Mailbag: Most Expensive Starters (Per Inning, 2008-2010)
Posted by Neil Paine on March 22, 2011
B-R reader Don recently asked about the most expensive starters per inning pitched (apropos of the Yankees' infamous Carl Pavano contract). Since the average MLB team payroll was approximately even from 2008-2010 (see below), I can calculate dollars per inning for those years using just raw salaries.
| Year | Avg Team Payroll |
|---|---|
| 2010 | $90,711,996 |
| 2009 | $88,837,600 |
| 2008 | $89,495,289 |
| 2007 | $82,556,300 |
| 2006 | $77,409,987 |
| 2005 | $72,957,113 |
| 2004 | $69,022,198 |
| 2003 | $70,942,071 |
| 2002 | $67,469,251 |
| 2001 | $65,355,444 |
I considered a pitcher a "starter" if more than half of his games pitched were starts. Here were the most expensive starting pitchers per inning from 2008-2010:
| Pitcher | G | GS | Start% | IP | Salary | $/Inning | ERA | FIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelvim Escobar | 1 | 1 | 100% | 5.0 | $20,750,000 | $4,150,000.00 | 3.60 | 3.60 |
| Jason Schmidt | 4 | 4 | 100% | 17.7 | $30,434,802 | $1,722,724.64 | 5.60 | 5.07 |
| Matt Morris | 5 | 5 | 100% | 22.3 | $10,037,283 | $449,430.58 | 9.67 | 6.83 |
| Dontrelle Willis | 30 | 27 | 90% | 123.3 | $29,000,000 | $235,135.14 | 6.86 | 6.24 |
| John Smoltz | 21 | 20 | 95% | 106.0 | $19,500,000 | $183,962.26 | 5.35 | 3.47 |
| Tom Glavine | 13 | 13 | 100% | 63.3 | $9,000,000 | $142,105.26 | 5.54 | 6.04 |
| Jeremy Bonderman | 50 | 42 | 84% | 252.7 | $33,500,000 | $132,585.75 | 5.31 | 5.12 |
| Jake Westbrook | 38 | 38 | 100% | 237.3 | $31,000,000 | $130,617.98 | 4.06 | 4.28 |
| Carlos Silva | 57 | 55 | 96% | 296.7 | $33,250,000 | $112,078.65 | 5.82 | 4.38 |
| Carlos Zambrano | 94 | 78 | 83% | 487.7 | $53,625,000 | $109,962.41 | 3.71 | 3.84 |
| Oliver Perez | 65 | 55 | 85% | 306.3 | $30,500,000 | $99,564.74 | 5.17 | 5.30 |
| Erik Bedard | 30 | 30 | 100% | 164.0 | $16,250,000 | $99,085.37 | 3.24 | 3.87 |
| Tim Hudson | 64 | 63 | 98% | 413.0 | $40,000,000 | $96,852.30 | 3.03 | 3.99 |
| Johan Santana | 88 | 88 | 100% | 600.0 | $56,005,062 | $93,341.77 | 2.85 | 3.65 |
| Mike Hampton | 44 | 34 | 77% | 194.3 | $17,975,184 | $92,496.66 | 5.00 | 4.71 |
| Barry Zito | 99 | 98 | 99% | 571.3 | $51,500,000 | $90,140.02 | 4.43 | 4.41 |
| Chris Carpenter | 67 | 66 | 99% | 443.0 | $39,643,554 | $89,488.84 | 2.74 | 3.24 |
| Pitcher | G | GS | Start% | IP | Salary | $/Inning | ERA | FIP |
| Brandon Webb | 35 | 35 | 100% | 230.7 | $20,500,000 | $88,872.83 | 3.47 | 3.31 |
| Gil Meche | 77 | 66 | 86% | 401.0 | $35,200,000 | $87,780.55 | 4.60 | 4.33 |
| Jake Peavy | 60 | 60 | 100% | 382.3 | $32,500,000 | $85,004.36 | 3.51 | 3.56 |
| Randy Johnson | 52 | 47 | 90% | 280.0 | $23,100,546 | $82,501.95 | 4.24 | 4.15 |
| Chien-Ming Wang | 27 | 24 | 89% | 137.0 | $11,000,000 | $80,291.97 | 5.78 | 4.21 |
| Pedro Martinez | 29 | 29 | 100% | 153.7 | $11,813,351 | $76,876.47 | 5.04 | 4.80 |
| Jeff Suppan | 91 | 76 | 84% | 440.7 | $33,750,000 | $76,588.50 | 5.11 | 5.41 |
| A.J. Burnett | 101 | 100 | 99% | 615.0 | $46,200,000 | $75,121.95 | 4.42 | 4.07 |
| Aaron Harang | 78 | 75 | 96% | 458.3 | $33,250,000 | $72,545.45 | 4.71 | 4.54 |
| Hiroki Kuroda | 83 | 82 | 99% | 497.0 | $35,299,999 | $71,026.15 | 3.60 | 3.48 |
| C.C. Sabathia | 103 | 103 | 100% | 720.7 | $50,571,428 | $70,173.12 | 3.07 | 3.27 |
| Roy Oswalt | 95 | 94 | 99% | 601.7 | $42,000,000 | $69,806.09 | 3.44 | 3.59 |
| Ben Sheets | 51 | 51 | 100% | 317.7 | $22,125,000 | $69,648.48 | 3.63 | 3.96 |
| Chris Young | 36 | 36 | 100% | 198.3 | $13,625,000 | $68,697.48 | 4.13 | 4.81 |
| Vicente Padilla | 71 | 70 | 99% | 413.3 | $28,025,000 | $67,802.42 | 4.49 | 4.51 |
| Brad Penny | 58 | 56 | 97% | 323.7 | $21,750,000 | $67,198.76 | 5.01 | 4.51 |
| Derek Lowe | 101 | 101 | 100% | 599.3 | $40,000,000 | $66,740.82 | 3.95 | 3.77 |
