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Yesterday, we published our look at the end of year player payrolls for each of the clubs in the AL East from 1999-10. Today, we’re looking at the AL West over the same 12-year period.
While the AL East was a study in the growing gap between the Red Sox and Yankees and the other 3 clubs in the division beginning in 2002 with the Yankees, the AL West can best be described as schizophrenic.
In 1999, the Rangers were far and away the division’s highest payrolled club, and that was before the Alex Rodriguez signing. Meanwhile, the Angels were second-to-last in final payroll in 1999 ahead of only the A’s. It’s interesting to note that when Arte Moreno purchased the club in 2003 from the Walt Disney Company, payroll spiked.
But, the Rangers take a deep dive as they drop (some) of A-Rod’s payroll in 2004, and continue diving to a Division low of $49,870,201 final payroll in 2005.
Meanwhile, the A’s, while at the bottom of the final payroll scale in all but the aforementioned 2005 season, are running the “slow but sure” route with a sharp decline in 2008 the exception.
For the Mariners, you begin to see Bill Bavasi’s hand in salary increase start in 2006, and then get corrected after his firing in 2008.
Below is a graph and supporting data for the AL West from 1999-2010
SELECT READ MORE TO SEE THE GRAPH AND DATA
| YEAR |
Angels |
Athletics |
Mariners |
Rangers |
| 1999 |
$51,340,297 |
$25,208,858 |
$45,351,254 |
$80,801,598 |
| 2000 |
$54,312,609 |
$30,388,574 |
$59,811,910 |
$57,879,024 |
| 2001 |
$49,452,387 |
$39,722,689 |
$79,925,400 |
$86,871,306 |
| 2002 |
$62,757,041 |
$41,942,665 |
$86,084,710 |
$106,915,180 |
| 2003 |
$83,235,098 |
$56,596,691 |
$92,268,063 |
$106,277,880 |
| 2004 |
$115,608,812 |
$60,288,197 |
$81,836,597 |
$79,217,225 |
| 2005 |
$96,951,322 |
$58,425,354 |
$70,513,167 |
$49,870,201 |
| 2006 |
$104,016,671 |
$70,967,799 |
$95,335,400 |
$82,730,146 |
| 2007 |
$111,038,577 |
$78,482,125 |
$114,367,309 |
$78,923,435 |
| 2008 |
$128,142,467 |
$55,223,294 |
$120,456,113 |
$78,640,138 |
| 2009 |
$121,947,524 |
$61,688,124 |
$102,343,617 |
$77,208,810 |
| 2010 |
$123,478,263 |
$61,773,644 |
$93,376,107 |
$74,302,980 |
All figures published by The Associated Press. Final 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 prorated 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.
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Maury Brown 
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