The Long & Short Of It

A record 12 MLB teams "have payrolls of more than $100 million" at the start of the '11 season, and while the Yankees "reduced their payroll from a year ago by $3 million to $203 million," they still lead all MLB teams. The Phillies and Red Sox, who "each committed more than $125 million in free agency last winter, are as close to the Yankees as any teams have been since 2002." The Phillies' Opening Day payroll is $173M after the addition of P Cliff Lee, while the Red Sox' signing of LF Carl Crawford bumped their payroll to $161.8M. The average player salary is $3.3M, up 1% from '10. Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez again leads all players with a $32M salary.