After learning the financial background of the LeSean McCoy-to-Buffalo trade, I decided to take a trip back down the professional sports rabbit hole. Using a highly-addictive sports financial website called Spotrac, I started poking around NFL player contracts. I quickly learned, to Chris Polk’s assumed delight, the Eagles restricted free agent running back earned a $10,000 signing bonus … spread out over three years when he signed in 2012.
As a fun exercise to extend my trip, I started to review and analyze the top MLB player salaries heading into 2015. To take it one step further, I stacked those (inflated) contracts up against the FOX Sports fantasy department’s recently updated 2015 fantasy baseball player rankings.
You can review the salaries and rankings in the table below. Here are some quick highlights
- John Danks owns a 15-25 record over the past two seasons
- Of the 50 players listed, 15 rank outside the Top 200 fantasy baseball players on our list
- Andre Ethier hit four home runs in 130 games last season, while hitting just .249 - his contract makes him a tough commodity to move
- Matt Cain has won only 10 games the last two seasons combined, but did miss most of 2014 due to injury
- Carl Crawford has missed 265 games since 2011 (based on 162-game campaign)
Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 300 | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
ALSO SEE: Get your FREE team | 2015 Draft Guide | Top 50 Player Notes | Top 25 Cheat Sheet
| Contract Rank | Player | 2015 Salary | 2015 Fantasy Ranking |
| 1 | Clayton Kershaw | $32,571,428 | SP1 / 6th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 2 | Justin Verlander | $28,000,000 | SP54 / 227th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 3 | Josh Hamilton | $25,400,000 | OF69 / 255th Overall |
| Left Field | |||
| 4 | Cliff Lee | $25,000,000 | SP28 / 119th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| Ryan Howard | $25,000,000 | 1B28 / 220th Overall |
|
| 1st Base | |||
| Zack Greinke | $25,000,000 | SP12 / 49th Overall |
|
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 7 | Felix Hernandez | $24,857,142 | SP2 / 10th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 8 | Prince Fielder | $24,000,000 | 1B13 / 58th Overall |
| 1st Base | |||
| Albert Pujols | $24,000,000 | 1B9 / 47th Overall | |
| 1st Base | |||
| Robinson Cano | $24,000,000 | 2B1 / 14th Overall | |
| 2nd Base | |||
| 11 | Cole Hamels | $23,500,000 | SP16 / 71st Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 12 | Mark Teixeira | $23,125,000 | 1B29 / 248th Overall |
| 1st Base | |||
| 13 | C.C. Sabathia | $23,000,000 | SP80+ / 300+ Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| Joe Mauer | $23,000,000 | 1B27 / 232nd Overall | |
| 1st Base | |||
| 15 | Miguel Cabrera | $22,000,000 | 1B1 / 4th Overall |
| 1st Base | |||
| Masahiro Tanaka | $22,000,000 | SP27 / 117th Overall | |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| Alex Rodriguez | $22,000,000 | 300+ Overall |
|
| Designated Hitter | |||
| Jose Reyes | $22,000,000 | SS4 / 32nd Overall | |
| Shortstop | |||
| 19 | Adrian Gonzalez | $21,857,142 | 1B8 / 39th Overall |
| 1st Base | |||
| 20 | Jayson Werth | $21,571,428 | OF33 / 118th Overall |
| Right Field | |||
| 21 | Carl Crawford | $21,357,142 | OF54 / 198th Overall |
| Left Field | |||
| 22 | Matt Kemp | $21,250,000 | OF19 / 61st Overall |
| Right Field | |||
| 23 | Jacoby Ellsbury | $21,142,857 | OF8 / 28th Overall |
| Center Field | |||
| 24 | Matt Cain | $20,833,333 | SP43 / 194th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 25 | David Wright | $20,000,000 | 3B8 / 69th Overall |
| 3rd Base | |||
| Jon Lester | $20,000,000 | SP13 / 51st Overall | |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| Troy Tulowitzki | $20,000,000 | SS1 / 12th Overall | |
| Shortstop | |||
| Mark Buehrle | $20,000,000 | SP80+ / 300+ Overall | |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 29 | David Price | $19,750,000 | SP6 / 27th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| Hanley Ramirez | $19,750,000 | SS3 / 23rd Overall |
|
| Shortstop | |||
| 31 | Adam Wainwright | $19,500,000 | SP10 / 42nd Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 32 | Hunter Pence | $18,500,000 | OF13 / 40th Overall Injury Update |
| Right Field | |||
| C.J. Wilson | $18,500,000 | SP74 / 292nd Overall | |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 34 | Jered Weaver | $18,200,000 | SP61 / 252nd Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 35 | Andre Ethier | $18,000,000 | OF80+ / 300+ Overall |
| Center Field | |||
| Tim Lincecum | $18,000,000 | SP80+ / 300+ Overall | |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 37 | Pablo Sandoval | $17,600,000 | 3B12 / 107th Overall |
| 3rd Base | |||
| 38 | Buster Posey | $17,277,777 | C1 / 15th Overall |
| Catcher | |||
| 39 | Max Scherzer | $17,142,857 | SP3 / 19th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 40 | Matt Holliday | $17,000,000 | OF24 / 82nd Overall |
| Left Field | |||
| Brian McCann | $17,000,000 | C8 / 133rd Overall | |
| Catcher | |||
| 42 | Anibal Sanchez | $16,800,000 | SP34 / 153rd Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 43 | Jordan Zimmermann | $16,500,000 | SP14 / 54th Overall |
| Starting Pitcher | |||
| 44 | Carlos Gonzalez | $16,428,571 | OF11 / 37th Overall |
| Right Field | |||
| 45 | Ian Kinsler | $16,000,000 | 2B4 / 44th Overall |
| 2nd Base | |||
| Adrian Beltre | $16,000,000 | 3B2 / 20th Overall | |
| 3rd Base | |||
| David Ortiz | $16,000,000 | 66th Overall | |
| Designated Hitter | |||
| Mike Napoli | $16,000,000 | 1B25 / 222nd Overall |
|
| 1st Base | |||
| Curtis Granderson | $16,000,000 | OF66 / 245th Overall |
|
| Right Field | |||
| 50 | John Danks | $15,750,000 | SP80+ / 300+ Overall |
| Starting Pitcher |
Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 300 | C | 1B | 2B | 3B | SS | OF | SP | RP
ALSO SEE: Get your FREE team | 2015 Draft Guide | Top 50 Player Notes | Top 25 Cheat Sheet
