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Non-Linear Cost-Per-Win Part II

After publishing my original post, I came up with another way of looking at the data.  Instead of comparing a team's expected wins (based on payroll) to their actual wins, we can compare how much money a team actually spent to win their games to how much we would have expected they needed to spend.  This will show us which teams saved money, which teams wasted money, and to what extent.  The table should be pretty self-explanatory.  All dollars are in millions:

Lg Team AdjWins Exp Pay Act Pay Savings
A Tampa Bay Rays  99 $243 $44 $199
A Los Angeles Angels  102 $278 $119 $158
A Minnesota Twins  90 $152 $57 $95
N Chicago Cubs  95 $208 $118 $89
A Boston Red Sox  97 $222 $133 $88
N Florida Marlins  82 $100 $22 $78
N Milwaukee Brewers  88 $140 $81 $59
N Philadelphia Phillies  90 $157 $98 $58
A Toronto Blue Jays  88 $140 $98 $43
A Chicago White Sox  91 $160 $121 $39
N Houston Astros  84 $114 $89 $25
A Cleveland Indians  83 $103 $79 $24
A Texas Rangers  81 $90 $68 $22
A Oakland Athletics  77 $67 $48 $19
N Arizona Diamondbacks  80 $83 $66 $17
N St. Louis Cardinals  84 $110 $100 $11
A Kansas City Royals  77 $64 $58 $6
N New York Mets  87 $133 $138 -$5
N Los Angeles Dodgers  82 $96 $119 -$22
N Colorado Rockies  72 $36 $69 -$33
N Cincinnati Reds  72 $36 $74 -$38
A Baltimore Orioles  70 $28 $67 -$40
A New York Yankees  91 $165 $209 -$44
N Pittsburgh Pirates  65 $1 $49 -$48
N San Francisco Giants  70 $25 $77 -$51
N Atlanta Braves  70 $25 $102 -$77
A Detroit Tigers  76 $58 $138 -$79
N Washington Nationals  57 -$32 $55 -$87
N San Diego Padres  61 -$17 $74 -$91
A Seattle Mariners  63 -$8 $118 -$126

Some notes:

  • In order to expect to win as many games as the Rays and Angels did takes more money than the Yankees' payroll.  And the Rays saved more money than any team but the Yankees spent.
  • Speaking of the Yankees, yes, they certainly wasted a fair amount of money ($44MM), but seven teams managed to waste more.
  • The Blue Jays ranked ninth in payroll efficiency.  More fire-power for the anti-Ricciardi crowd (err, sarcasm).
  • Mr. Bowden, we understand that organizations put together a truly awful season every now and then, but did you really have to $55MM during a crappy season?  The Twins spent $57MM and, well, were better.
  • I did not realize the Mets had the second-highest payroll last year.  Where they're at, however, it's almost a no-brainer to spend a bit more.  Wins in the 85 to 90 range are HUGE.