The New York Yankees payroll for 2008:
Alex Rodriguez $28,000,000
Jason Giambi $23,428,571
Derek Jeter $21,600,000
Bobby Abreu $16,000,000
dl-Andy Pettitte $16,000,000
Mariano Rivera $15,000,000
Jorge Posada $13,100,000
Johnny Damon $13,000,000
Hideki Matsui $13,000,000
Mike Mussina $11,071,030
dl-Carl Pavano $11,000,000
Kyle Farnsworth $5,916,667
Chien-Ming Wang $4,000,000
LaTroy Hawkins $3,750,000
Robinson Cano $3,000,000
Jose Molina $1,875,000
Morgan Ensberg $1,750,000
dl-Andrew Brackman $1,184,788
Wilson Betemit $1,165,000
Brian Bruney $725,000
Billy Traber $500,000
Melky Cabrera $461,200
Phil Hughes $406,350
Shelley Duncan $398,300
dl-Sean Henn $397,448
Ian Kennedy $394,275
dl-Jeff Karstens $393,300
Jonathan Albaladejo $393,225
Ross Ohlendorf $391,425
Joba Chamberlain $390,000
dl-Humberto Sanchez $390,000
There will be those who say that this is too much money to pay to people who play a game for a living. But, you know what ? When you consider the fact that a franchise like the Yankees earns pretty close to a billion dollars a year, doesn’t it make sense that a good portion of that money should go to the guys who actually perform on the field ?
Yes, there’s an injustice in the fact that guys like Yogi Berra, DiMaggio, and Mantle were underpaid given their performance during their careers, but the system has changed and I don’t see what’s so wrong about paying big bucks to the guys who actually put the butts in the seats on game day.
