One of our favorite parts about the start of the season -- really -- is when USA Today comes out with its list of opening day payrolls for every MLB team. This year's numbers are particularly interesting, and they are also accompanied by a very interesting story. Here are the first couple paragraphs (bold ours for emphasis):
The salaries of major league players on opening-day rosters have plummeted 17% from last year, the largest decrease since USA TODAY began its annual salary survey in 1988.
"The economy has affected all of us," said Atlanta Braves President John Schuerholz, whose team lowered its payroll from a year ago to $84.4 million, a 13% decline. "It's a fact of life."
UPDATE: USA Today just posted this ... CORRECTION: The average salary of players on opening-day rosters was incorrectly stated in the original version of this story. The average player salary is $3.27 million, a 1% increase from $3.26 million in 2009.
Well, almost everyone. Not affected: THE RECESSION-PROOF TWINS. While average salaries took a double-digit hit, the Twins' opening day payroll jumped nearly 50 percent from about $65 million in 2009 to more than $97 million this year. Perhaps just as interesting is where they ranked baseball-wide those two years: 24th in 2009 and now 10th this season.
As far as we can tell, you have to go back to 1989 to find the last time the Twins ranked among the top 10 in payroll. That was when they checked in at No. 8 with a HEFTY $15.5 million payroll and the highest in the majors was only $6 million more than that. Yes, times have changed. At more than $97 million, the Twins still don't spend half as much as the No. 1 Yankees ($206 million) and are still third in their division behind Detroit ($122m) and Chicago ($105m). But they are in the upper-middle echelon of teams now. Thank you, Target Field.
