DugoutDollars

In addition, for any player on a 25-man roster who wasn't in the AP Wire story, I've assumed a MLB minimum salary of $300,000. For any player on a 40-man roster without an MLB contract, I've assumed the minor league minimum of $50,000.

This also means that the Payroll Leaderboard is up to date for the start of the 2004 season:

• Two teams (Yankees and Red Sox) are projected to pay the luxury tax this year.
• Top 5 in actual 2004 payroll: 1. Yankees ($184m) 2. Red Sox ($131m) 3. Angels ($118m) 4. Three way tie at $93m between the Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers.
• Last in 2004 payroll? The Devil Rays, at $27m, eke out the Brewers ($29m).
• Total paid to MLB players in 2004? $2.1 billion
• The average team payroll checks in at $70m, but only 11 teams are above that level. The median payroll is $63m.
• The Yankees payroll is 2.6 times the league average payroll. The Devil Rays payroll is 2.6 times less than the league average payroll.

• Scott Lucas, who has a great site for Texas Ranger information, passed on a bunch of great information, including the details of Mark Teixeira's contract, and the details of Michael Young's deal.
• Mike Hunssinger caught a mistake from last year - I had missed the deferred money included in the deal Ivan Rodriguez signed with the Marlins last year - I've adjusted their payroll accordingly.
• Joe Dimino passed along a great link with all of the details of IRod's signing with the Tigers.
• Matthew Rhodes, Brian Durack and Greg Padgett all checked in with the the details of Eric Chavez's signing with the A's.
• And lastly, Mike of East Coast Agony dropped by with the details on the Roger Cedeno trade (from ESPN.com): "St. Louis will pay Cedeno $1 million over the next two years. As part of the trade, $8 million of the money owed Cedeno was converted to a bonus, which will be deferred for two years with no interest and then at 5 percent interest annually. The Mets will pay the Cardinals an additional $1 million". As a result, the Cardinals don't get hit with any money against the luxury tax, and only have to pay Cedeno $1m for two years of service.

• The Angels inked Garrett Anderson to a four year extension - if anyone has seen a breakdown of the contract, please email me.
• The Expos agreed to a three year extension with Livan Hernandez.
• The Yankees signed Mariano Rivera to a 2 year extension, with an option for 2007.
• The Tigers signed Ugueth Urbina to a $3.5m dollar deal.
• The Mets exercised their 2005 option on Steve Trachsel and added an option for 2006.