...but they've been driven up by greedy club owners who want a particular player badly enough to meet their price. The spiraling upward continues, with each player trying to beat the best deal that someone else at that position had gotten. It pissed me off when Carlos Correa left the Astros in free agency. He turned down a five-year Houston offer for $160 MILLION. That's $32 million/year, but no, that wasn't good enough. So he signed a 3-year, $105 million contract with Minnesota, which comes out to $35 million/year. That's just fucking insane. Turning down $32 million a year for $35 million a year. And now he wants to go free agent AGAIN, probably looking for $40 million/year.
How in the world do the teams bring in enough in tickets and advertising to cover that kind of payroll.
Current payroll for Houston (rounded figures, including bonuses):
$154 million (entire team)
$30 million - Alex Bregman
$29 million - Jose Altuve
$25 million - Justin Verlander
$16 million - Lance McCullers
$14 million - Ryan Pressley
$13 million - Will Smith (from the Atlanta Braves, and Smith didn't even get included on the WS team caused he pitched so badly)
$12 million - Zack Greinke (not even on the team anymore, but still getting paid!)
$10 million - Trey Mancini (so far, a washout)
$8 million - Hector Neris
$8 million - Yordan Alvarez
amounts not shown for the rest of the current roster
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/houston-astros/payroll/
It's just disgusting.
Total payrolls:
$219 million - New York Mets (of all people)
$172 million - Philadelphia
$166 million - San Diego
$159 million - LA Dodgers
$159 million - Atlanta
$154 million - Houston
$150 million - New York Yankees
$149 million - Chicago White Sox
$141 million - Colorado
$133 million - Los Angeles Angels
The lowest is Baltimore with a $19 million payroll
https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/payroll
I wonder what Aaron Judge will command if he goes free agent this year?
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