| Pitcher | G | GS | Start% | IP | Salary | $/Inning | ERA | FIP |
| Nate Robertson | 81 | 52 | 64% | 319.7 | $21,250,000 | $66,475.50 | 6.08 | 4.86 |
| Daisuke Matsuzaka | 66 | 66 | 100% | 380.7 | $24,999,999 | $65,674.25 | 4.07 | 4.16 |
| Mark Buehrle | 100 | 100 | 100% | 642.3 | $42,000,000 | $65,386.61 | 3.97 | 4.15 |
| Josh Beckett | 80 | 80 | 100% | 514.3 | $33,433,332 | $65,003.24 | 4.39 | 3.68 |
| John Lackey | 84 | 84 | 100% | 554.7 | $36,033,333 | $64,963.94 | 4.02 | 3.96 |
| Kenshin Kawakami | 50 | 41 | 82% | 243.7 | $15,667,332 | $64,298.22 | 4.32 | 4.28 |
| Kevin Millwood | 91 | 91 | 100% | 558.0 | $35,237,784 | $63,150.15 | 4.58 | 4.56 |
| Andy Pettitte | 86 | 86 | 100% | 527.7 | $33,250,000 | $63,013.27 | 4.09 | 3.92 |
| Jarrod Washburn | 56 | 54 | 96% | 329.7 | $19,700,000 | $59,757.33 | 4.20 | 4.62 |
| Ted Lilly | 91 | 91 | 100% | 575.3 | $34,000,000 | $59,096.18 | 3.63 | 4.15 |
| Javier Vazquez | 96 | 91 | 95% | 585.0 | $34,500,000 | $58,974.36 | 4.17 | 3.87 |
| Mike Mussina | 34 | 34 | 100% | 200.3 | $11,071,029 | $55,263.04 | 3.37 | 3.27 |
| Roy Halladay | 99 | 98 | 99% | 735.7 | $40,000,000 | $54,372.45 | 2.67 | 3.03 |
| Jason Marquis | 75 | 74 | 99% | 441.7 | $23,750,000 | $53,773.58 | 4.56 | 4.46 |
| Doug Davis | 68 | 68 | 100% | 387.7 | $20,750,000 | $53,525.37 | 4.53 | 4.62 |
| Greg Maddux | 33 | 33 | 100% | 194.0 | $10,000,000 | $51,546.39 | 4.22 | 4.06 |
(All data used in this post came from Baseball-Databank.org.)
March 22nd, 2011 at 11:57 am
Of course, if a pitcher misses the whole season (because of Tommy John surgery or somesuch), then his salary per inning is infinity.
March 22nd, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Very true. This only includes players who pitched in at least 1 game, though.
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:26 pm
Neil -- Any chance of expanding the table to reflect the quality of the innings pitched?
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:42 pm
#3 - Good call, I added ERA and FIP.
March 22nd, 2011 at 1:55 pm
Thanks for the extra data, Neil.
Where on B-R can I find FIP data? -- player stats and/or an explanation of how the number is derived?
I'm intrigued by the large difference between Johan's 2.85 ERA and his 3.65 FIP, over a 3-year, 600-IP span.
March 22nd, 2011 at 2:02 pm
We don't have FIP on B-R (yet?), but you can read about it at the Hardball Times, Wikipedia, or Fangraphs. Fangraphs also has FIP leaders; their version of WAR actually values pitchers using FIP (unlike our Rally WAR).
It's a DIPS stat, so only the 3 True Outcomes (HR, BB, SO) are considered. The formula for 2008-2010 was: 3.2 + ((13*HR + 3*BB - 2*SO) / IP). League average ERA and FIP are going to be the same, but the range of FIP is much more compressed.
March 22nd, 2011 at 2:26 pm
You don't really need "Quality of Innings" added to see Roy Halladay has been a ridiculouls bargain (54K per inn). Roughly the same as Jason Marquis and Doug Davis over the same time-frame.
March 23rd, 2011 at 4:59 am
an interresting but little off topic challenge would be evaluating the most expensive PA by adding the pitchers $/BF plus the batters $/PA not restricting the pitchers to starters and only counting the seasonal salary per BF or PA.
March 23rd, 2011 at 11:12 am
[...] Mailbag: Most Expensive Starters (Per Inning, 2008-2010) (Baseball-Reference). Peavy and Perez show up here as well. So do former and current Padres Aaron Harang, Greg Maddux, and Chris Young. [...]
March 23rd, 2011 at 1:38 pm
I'm not certain you can call Halladay a bargain at 54k.
Total team payroll averages 61,500 an inning. So if you are an average team, that only leaves you 7500/inning for the whole rest of your team when he's pitching!
He may be worth it, but dang. Anybody who isn't a top notch pitcher can't possibly be worth that much.