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Red Sox Top Off-Season Spending List

By Brian Phair

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At the mid-way point of the off-season, it is no surprise that the Boston Red Sox have topped all teams in money spent. MLB Trade Rumors (MLBTR) came out with a listing of the total dollars spent on free agents and contract extensions for each major league club thus far and with $172 million committed, the Sox were more than $40 million ahead of the 2nd place Washington Nationals (the mean dollar amount spent was $40.28 million). Yes, you read that correctly, the Washington Nationals were 2nd on the list after locking up Jayson Werth to a ridiculous $126 million contract. The New York Yankees ranked 6th with $93 million and thanks to the stat people over at MLBTR, the top 7 overall spenders accounted for 68.5% of the total dollars invested in player contracts. The Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays are 23rd, 27th and 29th on the list respectively, each with less than a handful of smaller moves thus far. The scary part for the Red Sox? This doesn’t include Adrian Gonzalez‘s extension that will likely be completed sometime after opening day. The full listing of how the money was spent is after the jump.

Here are the details on each team’s spending so far this winter taken directly from MLBTR:

  1. Boston Red Sox – $172MM ($142MM contract for Carl Crawford, $12.5MM option forDavid Ortiz, $12MM contract for Bobby Jenks, $3MM contract for Dan Wheeler, $2MM contract for Jason Varitek, $455K option for Scott Atchison)
  2. Washington Nationals – $128.5MM ($126MM contract for Jayson Werth, $1.5MM contract for Rick Ankiel, $1MM contract for Chien-Ming Wang)
  3. Philadelphia Phillies – $125.5MM ($120MM contract for Cliff Lee, $5.5MM contract forJose Contreras)
  4. Chicago White Sox – $120.25MM ($56MM contract for Adam Dunn, $37.5MM contract for Paul Konerko, $13MM contract for Jesse Crain, $8MM contract for A.J. Pierzynski, $3MM option for Matt Thornton, $1.75MM extension for Omar Vizquel, $1MM option forRamon Castro)
  5. Detroit Tigers – $99.25MM ($50MM contract for Victor Martinez, $16.5MM contract forJoaquin Benoit, $11.5MM extension for Brandon Inge, $11.25MM contract for Jhonny Peralta, $10MM contract for Magglio Ordonez)
  6. New York Yankees – $93MM ($51MM contract for Derek Jeter, $30MM contract forMariano Rivera, $8MM contract for Pedro Feliciano, $4MM contract for Russell Martin)
  7. Los Angeles Dodgers – $90.18MM ($33MM extension for Ted Lilly, $21MM contract for Juan Uribe, $12MM contract for Hiroki Kuroda, $12MM contract for Matt Guerrier, $5MM contract for Jon Garland, $3.5MM contract for Rod Barajas, $2MM contract forVicente Padilla, $1MM contract for Dioner Navarro, $680K contract for Tony Gwynn)
  8. St. Louis Cardinals – $42.35MM ($16.5MM contract for Jake Westbrook, $16MM option for Albert Pujols, $8MM contract for Lance Berkman, $1.1MM contract for Gerald Laird, $750K contract for Brian Tallet)
  9. Cincinnati Reds – $41.75MM ($35MM extension for Bronson Arroyo, $3MM contract forRamon Hernandez, $2MM contract for Miguel Cairo, $1.75MM option for Jonny Gomes)
  10. Colorado Rockies – $40MM ($32MM contract for Jorge de la Rosa, $8MM contract forTy Wigginton)
  11. San Francisco Giants – $29.5MM ($22MM contract for Aubrey Huff, $6.5MM contract for Miguel Tejada, $1MM contract for Pat Burrell)
  12. Florida Marlins – $27.5MM ($18MM contract for John Buck, $7MM contract for Javier Vazquez, $2.5MM contract for Randy Choate)
  13. Chicago Cubs – $26.1MM ($14.6MM option for Aramis Ramirez, $10MM contract forCarlos Pena, $1.5MM contract for Kerry Wood)
  14. Los Angeles Angels – $23MM ($15MM contract for Scott Downs, $8MM contract forHisanori Takahashi)
  15. Minnesota Twins – $19.55MM ($9MM contract plus $5.3MM bid for Tsuyoshi Nishioka, $5.25MM option for Jason Kubel)
  16. Oakland A’s – $18.5MM ($6MM option for Mark Ellis, $5.75MM option for Coco Crisp$4.25MM contract for Hideki Matsui, $1.5MM contract for Rich Harden, $1MM contract for Brandon McCarthy)
  17. Pittsburgh Pirates – $17.75MM ($8MM contract for Kevin Correia, $5MM contract forLyle Overbay, $4.25MM contract for Matt Diaz, $500K contract for Scott Olsen)
  18. Arizona Diamondbacks – $17.45MM ($10MM contract for J.J. Putz, $2.7MM contract for Geoff Blum, $2MM contract for Melvin Mora, $1.75MM contract for Xavier Nady, $1MM contract for Henry Blanco)
  19. San Diego Padres – $16.4MM ($11.5MM contract for Orlando Hudson, $4MM contract for Aaron Harang, $900K contract for Dustin Moseley)
  20. New York Mets – $14.8MM ($11MM option for Jose Reyes, $2.5MM contract for D.J. Carrasco, $1.3MM contract for Ronny Paulino)
  21. Seattle Mariners – $10.5MM ($7MM contract for Miguel Olivo, $2.5MM contract forJack Cust, $1MM contract for Erik Bedard)
  22. Texas Rangers – $7.1MM ($6.25MM contract for Yorvit Torrealba, $850K contract forMatt Treanor)
  23. Baltimore Orioles – $5.58MM ($3MM contract for Koji Uehara, $1.5MM contract forCesar Izturis, $1.08MM contract for Jeremy Accardo)
  24. Atlanta Braves – $5.15MM ($2.5MM option for Alex Gonzalez, $1.45MM contract forEric Hinske, $1.2MM contract for George Sherrill)
  25. Houston Astros – $4.625MM ($3MM contract for Bill Hall, $900K option for Jason Michaels, $725K contract for Ryan Rowland-Smith)
  26. Kansas City Royals – $3.75MM ($2.5MM contract for Jeff Francoeur, $1.25MM contract for Melky Cabrera)
  27. Toronto Blue Jays – $3.5MM ($2.5MM contract for Edwin Encarnacion, $1MM option for Jose Molina)
  28. Milwaukee Brewers – $2.18MM ($1.4MM contract for Craig Counsell, $780K contract for Wil Nieves)
  29. Tampa Bay Rays – $2MM ($1.1MM contract for J.P. Howell, $900K contract for Joel Peralta)
  30. Cleveland Indians – $1.3MM ($1.3MM contract for Austin Kearns)

*Totals based on free agent contracts, extensions signed by players on the brink or free agency, options exercised this offseason and one international signing. Minor league deals are excluded.

Vizquel, Inge and Lilly signed extensions on the brink of free agency; their extensions count above, as does Arroyo’s deal with the Reds. Troy Tulowitzki, Jay Bruce and Ricky Nolascosigned extensions long before free agency and their extensions don’t count here. The Twins’ bid for and contract with Nishioka count. All options exercised this offseason count except the options for Adrian Gonzalez, Omar Infante and David DeJesus. Those three players were traded after their teams picked up their options. Some teams, like the Brewers, have added payroll by trading for players, but those acquisitions do not show up here.

Using different cutoffs, Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball recently calculated that total payroll allocation for free agents is now over $1 billion this offseason.

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