Salary Showcase: Manager of the Year

Welcome to the blog's new feature, the Salary Showcase. Here, you will get a brief but informative breakdown of each team's salary.

Now, we get to see who is overachieving, underachieving, and who is getting the most bang for their buck. Unsuccessful managers with a high salary team are sure to be feeling the heat from their fan base.

I am going based off the current roster, not the drafted roster. Big ups to Chris for the idea and Shea for the headline.


Manager of the Year
Manager: Mike
2010 salary: $127,583,000
Hitting salary: $72,684,000
Pitching salary: $54,899,000
Highest-paid hitter: Aramis Ramirez ($16,750,000)
Highest-paid pitcher: Tim Lincecum and Brian Fuentes ($9,000,000)
Lowest-paid hitter: Yunel Escobar ($435,000)
Lowest-paid pitcher: Brian Duensing ($417,000)

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Ouch, that's gotta hurt!

Have you ever had a bad day? Well, we know Daniel Powter has, but what about you? Ever had a bad sports day? Mike has, and Sunday might have taken the cake.

Let's start from the beginning.


The day started at about 1 p.m., when Mike watched his favorite team's "ace," Johan Santana, give up five runs in the first three innings to the lowly Washington Nationals.

Then, at 3 p.m., he had to watch an excruciating hockey game, the equivalent of a Game 7: Rangers vs. Flyers for a shot at the playoffs. The game went to overtime and the Rangers lost in a shootout. Mike's day got worse.

And to cap it off, he was in a back-and-forth fantasy baseball battle with Dave. Mike stressed all week about how pumped he was for opening week and how important it was for him to win.

Tim Lincecum threw a great game, giving him a chance. It seemed like he would turn a 10-8 loss into a 9-9 tie. But then Trevor Hoffman took the mound.

Two outs, and all was looking good. Ut oh. Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday hit back-to-back homers, losing WHIP by 0.01 for Mike. And, in essence, the matchup.

"Losing that chance for the tie hurts us a little," Mike said. "We wanted to come out strong in Week 1, and I thought we did. Our hitting lived up to our expectations, and Tim's performance was huge. Hoffman had an up-and-down week, and we aren't here to fault him for the L, just looking forward to him helping us get W's throughout the season."

It had to bring down team morale, though, right?

"Mood was a little somber (in the clubhouse)," Mike said. "Guys worked their tails off all week, and we knew it. Just something that will help us grow as a team down the road."

OK, so Mike's saying the correct things and doesn't appear to be panicking. But still, that was a rough day, right?

Twice, I questioned Mike about the bad losses from the Mets and Rangers. Twice, he refused comment.

"The heartbreaking loss to Mo Vaughn did hurt," Mike said. "But we know what we have to do from there. I will not comment on the teams I am not involved with."

I tried one more time.

"I'm here to help my team succeed," Mike said. "If you want to write a Rangers article, you can contact Glen Sather."
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End of season review: No. 6 Andy

(Editor's note: This is the latest in a series of season evaluations based on power ranking trends. At the end, each manager will be given a final determination of overachiever, underachiever or expected achiever.)

Andy, Andy, Andy. What can we even say? Well, for starters, you made the playoffs, but for the second straight year it was as the 6 seed.

But your season will be remembered by your trades. Just a disastrous early-season move sending Adam Lind for Ryan Theriot. How much further could you have gone with Lind? Think about that, bonehead. And then, the risky move sending Tim Lincecum away for some bats. It didn't work out.

You have some pretty ticked-off fans. Let's evaluate your season some more after the jump.


We had you preseason as a No. 4, and you really lived up to the high expectations for parts of the season.

You even spent a healthy six weeks atop the power rankings. Pretty impressive. But what happened after that second stint?

You fell. You fell hard. Judging by your graph, you never even got back to your original 4 spot after you tumbled.

Just a miserable second half of the season for you, and nothing you could do stopped the skid. It ended in the playoffs, as it should have.

Now, you're left with a group of pitchers not worthy of being keepers. Good luck, buddy.

Final evaluation: Underachiever
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End of season review: No. 8 Mike

(Editor's note: This is the latest in a series of season evaluations based on power ranking trends. At the end, each manager will be given a final determination of overachiever, underachiever or expected achiever.)

Well, well, well. Mr. Mike, how ya doin today? Eating some crow, I'm sure.

All preseason, you babbled about how ridiculous your No. 8 preseason ranking was. In fact, here's what you had to say, word for word: "8th? You nuts." (Notice that last part was a statement not a question). "Clearly proving that wrong, that's silly."

Then I proceeded to tell you I thought your pitching sucked - "Verlander, Harden and Wang are all question marks," I said, also pointing out the latter two are "huuuuuge ifs." As Meatloaf said, two outta three ain't bad. Your pitching actually was decent - by the end of the year, when it was wayyy too little, too late.

"Well I'll be 1 this year, and 1 at beginning of next year," you proclaimed.

Ohhhhhh Mikey, how wrong you were and how right I was! Your complete trashing after the jump.


Judging by your graph, you peaked very early. At that point, you were giddy because you thought you had the best team in the league.

But in the middle of the season, you plunged faster than the FreeFall ride at Six Flags. You even got a last-place ranking one week after a loss to Richie. Luckily for you, your team did dramatically improve heading into the offseason thanks to some deadline dealing.

However, is Tim Lincecum worth giving up a draft pick?

I had you as the preseason No. 8 and, shocker!, that's right where you finished. Face it, I can sense bad teams when I see them. Let's hope next year is no different.

Final evaluation: Expected achiever
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Big acquisitions for naught

The league went into crisis mode about two months ago when three trades involving playoff-potential teams were made involving non-playoff teams.

Verbal barbs were flying, arguments were starting, and hell was breaking loose. It will lead to offseason discussion about how to handle keeper trades in the future.

Howeva! (in our best Stephen A. Smith voice), I will be quick to point out that the three teams who made the trades (Andy, Chris, Ken) are out. Three flame-outs. Three busted trades. So, maybe the midseason crucifixion of trading was overblown.


A refresher: Ken sent Beltran to Mike for Abreu; Andy sent Lincecum, Quentin and Scott to Mike for Lester, Morales and Markakis; Chris sent Rodriguez to Shea for Kershaw, Guerrero and Tejada.

I spoke to all three managers who made the trades. Chris regretted it, Andy was on the fence and Ken did not. Chris did not make the playoffs, and Andy and Ken lost in the first round.

"Nah, I don't because I needed (Abreu) to make it into the playoffs," Ken said. "I didn't want to keep Beltran because I didn't want two Met keepers. But now I have a tough choice to make about keepers."

"Yes, (Rodriguez) will be missed in the lineup next year," Chris said. "However, this clears up room for younger stars to come in and show what they have to offer."

"I'm not sure," Andy said. "I dont think i woulda made the playoffs without it, but now I'm picking up pitchers just to try and give myself options for next year. It's pretty bad."

So, as you can see, three different viewpoints, but the one thing in common: all three managers are very concerned about their keeper situation for next year.

"The part that gets me the most and I absolutely hate," Chris said, "is that A-Rod is a Yankee. So I want him to do well next year, but i want Shea's team to fail miserably and all his keepers to get hurt for long durations."
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