Sox Invest Most in Payroll

Tribune reporters try to incite unrest among Sox fans by portraying Jerry Reinsdorf as cheap, and by portraying many of Ken Williams' moves as if they prioritize money over performance. But new figures show they couldn't be more wrong. First, some examples:

1. When the Sox traded Freddy Garcia in December, Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey called it a "fire sale." How can the trade of one player be a "fire sale?"

2. Tribune columnist Phil Rogers included the following sentence in his April 20 column: "Pitching has kept the White Sox near .500 while they are scoring runs grudgingly, the same way club Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf gives out contracts."

3. When the Sox signed Javier Vazquez, Tribune beat-Sox reporter Mark Gonzales explained the deal, in part, like this: "Fixed costs are a big part of baseball, and the Sox gained financial certainty with Javier. But as you know, it's a game of results and we'll see if they get their money's worth with him." News Flash from Scoop Gonzo: Sox signed Vazquez to fix costs. Isn't that what contracts are for?

Now here's proof that these creative writers have been off base: The White Sox invest a higher percentage of the team's total value in player payroll than any other team in Major League Baseball, about 29 percent. And only the Yankees' payroll represents a higher percentage of revenue. The Yankees spend almost 65 percent of annual revenue on payroll, to the Sox's 63 percent.

For comparison, the Cubs spend about 51 percent of revenue on payroll, which translates to only 17 percent of the team's total value. So those high-spending Cubs, even after their $300 million winter created the most expensive last-place team in baseball history, are still stingier than Jerry Reinsdorf.

These figures come to us courtesy of Dan Mega, whose commentary can be found regularly on the White Sox Interactive Forum. Dan used the numbers recently released in Forbes Magazine's annual report, "The Business of Baseball," but it was Dan's idea to analyze payroll expenditure as a percentage of the resources each team has available. Sox win! Sox win!

Payroll as a Percentage of Total Value


Payroll as a Percentage of Revenue


You Won't Read it in the Tribune

43: The number of "plate appearances the Cubs' Alfonso Soriano, who signed a $136 million free agent contract last winter, needed to drive in his first run of the season." (Sports Illustrated, April 23)