collusion- as salaries go down

[smazza]

Just a few days into the season, baseball already has produced a startling statistic: The average salary dropped for the first time in nearly a decade.

Not that major leaguers will be sweating to make their mortgage payments. Despite the 3 percent drop from the start of last season, players on opening day rosters averaged $2.49 million, according to a study by The Associated Press.

   

 

 

 

   

 

"Maybe that's going to be the trend. Maybe it's going to start going down," said Seattle designated hitter Edgar Martinez, whose base pay by was cut 25 percent to $3 million.

The New York Yankees bucked the trend, pushing their payroll up to a record $183 million, led by Alex Rodriguez, whose $21.7 million salary topped the majors for the fourth straight year.

Boston, forever chasing New York in the standings and at the box office, was second at $125 million.

And then came everyone else.

Anaheim was third at $101 million, just ahead of the New York Mets. Philadelphia, fifth at $93 million, has a payroll almost half that of the Yankees.

Milwaukee, the team controlled by the family of baseball commissioner Bud Selig, has the lowest payroll at $27.5 million. Tampa Bay is 29th at $29.5 million -- but that includes $7 million the Devil Rays are getting reimbursed by St. Louis to pay nearly all of Tino Martinez's salary.

The average salary, which was $2.56 million at the start of last season, hadn't dropped since 1995, immediately following the 7 1/2-month strike that wiped out the World Series for the first time in 90 years.

"There are a number of factors involved. Certainly, the economy is a big one," Selig said. "Teams had to tighten their belts because of debt."

Baseball's new labor contract, agreed to late in the 2002 season, had new debt regulations and also imposed a luxury tax. Last year, the Yankees were the only team that had to pay the tax.

"I think if you go back in history, the year following any type of a new labor agreement being put in place, there's always a market correction," said Yankees first baseman Tony Clark, a member of the union's negotiating committee.

Since the start of the free-agent era after the 1976 season, the only other times salaries dropped were 1987 -- when owners were found by an arbitrator to have conspired against free agents -- and 1995.

The players' association has spent more than a year considering whether to file a new collusion grievance, but no decision has been made. Union head Donald Fehr wouldn't address the salary drop.

"Until we have an opportunity to do the numbers, I'm not going to comment," he said.

NBA players have the highest average salary, $4.9 million this season, according to the preliminary estimate by their union. NHL players averaged $1.79 million in 2002-03, the latest season in which their union has figures available. NFL players averaged $1.26 million last year, according to their union.

Both the NBA and NFL operate under salary caps.

For years, it seemed like the only direction for salaries was up. For now, they've gone into reverse.

"Attendance is down, it's harder to sell sponsorships and signage," Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane said.

Players take heart from what's happened on the field in recent seasons. Florida won the World Series last year with a $56 million payroll, 20th among the 30 teams. In 2002, Anaheim won the title with a $62 million payroll.

"Maybe owners are seeing that you don't need to spend $110 million to win," San Francisco pitcher Kirk Rueter said. "Whatever the chic thing is, that's what people tend to follow."

The number of players making $1 million, which had been 425 in 2001, dropped for the third straight year, to 374. The median salary -- the point at which an equal amount of players is above and below -- remained at $800,000, below the 2001 high of $975,000.

Figures for the study included salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income for the 827 players on official opening day rosters as of last weekend; for some players, parts of salaries deferred without interest were discounted to present-day value.

The AP's study also showed:

* Rodriguez took a cut of about $250,000 as part of the February trade that sent him from Texas to the Yankees because he deferred $1 million without interest to 2011.

* Just behind him on the highest-paid list were Boston's Manny Ramirez ($20.4 million), Toronto's Carlos Delgado ($19.7 million), the Yankees' Derek Jeter ($18.6 million) and San Francisco's Barry Bonds ($18 million).

* The Yankees have four players among the top 14 and seven among the highest 26.

* In their first full season under new owner Arte Moreno, the Angels increased payroll by more than $20 million.

* Philadelphia, which moves into a new ballpark next week, raised its payroll by more than $20 million. San Diego, also in a new stadium this season, went up by about $4 million.

* Texas cut its payroll nearly in half, to $55 million.

[smazza]

Payroll Average

1. New York Yankees $182,835,513 $6,304,673

2. Boston 125,208,542 4,173,618

3. ANGELS 101,084,667 3,743,877

4. New York Mets 100,629,303 3,870,358

5. Philadelphia 93,219,167 3,452,562

6. Chicago Cubs 91,101,667 3,141,437

7. DODGERS 89,694,342 3,449,782

8. Atlanta 88,507,788 3,160,992

9. San Francisco 82,019,167 2,645,780

10. Seattle 81,543,833 2,912,280

11. St. Louis 75,633,517 3,025,341

12. Houston 74,666,303 2,986,652

13. Arizona 70,204,984 2,420,862

14. Chicago White Sox 65,212,500 2,508,173

15. Colorado 64,590,403 2,306,800

16. Oakland 59,825,167 2,215,747

17. Texas 54,825,973 1,890,551

18. San Diego 54,639,503 2,185,580

19. Minnesota 53,585,000 2,060,962

20. Baltimore 51,212,653 1,829,023

21. Toronto 50,017,000 1,923,731

22. Kansas City 47,609,000 1,586,967

23. Detroit 46,353,554 1,655,484

24. Montreal 43,197,500 1,439,917

25. Cincinnati 43,067,858 1,538,138

26. Florida 42,118,042 1,559,927

27. Cleveland 34,569,300 1,152,310

28. Pittsburgh 32,227,929 1,193,627

29. Tampa Bay 29,506,667 1,092,840

30. Milwaukee 27,518,500 1,100,740  

[smazza]

•  OTHER NOTABLES: 11. Mike Piazza, N.Y. Mets, $16,071,429; 12. Jeff Bagwell, Houston, $16,000,000; (tie) Mike Mussina, N.Y. Yankees, $16,000,000; 14. Kevin Brown, N.Y. Yankees, $15,714,286; 15. Chipper Jones, Atlanta, $15,333,333; 17. Chan Ho Park, Texas, $13,879,164; 23. Jason Giambi, N.Y. Yankees, $12,428,571; 31. Nomar Garciaparra, Red Sox, $11,500,000; 32. Darren Dreifort, Dodgers, $11,400,000; 33. Bartolo Colon, Angels, $11,000,000; (tie) Vladimir Guerrero, Angels, $11,000,000; 41. Troy Glaus, Angels, $10,450,000; 43. Tim Salmon, Angels, $9,900,000; 48. Ken Griffey Jr., Reds, $9,142,608

[Velcro]

its probably not so much collusion as it is teams reading the writing on the wall... salaries were extremely high (much like tech stocks during the internet boom)... the press talked all summer about how high the salaries are and how they expect them to decrease, and owners realized they need to hold on to some more money, especially after the MARLINS won the WS.

[smazza]

so far no lawsuits have been filed