Philly Front Office

[UPDATE: Like 30 minutes after I wrote this, Roman Anthony of the Red Sox joined the club]

On December 12, 1998 Kevin Brown became MLB’s first $100m man when he signed with the Dodgers for 7/$105m. Crazy as it sounds, the second $100m contract was given out by the Cincinnati Reds two months later to Ken Griffey Jr. (9/$116.5). Since then, 152 more of these contracts have been signed.

It was only 2 years later, in December 2000, when the $200m barrier was broken and it ended up being destroyed by A-Rod’s 10/$252m contract with the Rangers. Another $200m contract wouldn’t be signed again until 2007 when, oddly enough, A-Rod opted out and signed his next contract, 10/$275m with the Yankees. Albert Pujols was next in 2011. Only ten $200m contracts have been signed.

Even stranger than the Reds being the second team to shell out $100m is that the Miami Marlins were the first team to give a player a $300m contract when they signed Giancarlo Stanton to a 13/$325m deal in 2015. It was set up to either be traded or opted out of, but still. They might be the last team you’d expect to be the first to make the $300m plunge.

Things started going up exponentially from there. The second $300m deal was signed by Manny Machado and the Padres in February of 2019. Bryce Harper topped it a week later with the Phillies, becoming the highest paid player in baseball history…for about 3 weeks. The next milestone was hit when Mike Trout signed for 12/$426.5m with the Angels in March 2019.

The Trout deal seemed to scare teams a little bit. Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, and Garrett Cole all huddled in the $300m range for a few years until the two free agencies the baseball world had been waiting for came in 2023 and 2024. Shohei Ohtani became the 2nd $400m man but blew past $500m and $600m too, becoming the first $700m athlete. Of course, this deal is wonky as hell considering he won’t get anywhere near that amount for decades. The title should really go to Juan Soto when he signed his 15/$765m deal. No one is touching that for a long time.

It took 2 years to go from $100m to $200m, but 11 years to go from the first $200m ballplayer to the second, albeit on a technicality there. It was 15 years players had to wait to go from $200m to $300m but only 4 more to get to $400m. The spike and then long wait we saw with A-Rod is probably a lot like what we will see with the Juan Soto contract. When A-Rod signed his first $252m contract, he more than doubled the previous high of Griffey’s $116m. For Ohtani and Soto, they almost doubled up Trout. It only took 5 years to go from $400m to $700m, but we probably won’t see anyone touch Soto for another 15 years. There just are not enough teams to afford something like that.

Largest Contract Progression Since $100m:

Kevin Brown	$105m	1998
Ken Griffey Jr	$116m	1999
Mike Hampton	$120m	20001
Manny Ramirez	$180m	2000
Alex Rodriguez	$252m	2000
Alex Rodriguez	$275m	2007
Giancarlo Stanton	$325m	2015
Bryce Harper	$330m	2019
Mike Trout	$426.5m	2019
Shohei Ohtani	$700m	2024
Juan Soto	$765m	2024

Let’s take a look at the $100m tiers by team:

$100m Contracts

• 12 – Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees
• 10 – Phillies, Mets
• 8 – Padres
• 7 – Giants, Mariners, Tigers
• 6 – Nationals, Rangers, Angels, Rockies
• 5 – Blue Jays, Astros, Cubs
• 4 – Twins, Braves, Diamondbacks
• 3 – Cardinals, Reds
• 2 – Rays, Brewers, Marlins, Guardians
• 1 – Pirates, Royals, Orioles
• 0 – A’s, White Sox

$200m Contracts

• 4 – Padres, Yankees, Dodgers
• 3 – Angels
• 2 – Nationals, Rangers, Mariners, Phillies, Mets, Tigers, Red Sox, Diamondbacks
• 1 – Blue Jays, Twins, Marlins, Royals, Rockies, Reds, Braves
• 0 – 11 Teams

$300m Contracts

• 3 – Padres (Machado 2x)
• 2 – Phillies, Yankees, Mets, Dodgers
• 1 – Blue Jays, Rangers, Marlins, Angels, Red Sox
• 0 – 20 Teams

$400m Contracts

• Toronto Blue Jays – Vlad Guerrero Jr $500m
• New York Mets – Juan Soto $765m
• Los Angeles Dodgers – Shohei Ohtani $700m
• Los Angeles Angels – Mike Trout $426.5m

1. The salary record was broken 3 times in 3 days at the 2000 Winter Meetings. Hampton signed on December 9, Manny signed on December 10, and A-Rod signed on December 11. ↩︎