J. Wilson ($38 million through 2016 each) and Howie Kendrick ($9.5 million for 2015) the recipients.
2. Colorado : $167 million, all to two players: Troy Tulowitzki ($114 million through ’20) and Carlos Gonzalez ($53 million through ’17).
3. Detroit: $166 million, with $144 million going to new guy Prince Fielder (through ’20) and $22 million more to Miguel Cabrera for ’15.
4. Boston : 159.25 million., with Adrian Gonzalez ($85 million through ’18), Carl Crawford ($62.25 million through ’17) the primary beneficiaries and Clay Buccholz picking up $12 million for ’15.
5. Yankees : $154 million, splits among the trio of Alex Rodriguez ($61 million through ’17), CC Sabathia ($48 million through ’16) and Mark Teixeira ($45 million through ’16).
6. Dodgers : $107 million, all to Matt Kemp through ’18.
7. Milwaukee : $103 million, all to Ryan Braun through ’20.
8. Minnesota : $92 million, all to Joe Mauer through ’18.
9. Washington : $88.811 million, divvied up among Jayson Werth ($64.711 million through ’17), Gio Gonzalez ($23 million through ’16) and youngster Bryce Harper $1 million in ’15).
10. Philadelphia : $88 million, with Ryan Howard getting $50 million through ’16, Cliff Lee $25 million in ’15 and Jonathan Papelbon $13 million in ’15.
11. Miami : $86 million, split between new arrivals Jose Reyes ($66 million through ’17) and Mark Buehrle ($20 million in ’15).
12. Texas : $49 million, with $31 million for Japanese rookie Yu Darvish and $18 million for Adrian Beltre.
13. St. Louis : $43.375 million, with Matt Holliday receiving $34 million through ’16 and Jaime Garcia getting $9.375 million in ’15.
14. White Sox : $41.5 million, with newly extended John Danks getting $31.5 million through ’16 and Alexei Ramirez receiving $10 million in ’15.
15. Arizona : $26.908 million split between 2015 paychecks to Justin Upton ($14.708 million) and Trevor Cahill ($12.2 million).
16. Cincinnati : $24.584 million, all for Jay Bruce through ’16.
17. Toronto : $21.5 million, featuring 2015 paychecks for Jose Bautista ($14 million) and Ricky Romero ($7.5 million).
18. Atlanta : $13.2 million, all for Dan Uggla in ’15.
19. Oakland : $10.5 million for the just signed Yoenis Cespedes in ’15.
20. Pittsburgh : $8.834 million for Jose Tabata through ’16.
21. Tampa Bay : $8 million for rookie Matt Moore through ’16.
22. (tie) Baltimore, Cubs, Cleveland, Houston, Kansas City, Mets, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle : $0.
Coincidentally, this fits in with Joe D.’s theory that all would be well and that the Wilpons will be completely out of the woods by the start of 2014. I can’t believe the position the Angels will find themselves in and what a complete disaster lies ahead for that franchise especially if they dont win a championship between now and then.
I would have thought the Phillies would be in a bad position here, but honestly $88 million isn’t much for a large market team that spends twice that amount annually.
