Dodgers 2015 payroll notes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The average salary for a major league player will eclipse $4 million for the first time in 2015, per a report earlier this week from the Associated Press.

That $4 million mark is nothing new to the Dodgers, who are paying 17 different players at least that much this season, plus three more players who aren't even on the team anymore. That would help explain how the Dodgers top the list of payrolls at $272.8 million, per the accounting method used by AP.

Clayton Kershaw is baseball's highest paid player in 2015, at $31 million, with Zack Greinke coming in third at $27 million, again using AP's accounting method (for my purposes, Kershaw is making $30 million and Greinke $23 million, the amounts they actually receive in 2015).

Deadspin took the AP report and did some further digging, and reported on the specific salaries for each team. That helps us fill in some gaps with several players with zero to three years service time, the ones making close to the minimum salary of $507,500. The list:

• Yasmani Grandal: $693,000
• Chris Hatcher: $522,500
• Paco Rodriguez: $522,500
• Scott Van Slyke: $522,500
• Chris Withrow: $522,500
• Pedro Baez: $512,500
• Enrique Hernandez: $512,500
• Joc Pederson: $510,000
• Yimi Garcia: $510,000
• Adam Liberatore: $507,500

The number that stands out is Grandal, but his relatively high salary (he has two years, 115 days of service time) stems from the major league deal he signed after getting drafted by the Reds in 2010 (major league contracts are no longer allowed for draft picks, per the new collective bargaining agreement). Grandal earned $792,000 in 2014, and the maximum salary cut allowed for players under reserve is 20 percent. He took a 12.5-percent cut, and is at $693,000, but will start earning higher salaries through arbitration beginning in 2016.

We'll take another look at the Dodgers' payroll once the opening day roster is official, but the Dodgers are at $222.4 million for 33 players in 2015, plus another $43.6 million for players no longer around, for a grand total of just over $266 million.