Vernon Wells Leads Parade Of MLB Team Payroll Leaders

A few highlights …

The good news about Vernon Wells’ $23 million salary is that the Blue Jays sent along $5 million in the trade, which means the Angels are really only $18 million out of pocket. And the Angels are paying Torii Hunter $18 million this season, too. So they’re sort of co-champions in this category. The bad news is the Angels owe Wells $21 million in 2012 … and in 2013 … and (let’s all say it together now) in 2014, too.

The Braves are paying $15 million to Derek Lowe, their fourth-best starter.

The Giants are paying $18.5 million to Barry Zito, their fifth-best starter.

The Whites Sox are paying $16 million to Jake Peavy, their fifth-best starter (going by last season, anyway, and assuming he’s actually ready to pitch when the season begins).

The Mets are paying $22.5 million to Johan Santana, who won’t be a starter at all while he’s rehabbing from a serious shoulder injury.

The Rangers are paying Michael Young $16 million this season. Well, someone’s going to pay Mike Young $16 million. He’s not giving the money back, just to seem like a good guy.

There are two closers on the list: Kansas City’s Joakim Soria, at $4 million (yay); and Cincinnati’s Francisco Cordero (boo). Seriously, if your franchise plays in a small market and your highest-paid player is going to pitch 65 or 70 innings, you’re doing something wrong. Come to think of it, that’s probably true even if your franchise plays in a huge market.

The Astros owe Carlos Lee $18.5 million this year, and they’ll double the fun next year. Which wouldn’t be so awful except Carlos Lee isn’t very good anymore. It’s funny. When Lee got his six-year, $100 million contract four years ago, we all thought it was a terrible deal for the Astros … but Lee had a typical Lee season in 2007, he enjoyed his greatest season in 2008, and posted another typical season in 2009. So far, so good. But last season was a disaster, as he earned $18.5 million but was worth maybe ... well, actually he was worse than a replacement player, which means his value was actually negative. Without checking (because I don’t know how), I will posit that Lee sported the largest discrepancy in the majors last season between his salary and his value. Oh, well. Only two more years of this.

Matt Holliday’s going to earn $17 million this season, which I bring up only to point out that Albert Pujols is, for the moment anyway, a cool million behind Holliday on the Cardinals’ payroll depth chart.

Of course, no essay on this subject would be complete without a reference to Alfonso Soriano, who’s got $18 million coming this season and another $54 million in the following three seasons. Perhaps it goes without saying that Soriano’s projected performance doesn’t come anywhere close to his guaranteed income. Ah, free agents in their 30s. You just gotta love ‘em.

And finally, a really hard trivia question: Which Pittsburgh Pirate will earn the most money in 2011?

Actually, it’s a trick question. But you could have given me a dozen guesses, and I still wouldn’t have come up with co-champions Chris Snyder and Paul Maholm, each slated to earn $5.75 million.

We really should revisit this subject in a couple of months, when we’ve got complete team payroll data. There’s been a running meme for a while, suggesting that if you’re spending more than X percent of your payroll on one player, you’re in trouble. But I can’t remember what X is, plus I think it’s just something someone made up. Which doesn’t mean it won’t be fun to fool around with.