Baseball Salaries by Position

On my wonderful commute home I was thinking about this.....

Money doesn't buy championships right? But it does get you to the playoffs... Lets compare the Bluejays, by position, how much money these rich bastards make.....

Catcher

Jorge Posada: 13,000,000 per year
Greg Zaun: 3,500,000
Jason Varitek: 11,000,000

First Base

Doug Mientkiewicz: 1,500,000
Jason Giambi: 23,428,571
Combined 24,928,571
Kevin Youkilis: 424,500
Lyle Overbay: 1,350,000

Second Base

Robinson Cano: 490,800 (due for a big increase)
Miguel Cairo: 750,000
Combined 1,240,000
Aaron Hill: 395,000
Dustin Pedroia: 380,000

Third Base

Alex Rodriguez: 22,708,525 (WHO NEEDS THIS MUCH MONEY??)
Mike Lowell: 9,000,000
Troy Glaus: 10,500,000

Shortstop

Derek Jeter: 21,600,000
John McDonald: 750,000 (The Prime Minister of Defence)
Julio Lugo: 8,250,000
Alex Cora: 2,000,000
Combined 10,250,000


Outfield by team

Johnny Damon: 13,000,000
Hideki Matsui: 13,000,000
Melky Cabrera: 432,400
Bobby Abreu: 15,000,000
Yankee's Total: 41,432,400
(Higher than the total payroll of the Pirates, Nationals, Rays and Marlins)

Reed Johnson: 3,075,000
Vernon Wells: 8,787,500
Alex Rios: 2,535,000
Matt Stairs: 1,625,000
Bluejays Total: 16,022,500

Manny Ramirez: 17,016,381
Wily Mo Pena: 1,875,000
JD Drew: 14,000,000
Co Co Crisp: 3,833,333
Red Sox Total: 36,724,714
(That's not including Eric Hinske's ridiculous salary)

As you can see there are some contrasts.... This isn't counting designated hitters... David Ortiz vs Frank Thomas vs Jason Giambi or one of the Yankee's 4th outfielders.... or the pitching staffs... I'll save that for another day.

Yes, you can argue that 4 of the 8 teams last year don't have HUGE payrolls, BUT, how often does that happen? And do you really expect the Rockies to repeat? Or the Padres? Or the D'Backs? The Red Sox and Yankee's are there every year. I compared them to the Jays, not just because I'm a Jays fan, but because the Jays are in the middle of the pack when your looking at the least spending teams vs the Yankee's and the Red Sox. Not to mention, the Jays are in their division.

Another interesting note, ever since the birth of the wild card, there hasn't been another team that has won more games and not made the playoffs than the Toronto Blue Jays.

Yes, money may not buy you championships in the Yankee's case, but it sure as hell keeps the stadium full, and a playoff appearance every year.