A look at the 2011 payroll
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A look at the 2011 payroll
David Murphy, Daily News Staff Writer
When I started covering the Phillies beat three years ago, I never thought I would be using the words "luxury tax" when analyzing the payroll. But the Phillies have joined baseball's financial big boys, as evidenced by the record salary number they will dole out this season.
This year's magic figure: $167.657 million.
That leaves the Phillies roughly $10 million shy of the $178 million threshold, after which teams are taxed on the money they spend.
Our Phillies payroll number is not official. Major League Baseball calculates payroll using the average annual value of each contract, while the number we have listed above is the sum of each player's base salary and bonuses that he will receive this season.
Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Phillies are in the sport's spending stratosphere. Since 2008, the payroll has increased by about 70.6 percent. During that same time period, attendance has only grown 21.5 percent.
Without further ado, here is the unofficial official breakdown (numbers in millions):
Position |
Player |
2011 Salary |
| 1B | Ryan Howard | 20.0 |
| SP | Roy Halladay | 20.0 |
| SP | Roy Oswalt | 16.0 |
| 2B | Chase Utley | 15.0 |
| LF | Raul Ibanez | 11.5 |
| RP | Brad Lidge | 11.5 |
| SP | Cliff Lee | 11.0 |
| SP | Cole Hamels | 9.5 |
| SP | Joe Blanton | 8.5 |
| SS | Jimmy Rollins | 8.5 |
| 3B | Placido Polanco | 7.5 |
| CF | Shane Victorino | 7.5 |
| RP | Ryan Madson | 4.5 |
| C | Carlos Ruiz | 2.75 |
| RP | Danys Baez | 2.75 |
| RP | Jose Contreras | 2.5 |
| RP | Kyle Kendrick | 2.45 |
| OF/1B | Ross Gload | 1.6 |
| C | Brian Schneider | 1.5 |
| RP | J.C. Romero | 1.35 |
| OF | Ben Francisco | 1.175 |
| UTIL | Pete Orr | .600 |
| UTIL | Wilson Valdez | .460 |
| RP | David Herndon | .425 |
| RP | Antonio Bastardo | .419 |
| OF | John Mayberry Jr. | .414 |
| UTIL | Michael Martinez | .414 |
| TOTAL | 27 players | $167.657 |
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Wow. $11 million for a 5th starter and a long-man.— Platinum- that's nothing compared to the 2.45 million there are paying to Contreras's interpreter (Baez) — Bifocals for the Blind
- Wow, some huge numbers across the board. What a life these guys have.— shawnmac
- If the MLB calculates a team's payroll by average annual value of the contract, then the Phils may have less than $10 million to spend when taking into account the contract of Cliff Lee (he's making less than half of the annual average salary of his contract in this tally).— tgray83
- Add a column, years left on the contract.— phillyart
- Isn't the luxury tax based on the 25 man roster? They won't have Utley or Lidge on it for some of the year.— P Even
- Yes, but the Phils have $11M from Houston to cover most of Oswalt's salary. $27M comes off the books next year (Raul, Lidge, Baez, Romero). $9M of that disappears with raise for Lee. So they have $18M to use for resigning Hamels, Rollins and Madson -- may not be enough. Ideally they would trade Blanton after this season, keep Oswalt and use that extra $8.5 to lock up the guys above and get some more outfield and 2nd base depth.— Chicago_Phils_Fan
- They have more money to sign Hamels, Rollins & Madson if you consider their salaries come off the books too. Between the three of the them, thats an extra $22.5M to add to the $18M you figured with Raul, Lidge, Baez and Romero money. Rollins needs to have a great year or else his market value will be less than 8.5, but Hamels and Madson will look for a raise. — mets_collapse_is_funny_to_me
- DAVID -- suggestioon for another column. Updated assessment of the trades the Phillies have made the past few years based on the status of the prospects the Phils traded away coming into the season (starting with first trade for Lee). My guess is that most of them still look good from the Phils perspective (except for the Lee trade to Seattle).— Chicago_Phils_Fan
- $167 million for the 25-man roster works out to an average of $6.7 million per player. If you'd told me ten years ago that the Phillies would have an AVERAGE payroll of $6.7 million per guy, I would have immediately had you committed to a mental institution. These kind of numbers boggle the mind, and make me wonder what we missed when a big-market team like the Phillies was being run by people with a small-market mentality.— Chris Garrity
- Best values on club might prove to be Francisco, Valdez (again), Pete Orr. And we already know Carlos Ruiz's value....
- Getting younger and loosing big salary next year will keep the team viable for a couple more years.— Joe at the shore
- I agree about needing to factor in their current salaries. My point was that each will want some type of raise -- especially Hamels and Madson. Question is whether the $18M will cover raises for all 3 (fully agree on Rollins need to step it up if he wants a raise).— Chicago_Phils_Fan
- Yeah...Chooch and Ben Fran are the two that seem real low...especially if Ben plays well this season.— stanbro
- It's a well kept secret that Murphy's salary falls in the top third of that list.— s
