As I wrote yesterday, in The Anatomy of a Yankees Spending Spree, what we have now is the perfect Steinbrennerian storm for going after free agents with reckless abandon this postseason.

And that column came before the Yankees stealthily came in Tuesday and landed Mark Teixeira to a eight-year deal worth approximately $180 million.

Throw in C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett’s deals and all total, the contracts for the three off-season acquisitions by the Yankees come to $423.5 million. And this after the club was given a $26.9 million Luxury Tax bill. That’s what a new stadium, taking some contracts off the books, and the revenues from the YES Network will do for you. Well, that and missing the playoffs for the first time in 14 years.

That figure of $423.5 million is extraordinary, no doubt about it, but when you start comparing the contract figure for the three to some other benchmarks, it becomes all the more bombastic.

Consider…

Next year, the three players signed will earn base salaries of:

A.J. Burnett: $16.5 million
C.C. Sabathia: $14 million
Mark Teixeira: $20 million
Total: $50.5 million

Signing Bonuses:

A.J. Burnett: (none known of as of publication)
C.C. Sabathia: $9 million
Mark Teixeira: $5 million
Total: $14 million

Base salary + Signing Bonuses = $64.5 million

Throw these all together, and:

• The base salary for Burnett, Sabathia, and Teixeira is more than the 2008 Opening Day total player payrolls of the Pirates ($48,689,783), Athletics ($47,967,126), Rays ($43,820,597), and  Marlins ($21,811,500).
• If you throw in the signing bonuses you can add the Royals ($58,245,500), Twins ($56,932,766), and Nationals ($54,961,000) – seven clubs, or more than 23 percent of the league.
• With signing bonuses added to base salary, Teixeira ($25 million), and Sabathia ($23 million) will earn more than the entire 2008 Marlins Opening Day roster.
• Looking back at the total over the life of the three contracts, at $423.5 million, you could have paid for the second (Mets, at $137,793,376), third (Tigers, at $137,685,196), and fourth highest (Red Sox, at $133,390,035) Opening Day payrolls in 2008, and still had enough pocket change left to nearly add in all of the Marlins Opening Day player payroll ($21,811,500). Those four clubs had a total Opening Day player payroll of $430,680,107 for 2008.

• The Yankees now have four of the highest contracts in all of MLB (Alex Rodriguez has the largest in all of baseball at $275 million over 10 years, while Derek Jeter is second at $189 million over 9 years, on top of the Teixeira deal and Sabathia deals). Those four have combined contract totals of a staggering $805 million, or $205 million more than the cost of the Mets’ Citi Field.
• The total base salaries of A-Rod ($32 million), Jeter ($20 million), Teixeira ($20 million), and Sabathia ($14 million) for 2009 will be $86 million, or more than the Opening Day payrolls of more than half the league last year (Brewers, Indians, Giants, Reds, Padres, Rockies, Rangers, Orioles, Diamondbacks, Royals, Twins, Nationals, Pirates, Athletics, Rays, and Marlins).

And, just think… Manny Ramirez is still out there.

Maury Brown is the Founder and President of the Business of Sports Network, which includes The Biz of Baseball, The Biz of Football, The Biz of Basketball and The Biz of Hockey. He is contributor to Baseball Prospectus, and is available as a freelance writer. Brown's full bio is here. He looks forward to your comments via email and can be contacted through the Business of Sports Network.

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Comments (5)

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Wang
written by Maury Brown, December 24, 2008

I'm so dizzy from looking at the FA signing figures, I failed to add in the contract extension of Chien-Ming Wang to a 1-year, $5 million deal this week. I could see a $35 million Luxury Tax bill for the Yankees next year, and that's being conservative.

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Largest Contracts
written by Maury Brown, December 24, 2008

For those scoring at home, here is a list of the biggest contracts in MLB:

Player, Club Years Total

Alex Rodriguez, NYY 2008-17 $275 million

Derek Jeter, NYY 2001-10 $189 million

Mark Teixeira, NYY 2009-16 $180 million

CC Sabathia, NYY 2009-15 $161 million

Miguel Cabrera, Det 2008-15 $152.3 million

Todd Helton, Col 2003-11 $141.5 million

Johan Santana, NYM 2008-13 $137.5 million

Alfonso Soriano, Cubs 2007-14 $136 million

Barry Zito, SF 2007-13 $126 million

Vernon Wells, Tor 2008-14 $126 million

Carlos Beltran, NYM 2005-11 $119 million

Carlos Lee, Hou 2007-12 $100 million

Albert Pujols, StL 2004-10 $100 million

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Uh...
written by MRK, December 25, 2008

I never quite got why that $400 million + figure is thrown around so much - Thats cumulative, not yearly. The Yankees yearly payroll is going to be less than what they were spending in '08.

But who cares? Without the Yankees there is no baseball.

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Symantics
written by Nit Picker, December 26, 2008

This is really more my problem than the author's, but it's one that always bugs me when I see it...

The total base salaries of A-Rod ($32 million), Jeter ($20 million), Teixeira ($20 million), and Sabathia ($14 million) for 2009 will be $86 million, or more than the Opening Day payrolls of more than half the league last year (Brewers, Indians, Giants, Reds, Padres, Rockies, Rangers, Orioles, Diamondbacks, Royals, Twins, Nationals, Pirates, Athletics, Rays, and Marlins).

There are two leagues in MLB. Yes, I know, the sport itself is one "Major" league. But when referring to "the" league, I always a*sume a distinction is being drawn between the National League and the American League.

Teams listed in this quote are from both leagues. If you were asking (and I realize no one is), my preferred phraseology in this case would be "the sport" or "the game" or "the majors".

If MLB was split into two "conferences" (a la NFL or NBA), this would never bother me. But, it's not, and like I said, this is clearly my problem to get over. But when I can, I like to speak my peace about it and move on.

There... I'm feeling better already.

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...
written by jeffrey ward, February 09, 2009

This sort of thing has happened before in baseball. Take the case of former Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga. He basically bought the Marlins a World Championship in 1997. He signed three of the top, if the top, free agents that winter to Florida, adn along with established stars they won it all. Then, after a year of love, he proceded to to have a huge human garage sale.
The Yankees this year have followed almost the same exact formula, and maybe for semi-similar reasons. The key being that they, GM Cashman and Co.,think the time is ripe with that current talent to make a huge splash in the FA market by getting, at all costs, the exact players they coveted.
The only things that are different that the Yankees won't sell off most of their old veterans (they probably couldn't anyway), and inflation.
Time will only tell if the same strategy works. One thing is clear though, like the Marlins of a decade ago, the Yankees need to bulk up on the major league level prospects to start the next dynasty.

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