AP study: MLB average at around $4.4M for 5th year in row

NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball’s average salary ahead of a postponed opening day remained at around $4.4 million for the fifth straight season, according to a study of contracts by The Associated Press.

Following an offseason when Gerrit Cole, Stephen Strasburg, Anthony Rendon and Christian Yelich all agreed to $200 million-plus deals, the flattened salary curve is evidence of a shrinking portion of the pie for baseball’s middle class. The stagnant stretch is unprecedented since the free-agent era dawned in 1976.

And that is before taking into account any decrease caused by a shortened season in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In a throwback, the New York Yankees top payrolls for the first time since 2013 and tower over the Pittsburgh Pirates at $54 million -- the lowest of any big league team in six years.

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred remains confident there will be a season but is unsure when health conditions will allow training to resume.

MLB’s average when rosters were frozen on March 28 was $4,432,530, up 1.3% from $4,375,486 in the AP’s opening-day survey last year. The average remains below its record $4.45 million at the start of the 2017 season and has plateaued since stiffer luxury tax rates began for high-payroll teams.

Going back to 2016, the average has increased just 1% over four offseasons, an average annual rise of 0.25%. The average went up 27% in the four years ending in 2012 and 9% in the four years through 2008.

MLB revenue is estimated to have increased at close to a 4% annual rate in recent years, but will drop sharply this year because of the impact of the new coronavirus. MLB’s 2021 revenue also will be impacted, according to Manfred.

Scott Boras, the sport’s most powerful agent, says the disparity in rate of...