Cubs, White Sox Up on Being Down on This List

March 26, 2014 @ admin → No Comments

Midweek musings: Hey, the Chicago Cubs and White Sox have found a list on which they must be pleased to rank toward the bottom: payroll. The Associated Press has put together an Opening Day list of what teams’ big-league 2014 payrolls will be. The Sox rank No. 20 and the Cubs No. 23 among the 30 teams. Let’s check back at the end of the season to see how the teams rank on victories per dollar, shall we? Not that the Cubs and/or Sox necessarily will rank much higher. Something says the top dozen or so payrolls won’t equate to the most victories per dollar. If that’s any consolation to Cubs and/or Sox fans (and the guess here is that it will be little — if any — consolation to them). The list:

Guessing the St. Louis Cardinals will get a bigger bang for their buck in the 2014 season than the Cubs or White Sox.

Team: Payroll
Los Angeles Dodgers: $235,295,219
N.Y. Yankees: 202,812,506
Philadelphia: 180,052,723
Boston: 162,817,411
Detroit: 162,228,527
Los Angeles Angels: 155,692,000
San Francisco: 154,185,878
Texas: 136,036,172
Washington: 134,704,437
Toronto: 132,628,700
Arizona: 112,688,666
Cincinnati: 112,390,772
St. Louis: 111,020,360
Atlanta: 110,897,341
Baltimore: 107,406,623
Milwaukee: 103,844,806
Colorado: 95,832,071
Seattle: 92,081,943
Kansas City: 92,034,345
Chicago White Sox: 91,159,254
San Diego: 90,094,196
New York Mets: 89,051,758
Chicago Cubs: 89,007,857
Minnesota: 85,776,500
Oakland: 83,401,400
Cleveland: 82,534,800
Pittsburgh: 78,111,667
Tampa Bay: 77,062,891
Miami: 47,565,400
Houston: 44,544,174

This photo of Abigail Ratchford is unrelated to anything in today’s post. In case you were wondering. And even if you weren’t.

* Condolences to the family of friends of Daily Herald sportswriter Tim Sassone, who died Tuesday at age 58. He covered the Chicago Blackhawks and was respected for the writer and person he was.

* Speaking of condolences, sympathy goes out to the family, friends and fans of Ralph Wilson, the only owner the Buffalo Bills have had. “He wasn’t my boss, he was my friend,” former Bills coach and general manager Marv Levy said. “Deeply saddened to hear about his passing. He meant so much to the game that both of us revered, and to the community of Buffalo and beyond. It’s quite a loss, and he’s going to be remembered so fondly by everyone who knew him.”

* Of Wilson, former Bills offensive tackle Marques Sullivan tweeted: R.I.P. Ralph Wilson. Every time he came into the locker room after a game, he would speak to me. Granted, he rarely got my name right but he was a good man.

* Speaking of NFL owners (though not necessarily one who is the recipient of warm thoughts), Washington’s Daniel Snyder announced Monday night he is starting a foundation to benefit Native Americans. Of course, he’s not changing the nickname that is racially offensive. Someone ought to tell Snyder he can start a foundation and change the team’s nickname.

* Speaking of the Washington franchise, Ray Halbritter, a representative of the Oneida Indian Nation released a statement: “We are glad that after more than a decade of owning the Washington team, Mr. Snyder is finally interested in Native American heritage, and we are hopeful that when his team finally stands on the right side of history and changes its name, he will honor the commitment to Native Americans that he is making today. We are also hopeful that in his new initiative to honor Native Americans’ struggle, Mr. Snyder makes sure people do not forget that he and his predecessor, George Preston Marshall, a famous segregationist, have made our people’s lives so much more difficult by using a racial slur as Washington’s team’s name.”

* Speaking of the NFL, it is going to penalize players who dunk the football over the goal posts after touchdowns. Because that’s one of the more pressing problems that the league has. Huh?

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