By signing their last four arbitration-eligible players – Orlando Hernandez, Ramiro Mendoza, Jorge Posada and yesterday Shane Spencer to a $885,000 contract – the Yankees have offered a clearer picture of what promises to be the largest payroll in major league history in 2002, an outlay bettering $125 million.
By making a very public threat to go to arbitration, the Yanks motivated Spencer to sign for considerably lower than the midpoint ($975,000) of his request ($1.2 million) and their offer ($750G).
Nevertheless, at present, the Yanks still have 24 players on major league contracts equaling $128,730,230. The salaries reflect 2002 salaries plus pro-rated signing bonuses.Just to give an idea of the inflation, the Yanks began last season with a $109,791,893 payroll and ended at $122,410,332 – both records.
Before Opening Day, the Yankees hope to shed the contracts of Orlando Hernandez, Gerald Williams and Adrian Hernandez, which total $6.2 million. But it will be very difficult to move all of those players, especially if the Yanks do not take some serious dollars back in trades.
In addition, the payroll right now does not reflect the addition of Ruben Rivera, whom the Yanks will officially sign to a major league contract for between $500,000-$1 million, nor players on minor-league contracts such as Ron Coomer ($750,000 if he makes the team) or Mike Thurman ($500,000), who stand good chances of being on the 25-man roster. Nor does it include any bonuses the players will earn over the course of the season.
Perhaps, the most stunning factor about this payroll, though, is that it actually reflects an artificial attempt to keep the dollar figures down. Over the last two years, in particular, the Yanks have back-ended their multi-year contracts, meaning smaller salaries upfront for players such as Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi and Posada, and significantly larger dollar figures down the line.
So, for example, the Yanks already have $83 million committed to 11 players for the 2003 season before even considering $32.3 million worth of options belonging to Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera.
In 2004, the Yankees have $77 million committed to seven players with more than $34 million in options for Clemens, Rivera and David Wells. In 2005, the Yanks have $83.2 million committed to seven players. By the time they complete 25-man rosters, those Yankee teams very possibly will exceed $150 million in payroll.
“No doubt, when you deal with an issue like this, you are sometimes robbing Peter to pay Paul,” Yankee GM Brian Cashman said.
Cashman said that the team’s braintrust has tried to structure contracts to allow lower-paid players from the system to break through.
In addition, the Yanks are set to launch their own cable network this year that is expected to be a cash cow and they anticipate opening a new stadium in the next decade.
There was a time this offseason that the Yanks had hoped the Red Sox or Dodgers, or perhaps even the Rangers or Mets, would move past them in payroll. Now that looks unlikely, especially when you consider Posada gives the Yankees nine players who will make $7M or better in 2002 and Drew Henson will earn $3.7M and might not even play in the majors.
BIG BUCKS IN THE BRONX
The 24 Yankees officially signed, so far, to major-league contracts. The figures represent salary for the 2002 season plus pro-rated signing bonuses:
Derek Jeter — 14,600,000
Bernie Williams — 12,000,000
Mike Mussina — 11,000,000
Jason Giambi — 10,428,572
Roger Clemens — 10,300,000
Andy Pettitte — 9,500,000
Mariano Rivera — 9,450,000
Robin Ventura — 8,250,000
Jorge Posada — 7,000,000
Sterling Hitchcock — 5,500,000
Rondell White — 4,500,000
Steve Karsay — 4,000,000
Drew Henson — 3,666,667
Orlando Hernandez — 3,200,000
Ramiro Mendoza — 2,600,000
Mike Stanton — 2,500,000
David Wells — 2,500,000
Gerald Williams — 2,000,000
John Vander Wal — 1,850,000
Adrian Hernandez — 1,000,000
Shane Spencer — 885,000
Enrique Wilson — 720,000
Todd Greene — 650,000
Alfonso Soriano — 630,000
TOTAL — 128,730,230
