{"id":12093,"date":"2016-04-11T14:30:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-11T18:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12093"},"modified":"2016-04-11T16:28:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-11T20:28:43","slug":"opening-day-payroll-attendance-starters-other-cool-stuff-2016-version","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nationalsarmrace.com\/?p=12093","title":{"rendered":"Opening Day Payroll, Attendance, Starters & other cool stuff: 2016 Version"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"2015<\/a>

2015 opening day image via sayhellobaseball.wordpress.com<\/p><\/div>\n

My recurring “Opening Day” trivia\/useless information post.\u00a0 Here was 2015’s version<\/a>, 2014<\/a>‘s and 2013<\/a>.\u00a0 Many of the below links are to Google XLS docs that i’ve updated for 2016 and which are available on the right hand side under “NatsArm Creations.”<\/p>\n

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Nats 2016 Opening day Payroll<\/strong><\/span>: $145,178,886<\/a> according to Cots.\u00a0 This is down nearly $20M from last year’s figure.\u00a0 We can only hope that Mike Rizzo<\/strong> will be allowed to “spend” that money later in the year at the trade deadline if this team actually needs to spend money to acquire helpful players.<\/p>\n

My personal payroll estimate<\/a> came in at $ $137,286,029 coincidentally; why am I $8M off?\u00a0 Because Cots basically makes arbitrary proclamations of salary for current year when money is deferred whereas I’m counting it as real dollars.\u00a0 So for example I’m charging the Nats payroll precisely $15M for Max Scherzer<\/strong> this year while Cots puts the figure north of $22M, and Cots puts all of Papelbon’s $3M deferred 2016 salary on the 2016 books.\u00a0 So between those two players the entire delta is accounted for.<\/p>\n

The question is this: as a Nats fan are you “happy” that your payroll is down nearly $20M in Stephen Strasburg<\/strong>‘s walk\u00a0 year and while your Season Ticket prices continue to rise?<\/p>\n

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Opening Day Payroll; MLB<\/strong><\/p>\n

USAToday also publishes opening day salaries for teams<\/a> and i’m convinced that they’re garbage.\u00a0 I’ve got a comparison spreadsheet where i’ve put the USAtoday figures side-by-side with Cots’ analysis<\/a> and for some teams they’re off by more than $25M.\u00a0 The problem is that USAToday doesn’t count ANY payments handed to and from between teams, whereas Cots does a very detailed auditing of such money.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, here’s USAToday and Cots’ rankings for the 30 teams (this is my first time using this new Table plug in; head to Google XLS to read it if this is too difficult):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t
Cots Rank<\/th>USA Today rank<\/th>Team<\/th>Opening Day - USA Today<\/th>Opening Day - Cots<\/th>Delta USAtoday-Cots<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1<\/td>2<\/td>Los Angeles Dodgers<\/td>$221,288,380 <\/td>$247,781,668 <\/td>$26,493,288 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>1<\/td>New York Yankees<\/td>$222,997,792 <\/td>$227,854,350 <\/td>$4,856,558 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>3<\/td>Detroit Tigers<\/td>$194,876,481 <\/td>$198,018,000 <\/td>$3,141,519 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>4<\/td>Boston Red Sox<\/td>$188,545,761 <\/td>$197,899,679 <\/td>$9,353,918 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>6<\/td>San Francisco Giants<\/td>$172,253,778 <\/td>$172,086,611 <\/td>($167,167)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>7<\/td>Chicago Cubs<\/td>$154,575,168 <\/td>$171,611,834 <\/td>$17,036,666 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>13<\/td>Los Angeles Angels<\/td>$137,251,333 <\/td>$164,673,333 <\/td>$27,422,000 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>5<\/td>Texas Rangers<\/td>$186,038,723 <\/td>$157,955,390 <\/td>($28,083,333)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>8<\/td>Baltimore Orioles<\/td>$145,533,782 <\/td>$147,693,713 <\/td>$2,159,931 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>9<\/td>St. Louis Cardinals<\/td>$143,053,500 <\/td>$145,553,500 <\/td>$2,500,000 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11<\/td>11<\/td>Washington Nationals<\/td>$141,652,646 <\/td>$145,178,886 <\/td>$3,526,240 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12<\/td>10<\/td>Seattle Mariners<\/td>$141,683,339 <\/td>$141,830,193 <\/td>$146,854 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
13<\/td>12<\/td>Toronto Blue Jays<\/td>$138,701,700 <\/td>$136,782,027 <\/td>($1,919,673)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
14<\/td>14<\/td>New York Mets<\/td>$133,889,129 <\/td>$135,188,085 <\/td>$1,298,956 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
15<\/td>15<\/td>Kansas City Royals<\/td>$131,487,125 <\/td>$131,487,125 <\/td>$0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
16<\/td>16<\/td>Chicago White Sox<\/td>$112,998,667 <\/td>$114,498,667 <\/td>$1,500,000 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
17<\/td>17<\/td>Colorado Rockies<\/td>$112,645,071 <\/td>$112,645,071 <\/td>$0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
18<\/td>18<\/td>Minnesota Twins<\/td>$105,333,200 <\/td>$105,333,700 <\/td>$500<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
19<\/td>20<\/td>San Diego Padres<\/td>$101,424,814 <\/td>$100,759,500 <\/td>($665,314)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
20<\/td>19<\/td>Pittsburgh Pirates<\/td>$103,778,833 <\/td>$99,945,500 <\/td>($3,833,333)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
21<\/td>23<\/td>Arizona Diamondbacks<\/td>$89,264,063 <\/td>$98,172,683 <\/td>$8,908,620 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
22<\/td>21<\/td>Houston Astros<\/td>$94,893,700 <\/td>$96,893,700 <\/td>$2,000,000 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
23<\/td>27<\/td>Cleveland Indians<\/td>$74,311,900 <\/td>$96,304,400 <\/td>$21,992,500 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
24<\/td>22<\/td>Cincinnati Reds<\/td>$89,955,059 <\/td>$89,871,228 <\/td>($83,831)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
25<\/td>25<\/td>Philadelphia Phillies<\/td>$83,980,000 <\/td>$88,846,667 <\/td>$4,866,667 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
26<\/td>24<\/td>Oakland Athletics<\/td>$86,806,234 <\/td>$86,806,234 <\/td>$0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
27<\/td>29<\/td>Atlanta Braves<\/td>$69,005,791 <\/td>$86,580,792 <\/td>$17,575,001 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
28<\/td>26<\/td>Miami Marlins<\/td>$77,314,202 <\/td>$74,364,500 <\/td>($2,949,702)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
29<\/td>30<\/td>Tampa Bay Rays<\/td>$57,097,310 <\/td>$66,681,991 <\/td>$9,584,681 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
30<\/td>28<\/td>Milwaukee Brewers<\/td>$69,282,737 <\/td>$63,908,300 <\/td>($5,374,437)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n

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Opening day Nats park attendance<\/strong><\/p>\n

Opening Day 2016 attendance<\/a> was announced at 41,650.\u00a0 That’s down more than 800 from last year (but still a sell-out).\u00a0 Perhaps the rain forcast kept people away.\u00a0\u00a0 Here’s all our home openers in order with attendance, time of game, weather:<\/p>\n