Often times, when marquee players who have become free agents sign new contracts, either with their old team or a new one, they tend to make a fortune with those new deals.
According to MLB insider Danny Vietti, players such as Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Mike Trout, Carlos Correa, Nolan Arenado, Francisco Lindor, Anthony Rendon, Stephen Strasburg, Corey Seager, and Trevor Bauer, are all making $32.5 million or more in 2022.
That’s hardly a surprise, but there’s a catch.
While these players are making a fortune, other teams’ payrolls are less in comparison to these players’ contracts for the 2022 MLB season.
The Oakland A’s payroll sits at $32.5 million, while the Baltimore Orioles payroll sits at $31.7 million.
Max Scherzer, Gerrit Cole, Mike Trout, Carlos Correa, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Bauer, Nolan Arenado, and Corey Seager all have an avg salary of $32.5 million or more.
Oakland A's 2022 payroll: $32.5 million
Orioles 2022 payroll: $31.7 million— Danny Vietti (@DannyVietti) April 3, 2022
Tanking Reimagined
This is an insane bit of information.
There are literally teams whose payrolls are lower than the average salary of singular players on their current contracts.
And this is what sets teams who spend apart from teams who don’t spend.
These two teams may be smaller market teams, but the fact that their payrolls are less than the amount of money certain players are making shows that their owners care more about keeping the money in their pockets than actually trying to spend and put their teams in a position to win.
Winning should always be prioritized over money.
If owners are not willing to spend, they should sell their teams to somebody who is willing to spend and give the fans and the city a reason to get excited about their team and have expectations of winning.
If these owners only cared about winning, then the postseason races would be that much more exciting.
Alas, they care more about keeping the money in their pockets.
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