AP: Giants’ payroll 2nd in MLB; A’s last
The Red Sox will have baseball’s highest payroll, at about $223 million, ending the Dodgers’ four-year run as the top spender, according to projections by the Associated Press. The Giants will be second at around $203 million, and the Cubs are expected to be third at about $183 million.
The A’s and the White Sox project to have the lowest payrolls, at about $71 million.
The Yankees will have the seventh-highest payroll, their lowest ranking since 1992. The Dodgers and Nationals will each be at about $180 million, and the Angels will be next at about $170 million. The Yankees will be around $167 million — their lowest payroll since 2003.
New York has not been ranked as low as seventh since 1992, when it finished ninth at $34.5 million in the final season of owner George Steinbrenner’s 2½-year suspension. The Yankees were second to the Dodgers for each of the past four years.
New York owner Hal Steinbrenner vowed to get under the luxury-tax threshold for the first time since the current tax started in 2003. New York has paid $341 million in penalties over 15 years. Boston has not been the highest spender since at least 1990.
If the Yankees and Dodgers stay under the threshold, their base tax rate would drop from 50 percent to 20 percent in 2019, putting them in better position next offseason for a free-agent class that includes Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Josh Donaldson.
Figures are based on rosters as of Monday afternoon, three days before Opening Day rosters are set. They were obtained by the AP from management and player sources and include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses for players on the 25-man active roster and disabled lists. Termination pay for released players and buyouts for unexercised 2018 options are included, as are cash transactions in trades.
Briefly: A person familiar with the deal says the Diamondbacks and infielder Ketel Marte agreed to a $24 million, fiveyear contract . ... Bartolo Colon signed another minor-league contract with the Rangers, who anticipate the 44-year-old righthander starting their fifth game but are making no promises beyond that . ... Yovani Gallardo was released by the Brewers, who owe the 32-year-old righthander $483,871 in termination pay rather than his $2 million salary . ... The Rays released reliever Dan Jennings, a move that enables them to avoid paying most of his $2.37 million salary in a non-guaranteed contract . ... Oft-injured Yankees first baseman Greg Bird will have surgery on his right ankle and will be sidelined until late May.