APNewsBreak: Yankees hit with $13.9M luxury tax

By RONALD BLUM

AP Sports Writer

(AP) — The New York Yankees were hit with a $13.9 million luxury tax bill Thursday, their lowest since 2003.

The fee, assessed by Major League Baseball under its labor contract, is down from $18 million last year and $25.7 million in 2009, when the Yankees won the World Series.

Boston, which missed the playoffs for the second straight season, is the only other team that will have to pay a tax. The Red Sox received a bill for $3.4 million, up from last year’s $1.5 million.

Season-ending payroll information and the tax was sent to teams and obtained by The Associated Press.

According to the collective bargaining agreement, checks to pay the tax must be sent to the commissioner’s office by Jan. 31.

New York has paid the tax in all nine years since it began, $206 million of the $227 million raised under the penalty for high payrolls. The only other teams to pay have been the Red Sox (a total of $18.8 million), Detroit ($1.3 million) and the Los Angeles Angels ($927,000).

The Yankees pay at a 40 percent rate on the amount of their payroll over $178 million, a figure that includes the average annual values of contracts plus benefits. Boston, which exceeded the threshold for the second straight year, pays at a 30 percent rate. For purposes of the tax, New York’s final payroll was $212.7 million and Boston’s was $189.4 million.

Under the new labor contract, the Yankees’ rate would increase to 42.5 percent next year and 50 percent in 2013 if they continue to exceed the threshold, and Boston’s rate would go up to 40 percent next season.

But if in any year a team goes under the threshold, its rate decreases to 17.5 percent the next time it pays the tax.

As an added incentive for the high-spenders to decrease payroll, if they get under the threshold they will become eligible to get back some of the money they contribute in revenue sharing. The tax threshold stays at $178 million through 2013, then goes to $189 million in each of the following three years.

New York’s payroll under the conventional method of calculation – salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses – increased from $215 million to $216 million, still below its high of $222.5 million in 2008.

Boston remained second and finished at $174 million, an increase of $3 million. Philadelphia stayed third at $165 million, a rise of nearly $20 million.

Even before adding Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson, the Angels were fourth at $143 million, followed by the financially troubled New York Mets at $142 million, an increase of $14 million and a figure that likely will drop by $30 million or more next season. They were followed by the Chicago teams, who both missed the playoffs, with the Cubs at $141 million and the White Sox at $126 million.

World Series champion St. Louis was 11th at $113 million, and AL champion Texas was 13th at $104 million. Milwaukee (16th at $93 million), Arizona (24th at $66 million) and Tampa Bay (29th at $45 million) made the playoffs from the bottom half of payrolls, while the 2010 champion San Francisco Giants ($125 million) and Minnesota ($115 million) were among the high-spending teams to miss the postseason.

The Marlins, who have added free agents Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Heath Bell as they prepare to open their new ballpark, were 25th at $62 million. The Los Angeles Dodgers kept their payroll steady at $110 million as owners Frank and Jamie McCourt argued in divorce proceedings that helped cause the team to file for bankruptcy. The Dodgers’ payroll had been $132 million in 2009.

Kansas City dropped from $77 million to last at $45 million. Houston, sold during the season, fell to $81 million from $90 million last year and $108 million in 2009.

Overall payroll was $43,000 shy of the $3 billion mark, up from $2.91 billion last year.

Payroll figures are for 40-man rosters and include salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses, earned incentive bonuses, non-cash compensation, buyouts of unexercised options and cash transactions, such as money included in trades. In some cases, parts of salaries that are deferred are discounted to reflect present-day values.

The commissioner’s office computed the average salary at a record $3,039,161, up 3.6 percent from last year’s $2,932,162. The players’ association, which uses a slightly different method, pegged the average at $3,095,183 earlier this month, up 2.7 percent from $3,014,572.

Updated December 23, 2011

The Boston Red Sox are planning to try out setup man Daniel Bard in the starting rotation next season. And they have already lost super-closer Jonathan Papelbon to the Philadelphia Phillies via free agency.

So that leaves a pretty big gaping hole at the back end of the Sox bullpen, doesn’t it? CBS Sports reports that the Red Sox are “still eyeing” former Phillies closer Ryan Madson to help fill that gap.

The 31-year-old Madson has spent his nine-year career with the Phils as a setup man until last season when he took over the closing duties. In 34 opportunities, Madson saved 32 games last season, striking out 62 in 60.2 innings pitched. His ERA in 2011 was 2.37, significantly down from his career average of 3.59, though his ERA hasn’t come close to being that high in years.

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Related: Jonathan Papelbon, Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies

The Boston Red Sox re-signed reliever Matt
Albers to a one-year contract on Monday.

Albers, 28, went 4-4 with a 4.73 earned-run average over 56 relief appearances
last season, his first in Boston.

