CHART: Are The Yankees Back To Their Free-Spending Ways?
Prior to last year's jump to $228.8 million, the Yankees payroll had stayed relatively stable for nearly a decade following almost two decades of unchecked growth.
Now, with the Yankees giving Jacoby Ellsbury a 7-year, $153 million contract, many are now wondering if the Yankees will still try to keep their payroll under the $189 million luxury tax level or if their are back to their free-spending ways (cont. below).
BusinessInsider.com
If we consider the ten players currently under contract1, use the projected salaries for the five arbitration-eligible players (via MLBTradeRumors.com), and assume they fill the remaining ten positions with minimum-salary players, the Yankees' 2014 payroll is now projected to be $158 million.
Of course, if Alex Rodriguez is indeed suspended for the entire season and the Yankees can subtract his $26 million salary, the projected payroll drops to just $132 million and suddenly the luxury tax level seems more reasonable2.
1 Jacoby Ellsbury's 2014 salary has yet to be reported so for the purpose of this post we used the average annual value of his contract.
2 MLB's luxury tax is actually based on the average annual value of all contracts which will vary slightly from the 2014 payroll.
Data via USAToday.com