Alex Rodriguez,Mark Teixeira, The Astros, And AAV

We have all heard the term "AAV" used a lot since the new collective bargaining agreement changed the ways we look at salary. Instead of a yearly salary in a contract that can be back loaded or front loaded the new CBA simply looks at the average annual value of the contract and this AAV is the actual number that is counted against the luxury tax and such. Now that we have that out of the way I thought this little tidbit was interesting concerning Alex Rodriguez and the Houston Astros.

The highest paid Astros player in 2013 will be Wandy Rodriguez at $5 million, which is very inconvenient for the Astros because he is now a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates. With that said the Astros team salary is sitting at a little less than $25 million this season including Wandy's salary. There are twenty players, including two Yankees Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, making more in one season than the entire Houston Astros team. Here is the complete list if you do not include Wandy Rodriguez's salary.

Alex Rodriguez, $29M

Johan Santana, $25.5M

Cliff Lee, $25M
Mark Teixeira, $23.25M
C.C. Sabathia, $23M
Prince Fielder, $23M
Joe Mauer, $23M
Tim Lincecum, $22.25M
Adrian Gonzalez, $21.86M
Miguel Cabrera, $21M
Vernon Wells, $21M
Carl Crawford, $20.86M
Matt Cain, $20.83M
Cole Hamels, $20.5M
Matt Kemp, $20.25M
Felix Hernandez, $20.2M
Justin Verlander, $20.1M
Roy Halladay, $20M
Ryan Howard, $20M
Barry Zito, $20M