MLB average salary rose 14.8% to record $4.22M last season It’s working: Pitch clock shaves 20 minutes from early games

NEW YORK. The median salary in Major League Baseball rose 14.8% to a record $4.22 million last year after the end of the lockout, helped by big deals Max Scherzer, Francisco Lindor, Markus Semyon And Corey Seeger.

According to the final calculations of the players association, the growth rate was the highest from 17.7% in 2000 to $1.61 million.

The average has declined in each of the previous four seasons until 2022, prompting the ire of the players, which was expressed by the union during the 99-day lockout that ended in March last year.

Last year’s median wage was calculated by the union at $4,222,193, up from $3,679,335 in 2021. MLB, which uses a slightly different method, calculated a median salary of $4,117,472, up 15% from $3,579,341 in 2021.

Payroll, a better reflection of expenses, rose 12.6% to $4.56 billion from $4.05 billion.

Wages rose higher last off-season. The Mets increased their payroll to a projected $370 million, well above the previous record of $297.9 million set by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015.

Some owners are pushing for significant changes to reduce wage inequality when the current employment contract expires after the 2026 season, and MLB has established another committee to look into the economy.

“History suggests that the economics committee … is really overly focused on the salary cap – or on reaching the salary cap the next time we sit down to negotiate,” union chief Tony Clarke said Saturday.

“We will never agree to a restriction. Let me start with this. We don’t have a cap, we’re not going to settle for a cap,” Clarke added. “The salary cap is the maximum limit on the value of a player and his salary. We believe in the market system. The market system has served our players, our teams and our game very well.”

Clarke suggested to some teams that wages be kept low as a strategy rather than a lack of revenue.

“The product works well on the field, the fans come to the stadium. Fans are coming to the stadium, local revenues are increasing in every aspect. This model has served our industry well,” he said. “Maybe or not” is the right question when teams in an emerging industry are still in a world where their payrolls are half of what they might have been 10 or 15 years ago.”

Manfred said MLB generated $10.8 billion in revenue last year. Clark praised the active free agent market.

“What’s interesting is that the comments are making headlines amid a remarkably exciting offseason, with teams competing and operating in the free agency market creating a level of excitement that I consider positive,” Clarke said. .

Figures are based on 1,043 players on the active and injured lists as of Aug. 31, the last day before active rosters expanded from 26 to 28. The union average includes proportional option buyouts that are not in MLB.

Neither party has included a $50 million bonus pool for players eligible for pre-arbitrage.

By the time Cubs outfielder Brennen Davis actually saw the field from Arizona. Joe Mantiplithe score was already at the ball and the strike.

Both hitter and pitcher were penalized early in Davis’ at-bat to get ahead of the start of the third inning of Monday’s spring practice game, in the latest odd twist in baseball’s speed-up rules. After entering the game as a reliever, Mantypley took too long to throw his warm-up pitches; then Davis was too slow to get ready for the field.

Major League Baseball has approved its first on-field watch this season, and every day is a new experience for players trying to get used to it this spring. On Saturday, Boston’s game against Atlanta ended in an automatic strike; Sunday, Mets ace Max Scherzer crossed out Joey Menezes in just 27 seconds.

“I like that games should be shorter,” Marlins pitcher. Matt Barnes said. “In Boston on Tuesday, we played nine innings and four and a half hours against New York. It’s not fun. So I like the idea of ​​doing it faster.”

As long as it works.

The new rules, which also limit a pitcher’s number of rushes to first base, have helped cut opening weekend spring practice games by more than 20 minutes, dropping from an average of 3 hours 1 minute last spring to 2:39.

“It’s here and we have to follow the rules and we have to learn how to do it,” Barnes said. “I just need to figure out my routine, adjust my routine a bit and sort of move on.”

ASTROS STARS ARE RETURNING

Houston All-Star Infielders Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña made their show season debuts in a 4-3 loss to the Marlins on Monday in West Palm Beach, Florida. Both were hitless in three at-bats each, but they had a double play in the fourth.

Pena hit .345 in the postseason last year and became the first rookie player to win World Series MVP. He also won the Golden Glove and the AL Championship Most Valuable Player.

Astros manager Dusty Baker said he hopes to play alongside Altuve and Pena as much as possible during spring training before the World Baseball Classic begins in March. Altuve will play for Venezuela and Peña for the Dominican Republic.

“These guys need to know each other well,” Baker said. “Especially now, coming back to the new defense, they really need to know each guy’s range and where they are in the double play.”

INJURIES

– Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux dropped from second to third in Monday’s game against the San Diego Padres and had to be carted off the field. He grabbed his right leg.

– Race jug Tyler Glasnow According to the Tampa Bay Times, he threw just six shots before cutting off his batting practice session with an abdominal injury. The paper says he’s going to have an MRI on Tuesday.

PREPARATION

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol and umpire CC Bucknor shook hands when they exchanged lineup cards before the game, a day after Bucknor declined.

“I grew up and nurtured this organization to do exactly what I did today,” Marmol said. “You go for a homemade plate. You pass the squad card and shake hands with the four referees who are leading this game.

The bad blood goes back to last year’s game when Bucknor kicked Marmol out and the manager said Bucknor had “no class”.

SPRING WORKOUT FOR EVERYONE

Cleveland Shane Biebermaking his first spring start, was also hit by an automatic ball for throwing a warm-up pitch with less than 30 seconds left on the clock between innings. Miles Mastrobuoni ended up landing him on the pitcher, and after the inning, Bieber and Guardians manager Terry Francona discussed with home court umpire Jordan Baker.

“It was also his first act. We joked figuring it out together,” said Bieber, who walked one and struck out one. “They don’t want to beat anyone for a violation. They are just trying their best to communicate in advance.”

OLD DAYS

Yankees manager Aaron Boon said the clock would not be in use when New York played Tampa on Tuesday at Disney’s ESPN Wide World Sports because the venue wasn’t equipped to do so.

The Race’s game with the Yankees will be the only one played in the complex and the first major league spring practice game since the Atlanta Braves moved to North Port, Florida after the 2019 exhibition season.

Tampa Bay moved training to the Disney base near Orlando after Hurricane Ian damaged the team’s spring training facility in Port Charlotte, Florida last year. But the Rays will play the rest of their home spring training games at Tropicana Field, the Rays’ home of the regular season.

JUST BE GREEN

Red righties Hunter Greensecond pick in the 2017 amateur draft, made his first start and pitched in the second inning before exhausting his inning tally.

Greene went 5-13 with a 4.44 ERA as a rookie last year, including a September game in which he hit 47 pitches of 100 mph or more – the most in baseball. He took a no-hitter in the eighth inning in one start and allowed only one hit in seven innings in another.

“He has had great success. He was in trouble,” Cincinnati manager David Bell said, noting that Green spent some time on the injured list. “He handled everything. You don’t want them to suffer or fail, but this was the perfect season for him to develop.”

Green was also called out for two innings violations.

ON THE OTHER SIDE

The day after Scherzer beat Meneses by three pitches, where it used to take many pitchers to make a single pitch, the Mets played a more traditional 2:59 game against the Cardinals, where St. Louis won with a score of 12–7.

The teams combined in 19 runs – St. Louis won 12-7 – 25 hits, 11 walks and 18 strikeouts. There were two balls, none of them because the pitcher backed off too many times, and three wild pitches.

Mets manager Buck Showalter made three pitching changes in the middle of the inning; Cardinals pitching coach Dusty Blake visited the mound twice.

Marmol said it was more like what he was used to.

“Obviously, the speed will be higher. That’s for sure,” he said. “But the 2:26 of the world – I’m not sure about that.”