How Yankees stack up with $189 million luxury tax threshold
Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, left, Derek Jeter and CC Sabathia, right, watch during the first inning against the Baltimore Orioles. (Sept. 12, 2013) Credit: AP
For luxury-tax purposes, MLB uses the average annual salary of a player’s contract to determine team payroll each season. Teams who exceed the $189-million threshold are charged a fee, with multiple offenders paying more. Here’s a look at the AAV for those Yankees currently under contract:
| Player | Position | AAV |
| CC Sabathia | P | $24.4M |
| Mark Teixeira | 1B | $22.5M |
| Masahiro Tanaka | P | $22.1M |
| Jacoby Ellsbury | OF | $21.8M |
| Brian McCann | C | $17M |
| Hiroki Kuroda | P | $16M |
| Carlos Beltran | OF | $15M |
| Derek Jeter | SS | $12.8M |
| Ichiro Suzuki | OF | $6.5M |
| Brett Gardner | OF | $5.6M |
| David Robertson | P | $5.2M |
| Alfonso Soriano | OF | $4M |
| Matt Thornton | P | $3.5M |
| Ivan Nova | P | $3.3M |
| Alex Rodriguez | 3B | $3.1M |
| Kelly Johnson | INF | $3M |
| Brian Roberts | 2B | $2M |
| Shawn Kelley | P | $1.7M |
| Brendan Ryan | SS | $1.6M |
| Francisco Cervelli | C | $700,000 |
Tanaka will give the Yankees 20 players under contract for the 2014 season. Rodriguez, however, has been suspended for the year. That leaves six open roster spots. That means at least $3 million more in salary will be added to the payroll (the MLB minimum is $500,000)
Also, teams are charged approximately $11 million for insurance and pension benefits and typically budget about $5 million for in-season minor league call-ups.
TOTAL: $210.8 million
