AP: Dodgers surpass Yankees for baseball’s top payroll, Royals 19th

Zack Greinke and the Los Angeles Dodgers have knocked Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees off baseball’s payroll perch, part of a spending spree that has the average salary approaching $4 million.

The Dodgers are ending the Yankees’ 15-year streak as baseball’s biggest spenders and as of Tuesday had a projected payroll of $235 million, according to study of all major league contracts by The Associated Press.

New York, which last failed to top the payroll rankings in 1998, was second at $204 million.

The Royals are projected at $92 million by the AP, which ranks 19th.

Houston is last at $45 million. The average salary projected to be between $3.95 million and $4 million, up from 8 to 10 percent. The average U.S. wage in 2012 was $42,498, according to the Social Security Administration, an increase of 3.12 percent.

Projected payrolls for the 30 major league teams. Figures 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 restricted list as of 2 p.m. EDT March 25, plus players teams have committed to putting on their rosters. In some cases, parts of salaries deferred without interest are discounted to reflect present-day values. Adjustments have been made for cash transactions in trades, signing bonuses that are responsibility of club that agreed to contract, option buyouts and termination pay for released players.

This story was originally published March 25, 2014 at 4:55 PM with the headline "AP: Dodgers surpass Yankees for baseball’s top payroll, Royals 19th."