« Astros Outright Yorman Bazardo To Triple-A | Main | Odds & Ends: Rangers, Red Sox, Wilson, Dodgers »

Highest Paid Players In 2010

By Mike Axisa [April 24, 2010 at 7:59pm CST]

Let's round up what each of the 30 teams are paying their highest paid player this season. This includes any known signing bonus payments, but not money being paid to a player by another team.

Yankees: Alex Rodriguez, $33MM. That includes a portion of his signing bonus. A-Rod's contract is front-loaded, so his salary goes down as he gets older.
Blue Jays: Vernon Wells, $21MM. That includes an $8.5MM signing bonus payment he received on March 1st.
Mets: Johan Santana, $21MM. He could pocket another $1.4MM with award based bonuses.
Dodgers: Manny Ramirez, $20MM. Hiroki Kuroda is the team's second highest paid player, but he's still $7MM behind Manny.
Tigers: Miguel Cabrera, $20MM. Magglio Ordonez is only $2MM behind him.
Astros: Carlos Lee, $19MM. Roy Oswalt and Lance Berkman are both making $15MM as well.
Phillies: Ryan Howard, $19MM. Roy Halladay will join him in the $20MM club next year.
Giants: Barry Zito, $18.5MM. He could earn another $1.25MM in award bonuses.
Angels: Torii Hunter, $18.5MM. $500K of that is part of his signing bonus, and he could pocket as much as another $1MM with award based bonuses.
Cubs: Alfonso Soriano, $18MM. Carlos Zambrano is a mere $125K behind him.
Red Sox: John Lackey, $18MM. Overtook J.D. Drew ($14MM) as the team's highest paid.
Rockies: Todd Helton, $16.6MM. I suspect he's been their highest paid player for the last half-decade or so.
Cardinals: Albert Pujols, $16MM. Matt Holliday's contract calls for a $17MM salary this season, but $2MM of that is deferred, so technically Pujols will make more this season.
Rangers: Michael Young, $16MM. The second highest paid player on the club is nearly $10MM behind him.
Braves: Derek Lowe, $15MM. Chipper Jones will earn $13MM, but could push past Lowe if he reaches some games played incentives.
White Sox: Jake Peavy, $15MM. Mark Buehrle is $1MM behind him.
Twins: Justin Morneau, $14MM. This only lasts until Joe Mauer's extension kicks in next year.
Brewers: Jeff Suppan, $12.75MM. Believe it or not, there's another $1.3MM available to him this year in award based bonuses, plus $300K for each time he's traded.
Reds: Aaron Harang, $12.5MM. Francisco Cordero is just half-a-million behind him.
Athletics: Eric Chavez, $12MM. Award based bonuses could bump this up another $550K.
Mariners: Ichiro Suzuki, $12MM. It should be $17MM, but $5MM is being deferred. He's still ahead of everyone else.
Royals: Jose Guillen & Gil Meche, $12MM. Meche could earn $450K in award bonuses, $50K more than Guillen.
Nationals: Adam Dunn, $12MM. No one else on the team is in eight-figure territory.
Indians: Travis Hafner, $11.5MM. Hafner, Jake Westbrook ($11MM), and Kerry Wood ($10.5MM) account for approximately 54% of the team's payroll.
Rays: Carlos Pena, $10.125MM. Carl Crawford is right behind him at $10MM.
Orioles: Brian Roberts, $10MM. Kevin Millwood ($12MM) is making more, but the Rangers are on the hook for $3MM of that.
Diamondbacks: Brandon Webb, $8.5MM. Dan Haren is just $250K behind him.
Marlins: Dan Uggla, $7.8MM. Nate Robertson is technically the highest paid player on the team at $10MM, but the Tigers are paying all but $400K of that.
Padres: Chris Young, $6.25MM. No one else on the team is over $5MM.
Pirates: Paul Maholm, $4.5MM. He'll also receive a portion of his $1.5MM signing bonus.