Angels payroll rankings by position

The Angels are pretty proud of their pivot to positional spending this off season. When Gerrit Cole slipped through their fingers, they signed the next best thing? in Anthony Rendon. If you can prevent runs, you might as well score more of them. Sure the off season is not yet over, but pending a big trade, the Angels are mostly locked in on their roster for 2020. I’m sure there will be more activity and perhaps even a notable catcher signing. But for now, here is where the Angels stand in spending. All data courtesy of Sportrac.

Catchers #23, $800,000

Max Stassi will make 800K in 2020 and Anthony Bemboom will make league minimum. The actual salary here is closer to 1.4 million but Sprotrac lists the rookie players as $0. The Angels will soon get bumped down to #24 on this list once Sportrac updates the Astros with Martin Maldonado’s new salary.

Infielders, #1, $73,000,000

Albert Pujols, Anthony Rendon, and Andrelton Simmons lead the way here. The Angels have locked up just under 45% of their payroll on infield positions.

Outfielders, #1, $61,000,000

Mike Trout and Justin Upton are the reason here, making a combined 59 million dollars.

Starting Pitchers, #18, $19,700,000

Julio Teheran and Dylan Bundy make up 14.7 million of this number and so far represent Billy Eppler’s entire spending on starting pitchers this off season. The last time the Angels spent significant money on starters was 2014 - also the last year they made the playoffs. That year, they were 7th in starting pitching payroll at 35 million dollars.

Bullpen, #21, $8,600,000

Hansel Robles and Cam Bedrosian take up the bulk of this number. The Angels have a core of young bullpen talent making minimum salary - which could be good if they all turn into solid pitchers.

Pitchers Overall, #24, $28,300,000

Mike Trout and Albert Pujols both make more in one year than the Angels will spend on pitching in 2020. Anthony Rendon makes more in AAV but per year as well.

Hitters Overall, #1, $135,000,000

This is nearly 83% of total payroll.

I’d challenge you to go back the last 20 years and find out how many teams have gone to the World Series by spending less than 25% of their payroll on pitching. I’ve given you a head start below. Some more interesting research could revolve around percentage of spending on pitching vs. overall post season performance. We probably know roughly how that will turn out.

2019 World Series Pitching Spending (percentage of overall payroll)

Dodgers 50%, Nationals 44%

2018 World Series Pitching Spending

Dodgers 49%, Red Sox 44%

2017 World Series Pitching Spending

Dodgers 47%, Astros 40%

2016 World Series Pitching Spending

Cubs 49%, Indians 27%

2015 World Series Pitching Spending

Royals 49%, Mets 33%