Where the money went: Royals’ opening-day payroll for 2014 vs. 2015
After adding starter Edinson Volquez, outfielder Alex Rios and DH Kendrys Morales in free agency, you could pencil in a 25-man Royals roster for opening day.
And using salary estimates, the projected 2015 opening-day payroll of $112 million would be about $20 million higher than it was for 2014.
Here’s how we calculated the numbers. We took the opening day lineup from 2014, adding one relief pitcher and subtracting one bench player to give the Royals 12 pitchers and 13 position players.
The 2014 salaries from those 25 players add up to about $83 million. But the opening-day payroll also included other items, like money paid to pitcher Noel Arguelles, who is not on the 40-man roster but is on a major-league contract, and players on the disabled list, including Luke Hochevar and his $5 million-plus salary. So that bumped the 2014 opening-day payroll to about $92 million.
Again, this is just a guess at how the Royals will set their 25-man roster for opening day. The Royals might start Vargas or Ventura on opening day, for example.
Here’s the full side-by-side comparison:
Pos. | 2014 player (salary) | 2015 player (salary) | Change |
SP | James Shields ($13.5 million) | Edinson Volquez ($7.5 million) | -$6M |
SP | Jason Vargas ($7 million) | Jason Vargas ($8.5 million) | +$1.5M |
SP | Jeremy Guthrie ($8 million) | Jeremy Guthrie ($9 million) | +$1M |
SP | Yordano Ventura ($500,500) | Yordano Ventura ($535,675) | +$35K |
SP | Bruce Chen ($3 million) | Danny Duffy ($2.425 million) | -$575K |
RP | Greg Holland ($4.75 million) | Greg Holland ($8.25 million) | +$3.5M |
RP | Wade Davis ($4.8 million) | Wade Davis ($7 million) | +$2.2M |
RP | Kelvin Herrera ($522,250) | Kelvin Herrera ($1.6 million) | +$1.08M |
RP | Aaron Crow ($1.48 million) | Luke Hochevar ($4 million) | +$2.52M |
RP | Francisley Bueno ($504,400) | Jason Frasor ($1.25 million) | +$746K |
RP | Tim Collins ($1.36 million) | Tim Collins ($1.475 million) | +$115K |
RP | Louis Coleman ($537,000) | Louis Coleman ($725,000) | +$188K |
C | Salvador Perez ($1.5 million) | Salvador Perez ($1.75 million) | +$250K |
1B | Eric Hosmer ($3.6 million) | Eric Hosmer ($5.625 million) | +$2.025M |
2B | Omar Infante ($5 million) | Omar Infante ($7.5 million) | +$2.5M |
3B | Mike Moustakas ($549,000) | Mike Moustakas ($2.64 million) | +$2.09M |
SS | Alcides Escobar ($3 million) | Alcides Escobar ($3 million) | — |
LF | Alex Gordon ($10 million) | Alex Gordon ($14 million) | +$4M |
CF | Lorenzo Cain ($546,000) | Lorenzo Cain ($2.725 million) | +$2.18M |
RF | Nori Aoki ($1.95 million) | Alex Rios ($9.5 million) | +$7.55M |
DH | Billy Butler ($8 million) | Kendrys Morales ($6.5 million) | -$1.5M |
C (backup) | Brett Hayes ($630,000) | Erik Kratz ($532,500) | -$97K |
IF (backup) | Danny Valencia ($532,500) | Christian Colon ($509,525) | -$23K |
OF (backup) | Jarrod Dyson ($530,000) | Jarrod Dyson ($1.225 million) | +$695K |
OF (backup) | Justin Maxwell ($1.3 million) | Jorge Bonifacio ($507,500) | -$793K |
Totals | $92.0 million* | $112.275 million** | +$20.275M |
*includes bonuses and salaries paid to players on disabled list, including $5.21 million to Luke Hochevar in 2014
**includes $2 million 2015 salary for RHP Kris Medlen, who is expected to open season on disabled list, and $1 million buyouts for former DH Billy Butler and LHP Bruce Chen
This story was originally published December 17, 2014 at 1:13 PM.