The hot stove is starting to heat up. Last night, Zack Greinke signed a massive deal that will pay him over $34 M per year. To put that in perspective, he will be making about $10,000 per pitch. He’ll be making over $1 per second. That’s crazy money.
I could mention a few things here, like how you probably shouldn’t get attached to Gerrit Cole if he continues like an ace. There’s no way the Pirates could sign him at those ridiculous rates.
I could also point out that MLB teams pay their minor leaguers nothing. Rookie ball guys get about $3300 per year. Full season guys get just under $7000. The price goes up the higher you go, but none of it is a real wage.
If you assume a team has 200 minor leaguers, and you assume the average minor league salary would be $40,000, then every team would pay $8 M per year to give all of their minor leaguers a fair wage. The reality is that they could go lower than that, and probably end up in the $4-6 M range.
Putting that in perspective, the Diamondbacks could have paid all of their minor leaguers a fair salary for the next six years, taking the money from Greinke’s salary, and Greinke would have still made over $2 M per month.
I have more thoughts on both of these subjects, and I’ll go in more detail at some point in the future. For now, I’m spending the day working on the final reports in the Prospect Guide. Use this thread for any discussion throughout the day, and if there’s news, we’ll have an article on the site.
