MLB Free Agency Dollars to Date
I had hoped to report out on MLB’s end-of-year player payrolls for 2010 (here’s last year’s), but the numbers haven’t been released yet. Instead, here are the free agency dollars spent to date this off-season, which includes total dollars as well as salary for 2010
| PLAYER | POSITION | 2010 TEAM | 2011 TEAM | TOTAL DOLLARS | 2011 SALARY |
| Jeremy Accardo | RP | Toronto | Baltimore | $1,080,000 | $1,080,000 |
| Rod Barajas | C | LA Dodgers | LA Dodgers | $3,250,000 | $3,250,000 |
| Joaquin Benoit | RP | Tampa Bay | Detroit | $16,500,000 | $5,500,000 |
| Lance Berkman | RF | NY Yankees | St. Louis | $8,000,000 | $8,000,000 |
| Henry Blanco | C | NY Mets | Arizona | $1,250,000 | $1,250,000 |
| Geoff Blum | 3B | Houston | Arizona | $2,700,000 | $1,350,000 |
| John Buck | C | Toronto | Florida | $18,000,000 | $4,500,000 |
| Pat Burrell | LF | San Francisco | San Francisco | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Miguel Cairo | 3B | Cincinnati | Cincinnati | $2,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| D.J. Carrasco | RP | Arizona | NY Mets | $2,500,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Randy Choate | RP | Tampa Bay | Florida | $2,500,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Jose Contreras | RP | Philadelphia | Philadelphia | $5,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Kevin Correia | SP | San Diego | Pittsburgh | $8,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Jesse Crain | RP | Minnesota | Chicago Sox | $13,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Carl Crawford | LF | Tampa Bay | Boston | $142,000,000 | $14,000,000 |
| Jack Cust | LF | Oakland | Seattle | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Jorge De La Rosa | SP | Colorado | Colorado | $21,500,000 | $9,500,000 |
| Matt Diaz | OF | Atlanta | Pittsburgh | $4,250,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Scott Downs | RP | Toronto | LA Angels | $15,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Adam Dunn | 1B | Washington | Chicago Sox | $56,000,000 | $12,000,000 |
| Edwin Encarnacion | 1B | Oakland | Toronto | $2,500,000 | $2,500,000 |
| Pedro Feliciano | RP | NY Mets | NY Yankees | $8,000,000 | N/A |
| Jon Garland | SP | San Diego | LA Dodgers | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Matt Guerrier | RP | Minnesota | LA Dodgers | $12,000,000 | $1,500,000 |
| Tony Gwynn | OF | San Diego | LA Dodgers | $675,000 | $675,000 |
| Bill Hall | LF | Boston | Houston | $3,250,000 | $3,250,000 |
| Aaron Harang | SP | Cincinnati | San Diego | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Ramon Hernandez | C | Cincinnati | Cincinnati | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Aubrey Huff | 1B | San Francisco | San Francisco | $22,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Bobby Jenks | RP | Chicago Sox | Boston | $12,000,000 | N/A |
| Derek Jeter | SS | NY Yankees | NY Yankees | $51,000,000 | $15,000,000 |
| Paul Konerko | 1B | Chicago Sox | Chicago Sox | $37,500,000 | $12,000,000 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | SP | LA Dodgers | LA Dodgers | $12,000,000 | $12,000,000 |
| Gerald Laird | C | Detroit | St. Louis | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Cliff Lee | SP | Texas | Philadelphia | $120,000,000 | $11,000,000 |
| Russell Martin | C | LA Dodgers | NY Yankees | $4,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Victor Martinez | C | Boston | Detroit | $50,000,000 | $12,000,000 |
| Hideki Matsui | LF | LA Angels | Oakland | $4,250,000 | $4,250,000 |
| Melvin Mora | 3B | Colorado | Arizona | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Dustin Moseley | SP | NY Yankees | San Diego | $900,000 | $900,000 |
| Xavier Nady | RF | Chicago Cubs | Arizona | $1,750,000 | $1,750,000 |
| Dioner Navarro | C | Tampa Bay | LA Dodgers | $1,000,000 | $1,000,000 |
| Tsuyoshi Nishioka | 2B | Japan | Minnesota | $9,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Miguel Olivo | C | Toronto | Seattle | $7,000,000 | N/A |
| Magglio Ordonez | RF | Detroit | Detroit | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Lyle Overbay | 1B | Toronto | Pittsburgh | $5,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Vicente Padilla | SP | LA Dodgers | LA Dodgers | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Ronny Paulino | C | Florida | NY Mets | $1,300,000 | $1,300,000 |
| Carlos Pena | 1B | Tampa Bay | Chicago Cubs | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Jhonny Peralta | SS | Detroit | Detroit | $11,250,000 | $5,250,000 |
| Joel Peralta | RP | Washington | Tampa Bay | $950,000 | $950,000 |
| A.J. Pierzynski | C | Chicago Sox | Chicago Sox | $8,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| J.J. Putz | RP | Chicago Sox | Arizona | $10,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Mariano Rivera | RP | NY Yankees | NY Yankees | $30,000,000 | $15,000,000 |
| Ryan Rowland-Smith | SP | Seattle | Houston | $725,000 | $725,000 |
| George Sherrill | RP | LA Dodgers | Atlanta | $1,200,000 | $1,200,000 |
| Hisanori Takahashi | SP | NY Mets | LA Angels | $8,000,000 | $3,800,000 |
| Miguel Tejada | SS | San Diego | San Francisco | $6,500,000 | $6,500,000 |
| Yorvit Torrealba | C | San Diego | Texas | $6,250,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Matt Treanor | C | Texas | Texas | $850,000 | $850,000 |
| Koji Uehara | RP | Baltimore | Baltimore | $3,000,000 | $3,000,000 |
| Juan Uribe | 2B | San Francisco | LA Dodgers | $21,000,000 | $5,000,000 |
| Jason Varitek | C | Boston | Boston | $2,000,000 | $2,000,000 |
| Javier Vazquez | SP | NY Yankees | Florida | $7,000,000 | $7,000,000 |
| Jayson Werth | OF | Philadelphia | Washington | $126,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Jake Westbrook | SP | St. Louis | St. Louis | $16,500,000 | $8,000,000 |
| Ty Wigginton | 3B | Baltimore | Colorado | $8,000,000 | $4,000,000 |
| Kerry Wood | RP | NY Yankees | Chicago Cubs | $1,500,000 | $1,500,000 |
NOTE:
- Pedro Feliciano – Not finalized
- Bobby Jenks – Not finalized
- Tsuyoshi Nishioka – Not confirmed
- Miguel Olivo – Working
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Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for freelance and looks forward to your comments.
And the dollars per WAR is?
… seemingly highly dependent on the player’s expected WAR. Lower WAR guys are available on the cheap ($/WAR).
If my counting is right, something like 42 guys on the list ned to put up 1 WAR or less to “earn their contract” (Assuming ~5M/WAR).
It appears that we’re seeing a “class system” in terms of $/WAR. The higher end guys are costing more per WAR than the lower end guys.
Wouldn’t it work better to say it is something closer to 4M/WAR+1M? I mean most of the players making under $2M really look like their true talent level is below half a win. Also the top end players are getting closer to 4M/WAR even though all of the 1 win pitchers are making 5M/year.
Yeah, I might have that one turned around.