2005 Major League Baseball Season

[Holden Pike]

Is there a salary cap in Baseball?

No. As of 2003 there is a "luxury tax" the teams who spend the most have to kick back to the league to be dispensed to the smallest market teams, but there is no limit to how much a team can pay players.

The New York Yankees have the highest payroll, but the Red Sox are second highest. Boston is not now, nor have they ever been, a team like Pittsburgh, Kansas City or Montreal that when free agency went into high gear in the '80s found themselves unable to keep players with long-term big-dollar contracts. Last year, when the Red Sox won it all, they were also the second-highest payroll in the game and they paid out $3-million to the league to be given to the teams that spent the least amount of money. In 2004 The Yankees paid $25-million in that same tax.

The Chicago White Sox were thirteenth in team payroll this year, just about the middle of the pack (there are currently thirty teams). Houston is just ahead of them at number twelve. The Chicago Cubs, now the last of those old teams that haven't won a Series in forever, had the eighth highest payroll.

Here's the full list...

1. New York Yankees: 205,938,439
2. Boston Red Sox: 121,311,945
3. New York Mets: 104,770,139
4. Philadelphia Phillies: 95,337,908
5. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: 95,017,822
6. St. Louis Cardinals:   92,919,842
7. San Francisco Giants: 89,487,426
8. Chicago Cubs: 87,210,933
9. Seattle Mariners: 85,883,334
10. Atlanta Braves: 85,148,582
11. Los Angeles Dodgers: 81,029,500
12. Houston Astros: 76,779,022
13. Chicago White Sox: 75,228,000
14. Baltimore Orioles: 74,570,539
15. Detroit Tigers: 68,998,183
16. Arizona Diamodbacks: 63,015,833
17. San Diego Padres: 62,888,192
18. Florida Marlins: 60,375,961
19. Cincinnati Reds: 59,658,275
20. Minnesota Twins: 56,615,000
21. Oakland Athletics: 55,869,262
22. Texas Rangers: 53,891,258
23. Washington Nationals: 48,581,500
24. Colorado Rockies: 48,107,500
25. Toronto Blue Jays: 45,038,500
26. Cleveland Indians: 41,830,400
27. Milwaukee Brewers: 40,234,833
28. Pittsburgh Pirates: 38,133,000
29. Tampa Bay Devil Rays: 37,975,067
30. Kansas City Royals: 36,881,000

*Note: Team salaries do not represent
full team payroll. Number listed includes
current salary for all players currently on
the roster.

[KC]

There's no salary cap, and for the last five years or so the Yankees (who were always among the top spenderes) have outspent all the rest of the teams by a ridiculous margin. However, they haven't won a single World Series in that period and the teams that have won have often been among the more penurious in the "major leagues."

There is a complicated system of rules about the amateur draft from which teams get new, young talent; about when players that have signed with a team are eligible for free agency (free to negotiate contracts with other teams); and about when and under what circumstances players can be traded.

It's never just as simple as spotting talent and going out and buying it, and anyway, it's hard to determine how even the most talented players are going to "mesh" into the sort of well-oiled unit it takes to win a championship. The White Sox this year, and the Yankees in the years 1996-2000, are good examples of teams that function on the highest level without having a superstar or a future Hall of Famer at every position: just good, solid players who care passionately about winning and somehow manage to do what it takes at a given moment to win a given game.

Case in point: Yes, the White Sox got, or appeared to get, a lot of breaks from the umpiring crew in the playoffs this year. BUT they had to take advantage of those breaks. A.J. Pierzynski may have taken a base under dubious circumstantes in Game Two of the league championship series ... but there were two outs with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth. If Crede, the next batter up, hadn't hit a double, no one would have remembered or cared what A.J. did and the Angels may have won it the next inning.

I see Holden added some solid facts about salaries while I was composing this. By the way, the Yankees' general manager, who just signed a new contract after difficult negotiations, is said to be "eyeing several changes, most notably a reduction in payroll."

Also, so far the Yankees are the only team subject to that "luxury tax" Holden mentioned.

[Holden Pike]

Also, so far the Yankees are the only team subject to that "luxury tax" Holden mentioned.

No. The Yankees will be the only ones paying it for the '05 season, as the threshold was pushed up to $128-million. And they were the only team subject to the tax in 2003. But in 2004, Boston and The Angels were over the $120.5 mark the league had set too, and they along with the Yankees had to pay up. The Yankees paid much more then the other two teams, but Steinbrenner wasn't the only guy writing such checks last year.

[The Schofield Kid]

Thanks Holden and KC,those payroll figures are staggering.

There's no salary cap, and for the last five years or so the Yankees (who were always among the top spenderes) have outspent all the rest of the teams by a ridiculous margin. However, they haven't won a single World Series in that period and the teams that have won have often been among the more penurious in the "major leagues."

Exactly like my rugby league team,the Parramatta Eels.Since 1995 they have spent who knows how many millions of dollars on players and have won nothing for it.While this year the Tigers with a bunch of teenagers and a couple of experienced players win the comp.

[KC]

Thanks for the clarification on the luxury tax, Holden! That's what I get for posting without doing my homework.