The right-hander is 19-29 with a 5.04 ERA in 237 career appearances — 23
starts — with the Astros (2006-07), Orioles (2008-10) and Red Sox (2011).

Boston also announced it will not tender a contract to left-handed reliever
Rich Hill, who underwent Tommy John surgery in June. Hill is now a free agent.

©2011 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Just in case you need a few more turkeys on this holiday, Sports Illustrated has posted a slide show of its “2011 Turkeys of the Year.”

If you’re a member of Red Sox Nation, you don’t have to wonder who tops the list.

From the website:

Our parade of fowl bumblers starts with the Boston Red Sox, who staged one of the greatest collapses in baseball history by blowing a nine-game lead in the season’s final month. Among the culprits: Carl Crawford, who batted .255 following his $142 million free-agent signing, and starting pitchers Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jon Lester, who were accused of eating fried chicken and drinking beer in the clubhouse during games.

The only question, I suppose, is why they did not simply post a team photo? No, the entry was not sponsored by Bud Light or Popeye’s Chicken. By the way, here’s the team’s unofficial season highlight video:

And who can forget former Fenway Park left fielder Manny Ramirez, who comes in at No. 13:?

Another case of Manny being Manny? After testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs — his second violation of MLB policy — the 39-year-old slugger opted to retire rather than serve a 100-game suspension. He hit 555 home runs during his prolific career, but may be better remembered for his wacky — and often inexplicable — behavior.

For Celtics and other basketball fans, SI honors both sides in the ongoing labor disptue at No. 30:

Taking a page from the NHL circa 2004, NBA owners and players squared off over a new collective bargaining agreement and ended up jeopardizing the entire 2011-12 season with an angry stalemate. While the owners dug in on their hard line and Commissioner David Stern issued ultimatums, the players union led by Executive Director Billy Hunter rejected a 50/50 revenue sharing deal that would have meant a seven percent cut, split into factions, and filed two antitrust lawsuits. Meanwhile a Poll Position telephone survey found that 76 percent Americans say they don’t miss the NBA.

The Bruins did not make the list – at least not directly. But they were involved for the No. 31 and 35 entries, both from the Stanley Cup Finals:

Falling one win shy of the first Stanley Cup in the franchise’s 41-year history did not sit well with the Canucks faithful, thousands of whom rioted in the streets of Vancouver after their team lost Game 7 of the Cup final, 4-0, at home to the Boston Bruins. Windows were smashed, stores looted, and cars set afire amid $1 million-plus in damage. At least 140 people were injured. Some “revelers” were later publicly identified after photos of them running amok were posted on the web. One, a 17-year-old water polo player at the University of Calgary, was suspended by his team.

During a scrum at the end of the first period of Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, Canucks winger Alex Burrows appeared to put the bite on the finger of Bruins center Patrice Bergeron. The NHL later declined to suspend Burrows after reviewing the incident and finding “no conclusive evidence” of the chomp although Bergeron was seen wearing a bandage on his digit after the game.

And finally, the Patriots are represented with the final entry, No. 36 on the list and formerly No. 92 in your football program, Albert Haynesworth:

The former all-pro defensive tackle, a notorious $100 million free agent bust with the Washington Redskins, was given another chance by the New England Patriots, who acquired him for a fifth-round 2013 draft pick in July. But not even Bill Belichick’s vaunted redemption factory could wreak the desired effect. In six games, Haynesworth had two tackles and no sacks and was served with his release on Nov. 8. Now the Tampa Bay Bucs, who claimed him on waivers, will see if they can squeeze anything out of him. “The thing that I would think about Albert, the way his last three years have played out, is that he hates football,” Chris Cooley, his former Redskins teammate told CBS Washington.

I can hardly wait to see the magazine’s “naughty and nice list” for Christmas.

The Boston Red Sox offered salary arbitration to
designated hitter David Ortiz and right-handed reliever Dan Wheeler.

They announced the moves before Wednesday’s deadline, also declining to offer
arbitration to catcher Jason Varitek, right-handed knuckleballer Tim
Wakefield, left-handed pitchers Erik Bedard and Trever Miller and outfielders
J.D. Drew and Conor Jackson.

Ortiz, 36, has played for the Red Sox since 2003 while Wheeler finished his
first season with the team.

The Sox are eligible to receive compensation for Ortiz, a Type A free agent,
and Wheeler, a Type B free agent. The players have until December 7 to accept
or decline that offer.

Varitek and Wakefield were cornerstones of the team that started a new winning
tradition for the Red Sox, but both are on the downside of their careers.

Varitek, 39, has played all 15 of his major league seasons in Boston and
Wakefield has pitched there since 1995, winning his 200th career game this
past season.

Former Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, who signed with Philadelphia earlier
this month, was a Type A free agent and will yield Boston compensation.

©2011 Sports Network. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.