What a night for A-Rod

and the Yanks.

It’s taken a little while but this is what $25,705,118 gets you.
4 hits, 3 home runs, 3 runs and 10 RBIs against the Anahiem Los Angeles Angels of Anahiem. Could this be the real start to A-Rod’s pinstripe career ?

Had been wondering if I’d really cursed the Yanks, only ever seeing them loose live in the Bronx, then finally getting channel 5 to get the TV coverage last year so I could witness – the awful start to the season, Jeter’s 0-32 ultra-slump, the biggest stuffing the Yanks had suffered 22 zip to Cleveland, that ACLS then the end of the curse of the Babe when they won the WS. Then this season started off and even with the buying of the “Big Unit” things looked worse.

Well when they were 8-11 on Monday it was exactly the same situation as last year as Baseball Toaster points out but things have been done slightly different. Last year no hitting (Jeter slump above) and decent pitching, this year some good hitting in patches (4th highest runs scored) but woeful pitching (3rd worst record).

So we’ll see, it’s not the end of April yet and there’s still 140+ games to go.

So the bill for this years luxury tax has been figured and the Yanks salary bill of $204.6 million means it’s $30,637,531 😯 close to the wage bill of some teams (Royals & Pirates) and higher than the Devil Rays.

For the luxury tax, payrolls are based on the average annual values of contracts for all players on the 40-man roster and include benefits. Under that formula, the Yankees opened with a payroll of $204.6 million, followed by Boston ($131.2 million), the New York Mets ($116.4 million), the Los Angeles Angels ($111.2 million) and Seattle ($109.3 million).

Teams with payrolls above $128 million owe tax this year. The Yankees pay at a rate of 40 percent for the amount they are over because they will be exceeding the threshold for the third time under the labor contract that began in 2003. The Red Sox, projected to be over for the second time, pay at a 30 percent rate.

Baseball will send the bills in late December based on end-of-season figures.

Last year, the Yankees paid a tax of $25,964,060 based on a final payroll of $207,046,868, according to the commissioner’s office. Figures were adjusted slightly after the initial bill was sent in December, with New York’s tax rising by $937,708.

Boston paid $3,148,962, a decrease of $6,272 from the December bill, and the Angels paid $938,309, an increase of $11,250.

In the adjusted 2004 luxury tax payroll figures, the Yankees led at $207 million, followed by the Red Sox at $134.5 million and the Angels at $124.7 million.