18 February 2007
After paying out close to $90 million in 2006, the Braves said goodbye to a few multi-million dollar players (Thomson, Giles, Reitsma, Sosa, Ramirez) and are currently set to pay something close to $80 million. This is thanks in part to Mike Hampton being healthy -- he's still making his millions, but we don't have to pay anyone else to pitch while he sits -- and also to Chipper Jones' restructuring his contract last year.
These numbers are not official, so take them with a grain of salt... and with the notes I have included below.
| SP | Mike Hampton | $14,500,000 | |
| SP | Tim Hudson | $6,000,000 | |
| SP | John Smoltz | $8,000,000 | |
| SP | Kyle Davies | $333,350 | |
| SP | Chuck James | $327,000 | |
| RP | Bob Wickman | $6,500,000 | |
| RP | Mike Gonzalez | $2,350,000 | |
| RP | Rafael Soriano | $1,200,000 | |
| RP | Oscar Villarreal | $960,000 | |
| RP | Tanyon Sturtze | $785,000 | |
| RP | Lance Cormier | $345,000 | |
| RP | Blaine Boyer | $336,000 | |
| RP | Macay McBride | $332,000 | |
| C | Brian McCann | $333,350 | |
| C | Brayan Pena | $327,000 | |
| 1B | Craig Wilson | $2,000,000 | |
| 2B | Chris Woodward | $850,000 | |
| 3B | Chipper Jones | $11,000,000 | |
| SS | Edgar Renteria | $9,000,000 | |
| IF | Pete Orr | $340,000 | |
| IF | Willy Aybar | $327,000 | |
| OF | Andruw Jones | $13,500,000 | |
| OF | Jeff Francoeur | $384,500 | |
| OF | Ryan Langerhans | $345,000 | |
| OF | Kelly Johnson | $336,000 | |
| OF | Matt Diaz | $330,000 | |
| OF | Scott Thorman | $327,000 | |
| $81,368,200 |
Sturtze's salary includes a $35K incentive for making the 25-man roster. He can earn up to $45K more in incentives based on appearances as a starter or reliever.
Craig Wilson can earn a maximum of $525K in incentives for up to 500 plate appearances.
No signing bonuses or other incentives are included.
For lack of official 2007 information, some sub-$400K salaries are from 2006.
Because of that lack of data, I have included 27 players on this list. The extra $650-700K should be close to the difference in last year's and this year's salaries.
Also, Bobby Cox is one of the highest-paid managers in baseball. He'll make $3 million in 2007.
