Cha-ching: Average player salary is $4.38M to open season
That’s a 4.4 percent jump over 2015
NEW YORK — Baseball’s average salary rose 4.4 percent to $4.38 million on opening day, according to a study of contract terms by The Associated Press, and the Los Angeles Dodgers topped spending for the third straight season.
The Chicago Cubs boosted payroll by $51 million, adding Jason Heyward, John Lackey and Ben Zobrist in an effort to win their first title since 1908.
After beating the Cubs in the NL Championship Series and losing to Kansas City in the World Series, the New York Mets hiked spending by nearly $38 million.
Houston, coming off its first playoff appearance in a decade, raised payroll by almost $26 million after starting last season with the lowest in the major leagues, and St. Louis also rose by nearly the same amount.
Among rebuilding teams, Philadelphia cut spending by $43 million, Milwaukee by $40 million and Cincinnati by nearly $27 million. At $62.6 million, the Brewers are last in the major leagues for the first time since 2004, the last season before Mark Attanasio bought the club.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, at $33 million, is the highest-paid player for the second straight year. Former teammate Zack Greinke, who left to sign with Arizona, is second at $31.8 million, followed by Boston pitcher David Price at $30 million.
The Dodgers began the season at $233.9 million, down from a record $270.2 million when 2015 began. The New York Yankees, No. 1 for 15 straight years before the Dodgers’ payroll surge, are second at $225 million, followed by Detroit ($196 million), Boston ($190 million) and San Francisco ($173 million).
The average for the 864 players on opening-day rosters, the disabled list and the restricted list was $4,381,980, and the percentage increase was the lowest since a 4.1 rise in 2012.
But if Atlanta had not cut Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn the past week and if Tampa Bay had kept James Loney, the average would have jumped 5.4 percent.
Among the major North American leagues, the NBA has the highest average salary at $6 million this season, according to its players’ union, a figure boosted by the league’s maximum roster of 13 active players per team.
MLB’s median salary, the point at which an equal number earn above and below, dropped from $1.65 million to $1.5 million.
The total of players making $1 million or more dropped from 508 to 492, a sign some veteran bench players may have been replaced by lower-priced prospects.
There are 38 players making $20 million or more, up from 27 last year, and 125 at $10 million or higher, an increase of two. Just 40 MLB players are at this year’s minimum of $507,500, a decrease of six.
Average and median salaries decline over the course of the season as veterans are released and replaced by younger players making closer to the minimum, but this year’s final average is set to top $4 million for the first time. The players’ association calculated last season’s final average at $3.95 million.
REYES: Commissioner Rob Manfred says he expects to rule as soon as possible on the discipline for Colorado Rockies shortstop Jose Reyes.
Reyes was scheduled to go to trial April 4 after pleading not guilty to abusing a family or household member, a charge that stemmed from an Oct. 31 incident with his wife at a Maui resort hotel. Reyes was suspended with pay under baseball’s new domestic abuse policy, an action Manfred took just before the shortstop was to report to spring training.
Hawaii prosecutors dropped charges last week, saying his wife was not cooperating.
YANKEES: Two fans wore yellow and green “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” outfits to Yankee Stadium to answer comedian John Oliver’s call to dress like “riffraff.”
Joe Spillo and John Welch sat in the second row of the Legends Suites luxury seats behind home plate Tuesday after winning the tickets for a quarter each from HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.”
Claiming the Yanks are elitist, Oliver is selling the premium seats to this week’s opening three-game series for 25 cents to fans who promise to dress like they don’t belong there.
Af ter the Yanke e s announced fans could no longer print tickets at home, CEO Lonn Trost expressed concern on radio station WFAN in February that someone buying a discounted ticket from a resale service “may be someone who has never sat in a premium location, so that’s a frustration to our existing fan base.”
PIRATES : The team announced a new deal with outfielder Gregory Polanco.
Polanco is being paid $535,000 this year under a one-year contract. As part of the agreement, he gets a $3 million signing bonus. He receives salaries of $1 million next year, $3.5 million in 2018, $5.5 million in 2019, $8 million in 2020 and $11 million in 2021. The Pirates have a $12.5 million option for 2022, with a $3 million buyout, and if that is exercised, they have a $13.5 million option for 2023, with a $1 million buyout.
HOLLAND: Royals RHP Greg Holland had Tommy John surgery in September and remains unsigned as a free agent, but he was back for the pregame World Series ring ceremony Tuesday.
He said he is throwing 60 feet in Arizona and hopes to sign with a club soon, although it is unlikely he will pitch this season.