Monday, July 15, 2013

This Season Sure Has Been Different

I was thinking about things to write about during the All Star break, and while doing so I thought about the myriad of non-All Stars that have made up the majority of the Yankees starting lineup during the first half of this season.

"Well, I've been in MLB for 13 years now, so that means I've gotten 52 vacation days from work. So that's cool."

In 2012 Yankee regulars, meaning those players who spent the most time at each position other than "pitcher", had played in a combined 41 All Star games (that includes appearing in the 2012 All Star game). Those 41 games were split among eight of the nine regulars. The only Yankee regular last season that had never been an All Star was Eric Chavez, however Chavez had received MVP votes in four different seasons (in each season between 2002 and 2005).

The 2013 Yankee regulars have appeared in just 18 All Star games, which is split between only three of the nine regular position players. Those three players are Vernon Wells with three All Star appearances, Robinson Cano with five, and Ichiro Suzuki with ten.

Oh, and while Cano is the only position player for the 2013 Yankees to go to the All Star game, the 2012 team had three position players on it (Robbie, Derek Jeter, and Curtis Granderson).

"Ronery... I'm so ronery."

While that alone shows you just how different this year's Pinstripers are compared to last year's, take a look at the yearly salaries for the position players that appeared in at least a quarter of that season's games, starting with the 2012 team...

C - Russell Martin $7.5m
1B - Mark Teixiera $23.125m
2B - Robinson Cano $14m
SS - Derek Jeter $16m
3B - Alex Rodriguez $30m
LF - Raul Ibanez $1.1m
CF - Curtis Granderson $10m
RF - Nick Swisher $10.25m
DH - Eric Chavez $.9m

Andruw Jones $2m
Ichiro Suzuki $17m
Jayson Nix ~$.5m (signed a Minor League contract, last known salary was .4381 in 2011)
Chris Stewart $.4825m
Dewayne Wise ~$.5m (signed a Minor League contract, last known salary was .55 in 2009)

Total: $133.3575 Million

And now for the 2013 Yankees, who have appeared in at least 25% of games this season...

C - Chris Stewart $.5151m
1B - Lyle Overbay $1.25m
2B - Robinson Cano $15m
SS - Jayson Nix $.9m
3B - David Adams ~$.49m (Presumably making the league minimum)
LF - Vernon Wells $13m
CF - Brett Gardner $2.85m
RF - Ichiro Suzuki $6.5m
DH - Travis Hafner $2m

Eduardo Nunez $.5333m
Kevin Youkilis $12m
Zoilo Almonte ~$.49m (Presumably making the league minimum)
Austin Romine ~$.49m (Presumably making the league minimum)

Total: $56.0184 Million

That's a difference of $77.3391 million. To put that into perspective, the difference between what the 2012 and 2013 regulars made/make is more than the total payroll of nine MLB teams. And while I was just referring to Yankee batters that have appeared in at least 25% of games, the payrolls for those nine MLB teams are for their entire teams.

So next time you hear somebody laugh at the 2013 Yankees, saying something along the lines of "I guess the Yankees couldn't buy a championship this year", refer them to this article.

"I can't afford to pay attention."

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)