While the Yankees lowered their payroll from 2005 (how could they possibly have gone up?) the gap between top and bottom spending teams have closed. However, we still have bottom dwellers like the Florida Marlins who are spending 8% of what the Yankees are spending this year and trail the second lowest, the Devil Rays, by $20M.
The Blue Jays did a lot of shopping in the offseason and lead the league in biggest increase, jumping 57% to $72M. Toronto fans can’t complain about management not attempting to win.
Here are the opening day payrolls for all 30 MLB teams.
| Rank | Team | 2006 Payroll | ||
| 1 | Yankees | $198,662,180 | ||
| 2 | Red Sox | $120,100,524 | ||
| 3 | Angels | $103,625,333 | ||
| 4 | White Sox | $102,875,667 | ||
| 5 | Mets | $100,901,085 | ||
| 6 | Dodgers | $99,176,950 | ||
| 7 | Cubs | $94,841,167 | ||
| 8 | Astros | $92,551,503 | ||
| 9 | Braves | $92,461,852 | ||
| 10 | Giants | $90,862,063 | ||
| 11 | Cardinals | $88,441,218 | ||
| 12 | Mariners | $88,324,500 | ||
| 13 | Phillies | $88,273,333 | ||
| 14 | Tigers | $82,302,069 | ||
| 15 | Orioles | $72,585,713 | ||
| 16 | Blue Jays | $71,915,000 | ||
| 17 | Padres | $69,725,179 | ||
| 18 | Rangers | $65,468,130 | ||
| 19 | Twins | $63,810,048 | ||
| 20 | Nationals | $63,267,500 | ||
| 21 | A’s | $62,322,054 | ||
| 22 | Reds | $59,489,015 | ||
| 23 | Diamondbac | $59,221,226 | ||
| 24 | Indians | $56,795,867 | ||
| 25 | Brewers | $56,790,000 | ||
| 26 | Royals | $47,294,000 | ||
| 27 | Pirates | $40,234,833 | ||
| 28 | Rockies | $41,133,000 | ||
| 29 | Devil Rays | $35,417,967 | ||
| 30 | Marlins | $14,998,500 | ||
