One Hundred MILLION Dollars

Richard Griffin’s first flush in a while, titled “Rios contract could put Blue Jays into $100 million club” reminds me of that scene in Austin Powers where Dr. Evil demands one MILLION dollars, thinking it’s a big a deal as it was in 1967.

100 million dollars is barely above average. Here’s a list of payrolls from last year with signing bonuses included. 10 teams are already over 100. St. Louis is right on the doorstep and the Tigers and Houston have acquired players this offseason that will push them over.

So the Jays are going to be the 14th team out of 30 to enter into this “club” if Rios goes for arbitration. That’s easily enough to compete for a playoff berth in a division with the free-spending world champions (Red Sox: $155 mil) and the sole member of the 200 million dollar club (Yankees: $218 mil). No excuses!