Major League Baseball spent a total of $2,911,575,488 on player base salaries when the numbers were tallied up for 40 man rosters at the end of the year, a decrease of less than 1 percent (-0.88 %) from the year prior according to The Associated Press’ annual published numbers.

To no one’s surprise the New York Yankees topped MLB’s 30 clubs posting $215,053,064 in End of Year (EOY) player payroll, a decrease of 2.26 percent from last year’s EOY figure of $220,024,917. It is the “lowest” number for the Yankees since the club posted an end of year payroll of $207,461,320 in 2006.

The Yankees were followed by the Red Sox had an EOY player salary of $170,650,856 a sharp 21.5 percent increase from last year’s $140,454,683 final player payroll figure. The 21.5 percent increase for the Red Sox was the highest increase in EOY player payroll since seeing a 51.38 percent increase from 2000 to 2001.

The Yankees broke MLB’s Luxury Tax threshold for the 8 consecutive year, while the Red Sox broke the “soft cap” ceiling for the first time since 2007 (see Yankees, Red Sox Pay Luxury Tax in 2010)

But, the Red Sox weren’t the biggest gainers in end of year salary from last year. That distinction goes to the Minnesota Twins who fielded $103,039,407 in end of year salary or an increase of 41.02 percent from the 2009 EOY figure of $73,068,407. It is the first time the Twins have broken the $100 million mark for end of year payroll. The increase moved the Twins from ranking 23rd in final player salary in 2009 to 10th in 2010.

No small fry. The Twins have moved from MLB's lowest end of year player payroll to now the 10th in a decade

In terms of decliners, 10 clubs lowered end of year salary from 2009, with the biggest drop coming from the Indians who went from $77,192,253 in 2009 to $60,500,460 in 2010, a decline of 21.62 percent. Other double-digit drops came by way of the Astros (down 16.6 percent from an EOY player salary of $108,059,086 to $90,119,188 in 2010) and Dodgers (down 16.54 percent from an EOY player salary of $131,507,197 to $109,753,719 in 2010).

The lowest end of year player payroll goes to the Padres at $43,654,177, or nearly 5 times smaller than what the Yankees ended the season at. Still, believe it or not, the distance between the lowest payrolled club and the highest (over the life of revenue-sharing, the Yankees), has gotten smaller. The difference between the Yankees and Marlins by EOY player payroll was 586 percent. The difference this year between the Padres and Yankees is 493 percent, the third “smallest” gap behind 2001 (421%) and 2002 (384%). The Padres payroll at #30 is 14 percent higher than the Marlins EOY player payroll in 2009

SELECT READ MORE TO SEE END OF YEAR SALARIES FOR EACH OF THE 30 CLUBS, PLUS GRAPHS

Select to see in larger view

About the table and charts... Shows Highest and Lowest EOY player payroll for each year, the increase of decrease for least from the year prior, and the percentage of difference between the highest (Yankees) and lowest club for a given year.

END OF YEAR PLAYER PAYROLLS FOR THE 30 CLUBS FOR 2010

Source: The Associated Press

NOTE: Final 2010 payrolls for the 30 major league teams, according to information received by clubs from the commissioner's office. Figures are for 40-man rosters and include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses, non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions. In some cases, parts of salaries that are deferred are discounted to reflect present-day values.

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, as well as a contributor to FanGraphs and Forbes SportsMoney. He is available for hire or freelance. 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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Cub Fan
written by Russ Bruzek, December 27, 2010

Did Cubs Infielder get a Full World Sereies Share??
From the Gaints?
Russ

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