Major League baseball players are among the highest-paid athletes in the world, but this year's crop of top-paid players shows that money doesn't necessarily translate into on-field success.
Baseball’s list of top 10 players by earnings is replete with high-profile stars who make millions in return for providing hope for team owners and fans of World Series championships in the future.
Yet only threeof the top 10 helped their team get into the playoffs and, of those, only one team remains alive with World Series aspirations. One player on the list never even took the field in 2016.
The league’s most expensive players, it turns out, earn between $275,000 and $352,000 for every win their teams record.
One of the possible reasons for this paradox: Many players on the list are on the downside of their career, working on contracts struck at a time when they were in the prime of their production. The top 10 earners aren’t young phenoms with the best years of their career ahead of them—the average age of the top 10 is 33.2 years old. Only one player on the list is under 30 years old.
The top 10 players are listed by their total earnings. When calculating their earnings per win and per start, Financial Advisor has used each player’s 2016 salary.
10. Ryan Howard, $25.6 million
Ryan Howard, 36, was a longtime first baseman with the Philadelphia Phillies, who paid him $25 million in 2016, which was his last year in baseball before retiring. Howard ended up batting .196 in 331 at-bats. The Phillies ended up winning 71 games, finishing fourth place in the National League East. Howard earned about $352,000 per Phillies win.
9. C.C. Sabathia, $25.7 million
Sabathia, 36, is a left-handed pitcher with the New York Yankees, who paid him $25 million in 2016.
Sabathia is a pitching workhorse, averaging 200 innings pitched per season over his career. In 21 2016 starts, he posted 9 wins and 12 losses with an earned run average of 3.91. Sabathia earned $1.2 million for every start and almost $2.9 million for every win.
The Yankees won 84 games, finishing in fourth place in the American League East. Sabathia earned about $306,000 per Yankees win.
8. Josh Hamilton, $26.2 million
Hamilton, 35, an outfielder and power hitter, is a free agent. He was on the disabled list for the entire 2016 season after stints with the Texas Rangers from 2008 to 2012, the Los Angeles Angels from 2012 to 2015, and with the Rangers again from 2015 until the end of the 2016 season.
The Rangers paid Hamilton $26 million in 2016, though he did not record a single at bat.
In 2015, Hamilton contributed to the Rangers’ run into to an American League West division title, but he was forced to sit out 2016 after undergoing knee surgery, his third surgery in nine months.
7. Robinson Cano, $27 million
Robinson Cano, 33, is a second baseman for the Seattle Mariners, who paid him $24 million in 2016.
Cano, a seven-time All-Star, ended up batting .298 in 655 at bats.
The Mariners won 86 games, finishing second in the American League West. Cano's salary averaged out to about $279,000 for every Mariners win.
6. Albert Pujols, $27 million
Pujols, 36, is a first baseman for the Los Angeles Angels, who paid him $25 million in 2016.
Pujols, a 10-time All-Star, batted .268 in 593 at bats.
The Angels won 74 games, placing fourth in the American League West. He earned about $324,000 for every Angels win.
5. Yoenis Cespedes, $28.1 million
Yoenis Cespedes, 31, is an outfielder with the New York Mets, who paid him $27.5 million in 2016.
Cespedes, a two-time All-Star, ended up batting .280 in 479 at bats.
His team won 87 games, placing second in the National League East and earning a wild card playoff spot—a one-game contest in which the Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants. Cespedes's salary averaged out to about $316,000 for each Mets win.
4. Justin Verlander, $28.6 million
Justin Verlander, 33, is a right-handed starting pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, who paid him $28 million in 2016.
His is a six-time All-Star. He’s also pitched two no-hitters and led the American League in strikeouts four times, including in 2016.
In 25 starts, Verlander posted a record of 16 wins and 9 losses with an ERA of 3.04. Verlander earned $1.1 million for every game he started and $1.75 million for every game he won.
The Tigers won 86 games, good enough for second place in the American League Central, but the Tigers missed the postseason. Verlander earned almost $314,000 per Tigers win.
3. Miguel Cabrera, $30 million
Miguel Cabrera, 33, is a first baseman with the Detroit Tigers, who paid him $28 million in 2016.
Cabrera is an 11-time All-Star and he’s been named American League MVP twice. He batted .316 in 595 at-bats this year.
Cabrera got about $326,000 per win in the 2016 season, which ended when the Tigers fell 2.5 games short of a postseason berth.
2. David Price, $30.5 million.
David Price, 31, is a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, who paid him $30 million in 2016.
Price is a five-time All-Star who led the American League in ERA in 2012 and 2015, and was the Major League leader in strikeouts in 2014.
In 26 starts in 2016, Price recorded of 17 wins and 9 losses with an ERA of 3.99. Price earned $1.2 million per start and $1.76 million per win.
The Red Sox won 93 games to top the American League East, but Boston lost the divisional series versus the Cleveland Indians. Price earned $323,000 per Red Sox win.
1. Clayton Kershaw, $32.8 million
Kershaw, 28, is the most highly paid player in baseball and, unlike with some other players in this list, it can be argued that his performance and that of his team justify the expense.
He is a left-handed pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers, who paid him $32 million in 2016.
Kershaw is a six-time All-Star who led the National League in strikeouts in 2011, 2013 and 2015, and who was named National League MVP in 2014.
In 16 regular season starts this year, Kershaw recorded 12 wins and 4 losses and an ERA of 1.69. In the 2016 postseason, he has a record of 2-0. Kershaw has earned $1.8 million thus far per regular and postseason start and $2.3 million per win.
The Dodgers won 91 games on their way to winning first place in the National League West. The team has continued its run into the National League Championship Series against the Chicago Cubs. The teams were tied 2-2 in the best-of-seven series as of Thursday. Kershaw earned $351,000 for every Dodgers win in 2016.
