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 Friday, May 29, 2009
Not So Deep Thoughts: Is Bigger Always Better When It Comes To MLB Payrolls
Posted by Tuff Stuff
I was listening to some sports radio based in Chicago the other day and
there was a flurry of callers complaining about the latest troubles
experienced by the Cubs. Everything from injuries, to poor officiating,
to a lack of leadership was brought up as the reason the free-spending
Cubs are sitting in fourth place with a .500 record instead of running
away with the NL Central as many had predicted.
While all of those are valid reasons behind the Cubbies woes, it got me
to thinking about how some of the other big-market, big payroll teams
are doing this season. The Yankees lead the way in market size and blow
away the competition in payroll, and they're currently sitting in second
place in the AL East despite their recent hot streak. New York's other
team is second on the payroll list and they sit atop the NL East. The
Cubs rank third in payroll and we already mentioned their
middle-of-the-road status. Nos. four and five on the list are the Red
Sox and Tigers and they're both leading their divisions. Other division
leaders, the Cardinals and the Rangers don't exactly fit the mold of
the others, with St. Louis ranking 17th and Texas 22nd. The team with
the best record in all of the land, the Dodgers, comes in 9th on the
list and appears to be playing even better without its $25 million man earning a check.
While the top spot in each division will likely change several times
between now and the end of September, there does appear to be a direct
correlation between the teams with the bigger payrolls and the division
leaders. For example, of the 12 teams in first or second place in each
division, seven teams are ranked in the top 10 in payroll and only the
surprising Padres (29th) and the always-tough Twins (24th) rank in the
bottom third on the payroll scale. Of the six last-place teams in each
division, only Houston (8th, who has been decimated by injuries) and
Cleveland (14th) rank in the top half of the payroll chart, with
Washington (26th), Oakland (25th) and Baltimore (23rd) supporting the
bigger-is-better theory.
So what to make of all these numbers: not much. There does seem to be
some correlation between teams with bigger payrolls and success, but
there are always exceptions to every rule and the Padres and Rangers
are proof of that. Let's check back at season's end and see if the
Davids are still hanging with the Goliaths of the world. Until then,
I'll just keep listening to all the Cubs fans whining about yet another
season that got away.
Friday, May 29, 2009 6:02:00 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00) 
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