MLB Spend Record Amounts on Player Contracts

August 18, 2011

MLB teams contract expenditure combined to spend $227,939,050 on draft bonuses in 2011, and a total of $235,989,050 include additional guarantees which is a record, beating the two previous marks in 2010.

Guarantees in major league contracts for Danny Hultzen, Trevor Bauer, Dylan Bundy, Anthony Rendon and Matt Purke put the total to a unprecedented mark surpassing last years figures of $195,782,830 and $201,832,830.

On the day of the Aug. 15 signing deadline, the clubs spent $132,068,500 in bonuses and a total of $139,068,500 in guarantees. Those are two more new marks, up from $91,155,600 and $97,205,600 in 2010.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, who gave a record $8 million bonus to No. 1 overall pick Gerrit Cole and set another mark for non-first-rounders by paying $5 million to second-rounder Josh Bell, spent a total of $17,005,700. That obliterated the old bonus standard of $11,927,200 set by the 2010 Washington Nationals.

The Nationals didn’t relinquish that record without a fight, spending $15,002,100 in bonuses. Additional guarantees to Rendon and Purke bring  Washington‘s overall total to $17,602,100. The record for the most guaranteed money spent in a single draft remains $19,118,604 by the 2009 Nationals, the bulk of which was a $15,107,104 big league contract for No. 1 overall pick Stephen Strasburg.

The Royals ($14,066,000), Chicago Cubs ($11,954,550) and Arizona Diamondbacks ($11,930,000) also surpassed  Washington‘s old bonus record. The Tampa Bay Rays ($11,482,900), Seattle Mariners ($11,330,500), San Diego Padres ($11,020,600), Toronto Blue Jays ($10,996,500) and Boston Red Sox ($10,978,700) brought the total of teams spending $10 million or more to 10. Only seven teams previously had topped $10 million in bonus spending, all in the previous three drafts.

At the other end of the spectrum, the White Sox ranked last at $2,756,300. The Detroit Tigers were the only other team below $3 million at $2,878,700–less than the $3.45 million they paid supplemental first-round pick Nick Castellanos in 2010.