Average salary projected to drop for second straight year.

Even with megadeals, MLB’S average salary on track to drop again

Even with huge new contracts for Bryce Harper, Manny Machado and Nolan Arenado, Major League Baseball’s average salary is on track to drop on opening day for an unprecedented second straight season, according to projections by The Associated Press.

The 872 players on rosters and injured lists on Monday evening averaged $4.36 million, down from $4.41 million at the start of last season and $4.45 million on opening day in 2017, according to AP studies.

Back-to-back drops follow consecutive slow free-agent markets that saw salaries slashed for many veterans, and top pitchers Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel remain unsigned as openers approached.

This year’s exact figure could rise or fall when teams set opening-day rosters Thursday. The number will be impacted by how many players go on the injured list and how many lowerpriced replacements are put on active rosters. In 2018, the average dropped slightly at the start when late-signing free agents Jake Arrieta of Philadelphia and Alex Cobb of Baltimore started the season in the minor leagues.

Last season’s opening-day drop was only the second since the end of the 1994-95 strike, according to AP calculations, after a 2.7 percent decrease in 2004. The union determined its final average as $4,095,686, down $1,436 from 2017, while MLB’S figure was $4,007,987, up from $3,955,920 in 2017. The union includes option buyouts in its average calculation while MLB does not.

Overall spending on big league payrolls fell last season for the first time since 2010, according to calculations by the commissioner’s office, an $18 million decrease to $4.23 billion attributable to drug and domestic violence suspensions and a player retiring at midseason. The only previous drops since 2002 were by $3 million in 2010 and by $32 million in 2004.

Pitchers are the five highestpaid players, led by Washington’s Max Scherzer at $37.4 million and Arizona’s Zack Greinke at $32.4 million. Boston is set to lead the major leagues in payroll for the second straight year, followed by the Cubs and Yankees. For Scherzer and Greinke, deferred money is discounted to present-day value.

Stagnant-to-down salaries might not change in the next year. The 2019-20 free-agent class lost many of its most attractive players when Chris Sale, Justin Verlander, Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt agreed to new contracts during spring training. That left Gerrit Cole, Madison Bumgarner, Khris Davis, Xander Bogaerts, Didi Gregorius and Anthony Rendon to top the group for now.

The players’ association is angry over the marketplace and is embarking with management on an unprecedented early start to labor negotiations that could lead to major economic changes.

“Free agency is part of what drives baseball’s economic system and it needs to remain a meaningful option for players going forward,” union head Tony Clark told the AP.

Agent Scott Boras says “Every club needs to allow designation of a luxury tax exception, and that is they get a player that they can sign who is not included in their luxury tax computation. That way we’re assured the teams can have a franchise player and many good players because every sports league should have Goliaths and every sports league should have Davids.”

Angels outfielder Mike Trout was signed for two more years at $66.5 million. Rather than wait, he agreed to a new $426.5 million, 12-year deal last week, a record for total and average at just over $35.5 million but a deal that actually lowered his 2019 figure from $34.3 million to $18.5 million. As a free agent, he likely could have averaged far more.

Staying with one team for his career also was a factor for Arenado, who agreed to a $260 million, eight-year contract with the Rockies.

Sale has been with the Red Sox for two seasons following his trade from the White Sox. A key for Sale was staying with a team that holds spring training in Fort Myers, Fla., his offseason home. Already guaranteed $15 million in the final year of his previous contract, the lefty agreed to a new contract for an additional $145 million from 2020-24.

Verlander, a 36-year-old righthander, found similar happiness in Houston after spending 11plus seasons with Detroit.

Goldschmidt, a first baseman acquired by St. Louis from Arizona in December, had a $14.5 million salary this season. He agreed to a deal that guarantees an additional $130 million from 2020-24.