The MLB is the only league out of the big-four American professional sports leagues without a fixed salary cap. This allows a number of wealthy teams to toss money around like it’s dirt. But it also allows certain players to earn hefty paycheques, even those who don’t necessarily earn it with their play.
The MLB, unlike any other sport, sees players sign contracts up-above $300 million at times. This allows players to earn large amounts of their team’s payroll.
For guys like Mike Trout, and Gerrit Cole, this isn’t typically a problem. As much as their salaries are astronomical, these are the type of players who justify it by earning MVP’s and Cy Young awards.
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What about the players who sign big contracts, but don’t play up to it? Some players receive pay due to past performance, in an attempt for teams to honor players who have brought their program success. Other athletes receive pay, and then simply fail to perform to their expected level. And some get caught up to by Father Time and still remain on hefty contracts which they signed at a younger, more productive age.
These athletes are often viewed with disdain by their fanbases. Hundred of thousands of people just demanding they get traded to an opposing team because they aren’t playing up to their pay.
How about we take a look at some of those players, and build a team of the most overpaid players in the MLB. The team assembled here combines to make $174.1 million over the course of the 2020 season, and they certainly don’t seem to deserve it.
I would first like to preface this by saying that this is a team for the 2020 season. Meaning that I went solely based on their 2020 salary and not the complete sum of the contract they signed.