5 Highest Paid MLB Players For 2022 Season

[LuteHawk]

$43.3 Million...Max Scherzer of NY Mets (pitcher)
$36 Million......Gerrit Cole of NY Yankees (pitcher)
$35.5 Million...Mike Trout of LA. Angels (centerfielder)
$35,1 Million....Carlos Correa of Minn, Twins (shortstop)
$35 Million......Stephen Strasburg of Wash. Nats (pitcher)
$35 Million......Anthony Rendon of LA Angels (3rd baseman)

MLB has some owners who are willing and able to spend big bucks
for their team. However, that never guarantees a World Series
Championship. Mike Trout has never won a World Series and the
clock keeps ticking for him. Are these guys overpaid?
.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Angels with 2 of the top 5 highest paid, and they'll still struggle to break .500.

 

[BlackNGoldBleeder]

Are these guys overpaid?

Yes.

I know starting pitching is important, but you’re paying a guy who plays one out of five games—and only plays 2/3 of a game more times than not—over $30 million.

That’s insane.

 

[Im4Iowa]

Yes.

I know starting pitching is important, but you’re paying a guy who plays one out of five games—and only plays 2/3 of a game more times than not—over $30 million.

That’s insane.

Then another 5-8 million on their DH!

 

[NCHawk5]

Then another 5-8 million on their DH!

Think of all the native Americans and single mothers who could be helped with that extra money.

 

[mnole03]

Angels with 2 of the top 5 highest paid, and they'll still struggle to break .500.

Ohtani must be thrilled with his $3.5 million.

 

[hawkifann]

Yes.

I know starting pitching is important, but you’re paying a guy who plays one out of five games—and only plays 2/3 of a game more times than not—over $30 million.

That’s insane.

I disagree. The “every 5 days” thing is a red herring. They have just as much impact (the best ones have more) as the top position players. The best hitters have a chance to impact a game with their bat 550-650 times (plate appearances) per year depending on health and how good the rest of their lineup is. The best pitchers have a chance to impact the game with their arm for sometimes 800+ plate appearances. If you add defensive chances for both pitchers and hitters when they’re in the field, it comes pretty close to balancing out.

There is a difference in that Mike Trout has the ability to impact every single game and Max Scherzer can’t, but the pitcher does have a much more pronounced impact on a game than any given position player does that day. It’s really interesting to dig in and look at impact. Baseball is full of hidden and hard-to-measure real impact.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Ohtani must be thrilled with his $3.5 million.

For basically filling two roster spots!

 

[jamesvanderwulf]

Think of all the native Americans and single mothers who could be helped with that extra money.

Yes, this definitely hits single mothers and minorities the hardest…unless the money goes to Adam Wainwright who will use it along with his celebrity to raise millions more through Big League Impact. I met Adam at his meet and greet event in Springfield, Illinois in February, where Cardinal fans raised over 77K for his cause…

 

[bagdropper]

Carlos Correa is making $35.1M per year...WITH THE TWINS?

Jebus...dogs and cats are apparently living together in MLB. The salary doesn't shock me, but the team paying it...that's crazy talk.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Are these guys overpaid?
.

Yes.

I know starting pitching is important, but you’re paying a guy who plays one out of five games—and only plays 2/3 of a game more times than not—over $30 million.

That’s insane.

No. They make what the market will bear. If the owners are willing to pay those salaries, they are making more.

I have yet to see someone complaining about how much they're making.

 

[WorldSeriesChamps2015]

I am so triggered about those salaries that someone agreed to pay them!

 

[QChawks]

Meh

No way I’m taking a pay cut to play baseball

 

[QChawks]

 

[JRHawk2003]

It's always a risk. I bet they carried some injury insurance

 

[IowaPackFan]

I’ve often wondered about pitchers pay too. Too much risk in my opinion. One out of five game at say average of 7 innings each (which is damn good) equates to the equivalent of 25 full games or about 15% of the season (disregarding extras, shortened, and playoffs). I just don’t think it’s wise. This also ignores injuries.

 

[hawkifann]

I’ve often wondered about pitchers pay too. Too much risk in my opinion. One out of five game at say average of 7 innings each (which is damn good) equates to the equivalent of 25 full games or about 15% of the season (disregarding extras, shortened, and playoffs). I just don’t think it’s wise. This also ignores injuries.

I’ve been interested in doing some analysis around plate appearances/batters faced. The numbers you put above are not wrong, but if looked at around PA or TBF (total batters faced), the numbers get interesting. There were 7 pitchers who faced a total of at least 800 batters and 5 players who had at least 700 plate appearances in 2022.

I think you have to be having a pretty good year (or be the best on a bad team) to sniff those levels, as a bad starter is certainly not going to get that many chances, especially. Looked at in this context, starter money could actually line up fairly well with everyday player money because they get similar opportunities to impact run scoring via the pitcher/hitter battles and except for elite guys at the premium defensive positions, probably don’t lose much of any defensive added value.

Pitchers with 800+ TBF
Sandy Alcantara 886
Framber Valdez 827
Martin Perez 821
Aaron Nola 807
Miles Mikolas 805
Merrill Kelly 804
Adam Wainwright 803

Batters with 700+ PAs
Marcus Semien 724
Freddie Freeman 708
Trea Turner 708
Francisco Lindor 706
Vlad Guerrero Jr 706