Led by Alex Gordon, Royals rank 15th in baseball payroll for 2016 at $137.3 million

The Los Angeles Dodgers remain baseball’s biggest spender, but their opening-day payroll of around $230 million will be a drop of $40 million from the record they set last year. And the total could climb, with Japanese pitcher Kenta Maeda alone able to earn $10.15 million in roster and performance bonuses.

The New York Yankees, who topped the majors in spending for 15 straight seasons before the Dodgers leapfrogged them a year ago, raised their opening payroll by $5 million to about $223 million.

Based on rosters as of Thursday, the average salary will rise about 4-6 percent to approximately $4.4 million, according to the AP’s projections. Teams have until noon EDT Sunday to get down to 25 active players, and the opening-day average will depend on how many players are put on the disabled list.

With several teams in rebuilding mode, the number of $100 million payrolls could decline from 22 at the start of last season to 19.

Milwaukee is at the bottom of the payroll list for the first time since 2004, the last season before Mark Attanasio bought the team from Bud Selig’s family. Other small spenders include the Florida pair of Tampa Bay (about $65 million) and Miami (approximately $73 million).

Other retooling teams made huge cuts. Philadelphia dropped about $40 million to around $90 million and Cincinnati sliced about $30 million to $90 million.

“You have to continuously develop a pipeline of young talent that’s going to power your organization, especially if your goal is to compete year after year.” new Brewers general manager David Stearns said. “That emphasis becomes accentuated when you’re in a middle or a smaller market.

The Royals raised their payroll by around $20 million to the $135 million range in an effort to become the first repeat World Series champion since the 1998-00 Yankees. Their payroll is led by Alex Gordon, who will make $12 million in the first year of a four-year, $72 million contract signed this offseason.

The Mets, who lost to the Royals in a five-game Series, upped payroll by nearly $40 million to almost $140 million. That includes $3.5 million for outfielder Michael Cuddyer, who retired.

Here are the projected payrolls for the opening day rosters of the 30 major-league teams, based on rosters as of 3 p.m. EDT March 31, as well as individual salaries for the 2016 Royals:

2016 MLB payrolls

Figures for team payrolls were obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources and include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses for players on the 25-man active roster, disabled lists and those on the restricted list whose actual 2016 pay has been calculated. In some cases, parts of salaries deferred without interest are discounted to reflect present-day values. Adjustments includes cash transactions in trades, signing bonuses that are responsibility of club that agreed to contract, option buyouts and termination pay for released players.

Individual Royals salaries for 2016

Here are the salaries for 30 Royals players on the active roster and disabled list whose actual 2016 pay has been calculated as of 3 p.m. EDT on March 31. Figures were obtained by The Associated Press from management and player sources and include salaries and pro-rated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income. For some players, parts of deferred signing bonuses and salaries are discounted to reflect present-day values (dl-disabled list).

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 4:37 PM with the headline "Led by Alex Gordon, Royals rank 15th in baseball payroll for 2016 at $137.3 million."