One-third of the way through the season, an economically intriguing circumstance has developed. The National League East is the only one of the six divisions in which the team with the biggest payroll is in first place.
The Phillies, with an opening-day $142 million payroll, have dominated their division in the first two months, though last week the $132 million Mets gave them a stunning reminder that the race isn’t over by sweeping them scorelessly in a three-game series.
Midway through the Memorial Day weekend, the five other divisions were led by teams whose payrolls lagged behind at least some of their intra-division competition.
Two of the division leaders, the Padres and the Athletics, have payrolls that are among the three smallest in the majors. One-third of the 12 smallest payrolls have produced two-thirds of the first-place teams.
“That’s an interesting stat,” Commissioner Bud Selig said when apprised of it. “It’s clearly premature to make any economic judgments from that; it’s still early. But it’s no secret that spending money is not a surefire guarantee.”
Obviously so much of the season remains that there is plenty of time for the rich guys to overtake their poorer cousins. Teams with smaller payrolls are not as deep and well fortified as the wealthy. For example, the Rays, who lead the American League East, could not withstand a serious injury as readily as wealthier division rivals New York and Boston.
With their $72 million payroll already stretched beyond their budgeted $58 million, the Rays could ill afford to plug an injury-created gap by trading for a player who is available because he has a big salary, he can be a free agent after the season and his team isn’t going anywhere. The Yankees and the Red Sox wouldn’t have to give it a second thought.
The Padres’ $38 million payroll ranks 29th among the 30 teams. An eight-game winning streak they began 11 days into the season catapulted the Padres into first place, and the $98 million Giants and the $95 million Dodgers have been unable to dislodge them.
The Reds are the $72 million upstarts in the N.L. Central. They haven’t occupied the top spot much of the season, but they were there when the holiday weekend began, ahead of the $147 million devastatingly disappointing Cubs and the $93 million Cardinals.
The American League West is probably the best example of an economically upside-down division. Until Saturday night the Rangers led the division for most of May. But Saturday night the Athletics leapfrogged the Rangers into first place.
That means in the space of 24 hours three of the majors’ four lowest payrolls were in first place – the Rangers, the Athletics and the Padres. The Rangers’ $55 million payroll is No. 27, the Athletics’ $52 million No. 28 and the Padres’ $38 million No. 29.
Only the Pirates, at $35 million, have a smaller payroll, but there’s no danger of the Pirates surging into the N.L. Central lead. They are focused on attaining their 18th consecutive losing season. No talk of first place will undermine that goal.
The Athletics and the Rangers, on the other hand, are intent on keeping their division upside-down. While they take turns at the top, the Angels, with their $105 million payroll, struggle to keep up, and the $98 Mariners try to figure out what went wrong with their grand winter scheme.
The Twins spent the winter uncharacteristically spending money, but they spent it anticipating the increased revenue from their new park. Still, their franchise record $97.5 million payroll (11th) is eclipsed by the Tigers’ $123 million and the White Sox’s $108 million. It remains to be seen if either team can overtake the Twins in the won-lost standings.
The largest small-revenue task belongs to the $72 million Rays. Playing from the No. 21 payroll position but holding first place in the daunting A.L. East with the best record in the major leagues, the Rays merely have to hold off the $206 million Yankees and the $163 million Red Sox.
It would probably be unwise to place a group bet on the five current-division leaders to finish where they are now.
“The first thing that needs to be stated is it’s May 29,” general manager Billy Beane said shortly after the A’s replaced the Rangers in first. “A better time to bring this up is later in the year. That being said, teams that don’t have resources there is a template that is there. If you’re going to have success, whether it’s Texas or San Diego, you’re going to basically go about it the same way. You have to develop pitching. We all have good pitching.”
Entering Sunday’s games, the Rays, the A’s and the Rangers had three of the six lowest earned run averages in the A.L. Oakland is pitching that well despite having three starters currently on the disabled list – Justin Duchscherer, Brett Anderson and Dallas Braden.
The disabled list has been a popular destination for Oakland this season. “We had 10 guys, 40 percent of our team, on the disabled list two weeks ago,” Beane said. “It was a deep list. It makes for a pretty rough month, but we’ve found ways to win games.”
Beane has spent life as the A’s general manager finding ways to win with low payrolls. Jeff Moorad, as the Padres’ chief executive officer, is relatively new to that exercise. He used to be on the other side of payrolls, signing players to rich contracts as their agent.
Asked how the Padres have built a first-place team with meager revenue, Moorad said, “It comes down to how the revenue is allocated. I’m not sure if we had unlimited resources that our roster would look any different.”
Knowing from his experience as an agent how expensive it is to sign good free agents, Moorad said the Padres decided to build through scouting and development, “resisting the huge price of free agents” by filling gaps with young free agents.
“As the roster matures,” he added, “I would expect the payroll to rise, ultimately to the 70-75 million range.” For now, Moorad said, “we have a club built around terrific team chemistry; we have a good manager with a good staff behind him.”
Moorad and Beane both acknowledged the difficulty low-revenue teams face when they are faced with injuries.
“That’s what kills you,” Beane said. “It’s hard enough to compete as it is, but when you have injuries it’s really hard. When you have a wide gap between haves and have nots, it’s tough enough, but when you have injuries it really makes it tough.”
Moorad noted that the Padres’ highest-paid player, Chris Young ($6.25 million), has pitched only six innings this season. When he went down after one start, the Padres didn’t scour the waiver wire for an expensive veteran. They replaced him with Wade LeBlanc, a 25-year-old left-hander, who started 13 games for the Padres the past two years.
Asked about the unusual collection of low-revenue teams in first place, Moorad said, “It’s just a quirk of fate at this stage of the season. At the end of the day it will probably be a mix.”
A FORGETTABLE TRADE
A year ago June 3 the Braves and the Pirates made a trade that will not go down as the trade of the decade – unless we wait for the rest of the decade to see if it gets any better.
The Braves got outfielder Nate McLouth. The Pirates got pitcher Charlie Morton.
Entering Sunday’s games, McLouth was hitting .188 and Morton had a 1-9 record and was on the disabled list. The Pirates said Morton had a fatigued shoulder. More likely the Pirates were tired of watching him pitch. The 26-year-old right-hander has a 9.35 earned run average in 10 starts.
Besides his weak batting average, McLouth, who was on the National League All-Star team in 2008, had slugging and on-base percentages of .306 each, had struck out 43 times in 144 at-bats and had been thrown out stealing twice in five attempts.
Morton is not alone in achieving dreadful results from his pitching. Kenshin Kawakami, McLouth’s teammate in Atlanta, has a 0-7 record and 4.93 e.r.a. in nine starts, and Felipe Paulino also has a 0-7 record in nine starts with a 5.08 e.r.a. for Houston.
A STREAKY HOMER HITTER
On Sept. 15, 2008, Marino Salas, a 26-year-old Dominican right-hander, pitched in his 13th and – as his career developed – last major league game. In relief for the Pirates, Salas pitched three innings that day against the Dodgers, and in his final inning, the sixth, he gave up his last hit, his last run and his last home run.
Juan Pierre hit the home run. It was Pierre’s first home run since April 18, 2006, a span of 281 games without one. It also, as it has developed, was the last home run he hit.
Through Saturday, Pierre had played 203 games since the Salas game without hitting a home run. Nothing if not consistent, he has had the most at-bats this season in the majors without hitting a home run.
He has had 196 at-bats and is followed in his lack of a home run by Nyjer Morgan of Washington with 181 at-bats, Elvis Andrus of Texas 175, Michael Bourn of Houston 174 and Chone Figgins of Seattle 172.