Max Scherzer's 2022 Salary Is Currently Higher Than 3 Teams Entire Payroll

We got the full Max Scherzer salary and payroll breakdown yesterday from Big T and those were some crazy numbers, this is right up there with those. After signing his monster deal with the Mets Scherzer is scheduled to make $43.3 million in 2022, that is more than 3 teams entire payroll, like for their entire team. It's the 3 usual suspects too, the Pirates, Guardians, and Orioles. According to Baseball Prospectus the Orioles payroll is sitting at $37 million, the Pirates at $40.2 million, and Jayson Stark has the Guardians payroll at $43.2 million. Again, it's the 3 usual teams that are brought up when people talk about low payroll and that's not the best thing for them. We all know the Orioles and Pirates are stuck in their rebuild, the Orioles havent spent a penny on a free agent this offseason while the Pirates have at least inked a few guys. Cleveland is just Cleveland, they had big salary guys but moved Lindor last year and you'd expect them to still try and trade Jose Ramirez in the next few months. It's not great for baseball when stuff like this happens, but you can't really blame anyone but the penny pinching teams. 

I'd love for the Orioles to hand out some extensions, sign a decently sized FA or 2 to get above the Scherzer line but I don't think that happens this offseason, it's just crazy that in todays game this still happens. It's a broken system and these teams are playing by the rules, there is no salary floor so these basement teams have no incentive to spend money. A team like the Pirates don't really care about competing, they're just going to show up, get the shit kicked out of them and move on. The Orioles at least have high level prospects and a top farm system on the horizon with a full rebuilding plan, but until they spend they'll be on the back end of all these joke stats. This isn't the first time one since player has made more than an entire team, won't be the last either, it's just eye opening every time it's pointed out.