October 5, 200620 yr http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6014352...T=HCP>1=8705 Does payroll equal playoffs? Story Tools: Print Email Blog This Subscribe Dayn Perry / FOXSports.com Posted: 2 days ago Baseball, of course, is about winning. So the indisputable goals are to make the playoffs and, ultimately, win the World Series. No one would argue otherwise. However, as with anything else, there's context. In this instance, context equals money. The Yankees get paid a lot for their victories, but George Steinbrenner doesn't care as long as they win. Major League Baseball, of course, has no hard salary cap (although the luxury tax on payrolls is in some ways a de facto cap), and its revenue-sharing structure is quite modest in relation to most other professional sports. As a result, there's much disparity among payrolls. You have teams such as the Yankees, who have seemingly limitless coffers, and then you have teams such as the Marlins, who, every other year or so, trot out the MLB payroll equivalent of this. For some, it's a matter of choice (Twins owner Carl Pohlad, for instance, could afford to outspend the Yankees by several orders of magnitude if he wanted to), and for others it's a matter of circumstance (the Expos, for instance ? in the last years when they were disemboweled wards of the state). Whatever the reasons, teams in baseball aren't playing by the same rules when it comes to finances. Most often, we evaluate teams in terms of raw payroll: this team spends a lot, this team doesn't, etc. However, some interesting findings come to light once you view organizations through the prism of payroll dollars per victory. The concept is simple: by dividing total payroll by the team's number of wins, you find how much they're spending for each win. It's quick and dirty, to be sure, but it does give a reasonable thumbnail evaluation of front-office efficiency. Here's how MLB's 30 teams rank this year in terms of payroll dollars per victory (through the end of the regular season): Team ? $ per victory 1. Marlins ? $192,288 2. Rockies ? $541,223 3. Devil Rays ? $580,622 4. Pirates ? $600,519 5. Twins ? $664,688 6. A's ? $670,129 7. Indians ? $728,152 8. Reds ? $743,612 9. Brewers ? $757,200 10. Royals ? $762,806 11. Diamondbacks ? $779,226 12. Padres ? $792,331 13. Rangers ? $818,351 14. Blue Jays ? $826,609 15. Tigers ? $866,337 16. Nationals ? $891,091 17. Orioles ? $1,036,938 18. Phillies ? $1,038,509 19. Mets ? $1,040,217 20. Cardinals ? $1,065,556 21. Dodgers ? $1,127,010 22. Astros ? $1,128,676 23. Mariners ? $1,132,365 24. White Sox ? $1,143,062 25. Angels ? $1,164,329 26. Braves ? $1,170,403 27. Giants ? $1,195,553 28. Red Sox ? $1,396,517 29. Cubs ? $1,436,987 30. Yankees ? $2,048,063 So the Yankees may finish with both the best record in baseball and the worst dollars-per-win mark. That's what happens when your payroll is almost $80 million more than the next-most drunken sailor in the league (that would be Boston). Some other observations ... The Marlins this season have spent $14,344,500 on payroll. Just how low is that figure? This season 15 individual players made more than the entire Florida roster (including Mike Hampton, Chan Ho Park and Jeff Bagwell). Once more for maximum emphasis: 15 individual players this season make more than the entire Marlins team. There hasn't been such a low payroll in the major leagues since 1998. That the Fish finished with 78 wins despite such a budget is a minor miracle. Speaking of those Marlins, Maury Brown of Baseball Prospectus recently pondered whether they were the most efficient team of all-time. The answer ? at least since 1976 (which is the back end of available team payroll data) ? is yes. Among his observations: The Yankees' opening-day payroll was 1,298% higher than Florida's opening-day payroll, and the Devil Rays, who rank next-to-last in 2006 player salaries, had an opening-day payroll that was 236% higher than that of the Marlins. As well, 53 of Florida's 59 spring-training invitees spent at least part of the 2005 season in the minor leagues. The Yankees, as you can see, are the least efficient team of all. However, you'd have trouble getting any Yankee backer to give a whit about that. After all, it's the second year in a row that the Yankees have earned such a dishonor. In 2004, however, the Mariners, Royals, Mets and Diamondbacks were all less efficient than the Yanks, who, of course, had the highest payroll in the game. Pity the Cubs (or maybe just wag your finger at them). Despite a payroll of almost $95 million (seventh highest in baseball), the Cubs have the worst record in the National League. As well, the Cubs have played one of the weakest schedules in the game, which means that not even a lofty payroll and an accommodating docket of games could keep them from 96 losses. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that the A's and Twins have the best combined payroll efficiency and on-field success. They've been doing it for years. The Snakes rank 11th on this list, and that's a testimony to how much progress they've made in recent seasons. Consider that in 2004 ? when they had a payroll of $70,204,984 yet won only 51 games ? they spent $1,376,567 per win, and just two years later they've made impressive strides in payroll efficiency. Don't make the mistake of thinking that ranking high on this list is tantamount to success. The high spots occupied by the Devil Rays, Pirates and Rockies certainly say otherwise. If you have a low payroll, you'll almost by necessity wind up in the upper tier of these rankings. It should go without saying that placing high on this list is secondary to placing high in the standings ? the objective, of course, is to win championships, not to maximize payroll efficiency. However, we as fans should acknowledge those who are doing more with less, and in particular we should be amazed at what the Florida Marlins have accomplished in 2006. Dayn Perry is a frequent contributor to FOXSports.com and author of the new book, "Winners: How Good Baseball Teams Become Great Ones" (Available now at Amazon.com).
October 5, 200620 yr Great article, but it doesn't catch my attention. I think is a good article for national consumption but nothing new to Florida fans.
October 6, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria.
October 6, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television.
October 6, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television. I would censor that.
October 6, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television. that would involve his lips being removed from steinbrenner and henry's ass...thats not gonna happen
October 6, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television. that would involve his lips being removed from steinbrenner and henry's ass...thats not gonna happen Steinbrenner and Henry share an ass? :o
October 6, 200620 yr Author If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television. that would involve his lips being removed from steinbrenner and henry's ass...thats not gonna happen Steinbrenner and Henry share an ass? :o Haha, yeah, they're conjoined twins that share the same ass.
October 7, 200620 yr If we double payroll, that's 156 wins. Do it Loria. :mischief And we still would have the lowest payroll. I hate Loria. If Loria doubled payroll and the Marlins managed a record of 156-6, Bud Selig should have to blow him on national television. I'll be very piss everytime we lose one of those 6 games.
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