This Maury Brown article over at Hardball Times provides a good analysis of Major League Baseball salaries for the 2006 season and, as usual, the results are interesting.
The league average team payroll for 2006 is $77,556,890, up $4,708,716 from 2005’s $72,848,173 league average. The Stros had a $15,772,503 increase from 2005 (a 20.54% change) to $92,551,503, which is eighth among MLB teams. 19 of the 30 MLB clubs are spending more money this season on player salaries than last and only the Marlins and the Rockies are spending considerably less among the clubs that are spending less on salaries this season than they did last season.
Although their payroll is down a bit, the Yankees at about $195 million are still spending almost $85 million more than their nearest competitor (the Red Sox) and are only $7 million short of the entire combined payrolls of the Marlins, Devil Rays, and Rockies. The median salary ó the point at which an equal amount of players fall above and below ó rose to a record high of $1 million from $850,000 in 2005, and the median salary on the Stros is $940,000.
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15 million increase? Jeez, I didn’t know they were paying Preston Wilson that much money. Are the increases due to locking up current talent? Because the Astros didn’t seem to have a very prolific off-season.
Bill, the Stros payroll is largely a result of big-dollar, back-end contracts to Bagwell and Pettitte, where the Stros are spending a total of close to $40 million this year. Oswalt and Berkman are also making > $10 million, then the next level down is Biggio and Wilson, who are in the $3 million range.