Are any players actually worth more than $10 million per year/

[wilkerson_rulz-06]

Here are the highest paid players of 2005 per team:
Part 1 January 5th 2005.

Arizona Diamondbacks:
Javier Vazquez. Apparently this was not worth it, Vazquez was not paid this much to put up mediocre numbers and a high ERA. The only high-paid player that actually produced was Troy Glaus(now in Toronto) $9 million.

Atlanta Braves:
There were 3 players in 2005 paid more than $12 million in the Braves organization: Chipper Jones is the highest paid Braves. $16.1 million. At least he's producing even if he's on a slow decline. The other two are Mike Hampton, who did nothing this season except spend time on the DL, and Andruw Jones who was by far the best Brave of 2005.

Baltimore Orioles:
One word: Sosa. Slammin Sammy was paid a whooping $17 million in 2005. He was simply DISSAPOINTING. Sammy failed to reach 400 AB last season (380) and Sosa also failed to reach 100 hits (84) and 15 HR (14). Sosa also batted a minuscule .221, his lowest in 14 years. If I can say anything, it's that they were better off with Larry Bigbie.

Boston Red Sox:
OK, so the 2004 world champs were 2nd in MLB behind the Yanks in payroll.
Their team salary was 123.5 million. Manny Ramirez was handed $22 million and had a splendid season. $14 million was lost on Curt Schilling who spent long stints on the DL and had some closing and starting time.

Chicago Cubs:
The Windy City did sign big-name fa's in 2004 and 2005 (Nomar Garciappara and Jeromy Burnitz) both paid 8 million (nomar) and 4 million (burner). They, however, are not the highest paid players on the team. Kerry Wood was paid 9.5 million, and spent lots of time on the DL. It seems thathigh-paid players usually spend time on the DL. Gregg Maddux and a-Ram were right behind Kerry Wood with 9 million and 8.95 million.

Chicago White Sox:
The 2005 Champs had a moderate payroll in 2005. Paul Konerko and $8.75 million in his pocket put up gigantic numbers in 2005 and became a 40HR 100 RBI man.
During the run, Konerko jacked 5 homers and drove in 15 runs. Right behind Konerko are Jose Contreras, Freddy Garcia and Frank Thomas. They were all paid at least $8 million. Looks like only Garcia and Konerko were worth it. Contreras was nothing special, Frank Thomas ended his season and playoff run on the DL.

Part 2 coming tomorrow!

[Mattingly]

I was asked that question some 30 years ago about Reggie Jackson. He was still on Charlie Finley's team back then, but we were asked why they made that much, and the schoolteacher replied that "so long as they put people into the seats, they were worth it".

Now with likeability, selling of jerseys, t-shirts, cups and other stuff, if he'll do a great marketing campaign, that alone may sell lots of stuff.

Most corporate execs couldn't dream of making that kind of money, even with a humongous bonus, and especially for playing a child's game. Still, other sports are paying similar gargantuan salaries, so who can doubt the final payment?



*awaits the yankee bashing when wilk gets to them*

[Bothrops Atrox]

Any smart businessman will sink the most amount of money in the resource that will generate the most revenue. If Michael Jordan's presence alone sold out every game for the Bulls, made the Bulls the most marketable and popular sports franchise in America at the time, sold gazillions worth in merchandising, and made the Bulls organization a huge profit, than yes, Jordan was worth every cent to that company that they paid him.

If Tom Cruise or some other actor's role in a movie will generate 100 million in ticket sales just because of his name alone, than paying him 20 mill. is a smart business move.

The same goes with baseball players. Unfortunatley there aren't too many guys who have that kind of influence on marketing , or singlehandedly on the quality of product. Maybe Pujols and his relatively low contract. A few others as well.

[digglahhh]

Ok here we go:

PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES ARE NOT (RELATIVELY) OVERPAID!

First and foremost, keep in mind these people are WORKERS, highly paid workers, but workers nonetheless. They generate wealth for tons of people, more wealth than they garner for themselves. Owners, producers of memerobelia, clothing, companies that gain consumers of their products by advertising during games, etc. The list is virtually endless. The efforts of the players on the field and our appreciation of it, in turn, literally makes millions of people rich.

Now let's examine the issue of whether or not they are worth their salaries. I'm going to take the NBA, not MLB, here because the math is easier to compute. Using a 15 man roster, there are slightly over 600 players in the NBA at any given time. These 600 players, theoretically, make up just about the 600 best at the their field(playing basketball). The average salary of an NBA player is about $5M.

Okay, now take the top 600, lawyers, plastics surgeons, investment bankers, advertising executives, media moguls, CEOs...not to mention actors, singers...you get the picture. Honestly, tell me that the average salary of any of the top 600 earners in any those occupations is below $5M. Not gonna compute.

Now the obvious retort people give is, well these guys just play a game. Well athletics promotes physical activity, healthy competition and discipline. I'm going to spare Mattingly of my opinions of what values advertising execs, CEOs, plastic surgeons, etc. promote, but I think you get the picture.

Are athletes overpaid- sure, but no more so than dozens of other "professionals" in our society.