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Dodgers 2016 payroll, and end-of-year look

General manager Farhan Zaidi, in November at the GM meetings in Arizona.
General manager Farhan Zaidi, in November at the GM meetings in Arizona.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

We are now into the offseason, so what better time to look forward than right now? I have updated our payroll worksheet -- a living document that is updated throughout the year -- so that it now includes 2017-2020, which means it's time to say goodbye to 2016.

It is instructive to look at the payroll at the end of the year and compare it to how the year began. We did that last year too, when the Dodgers ended 2015 with a $316 million payroll.

In 2016, the Dodgers had an opening day payroll of $236 million, and ended at $250.7 million.

For our purposes, I count all salaries and bonuses the year they are paid, so the figures don't always match the ones used by the Associated Press -- which spreads bonuses evenly over the life of the contract -- or MLB, which for luxury tax purposes counts average annual value of everything. We will find out in early December just how much MLB valued the Dodgers' payroll in 2016 when the luxury tax bill is levied, with any amount over $189 million taxed at 50 percent.

Last year, the Dodgers paid a record $43.7 million in luxury tax.

Side note: The Dodgers since I have tracked payroll have always been either well under or (more recently) well over the competitive balance tax threshold. Now, as they move closer toward possibly getting under that mark, I will figure out a way at some point to deal with that, though likely in a separate post rather than as part of our worksheet.

You might notice some oddities, such as $26.3 million for Kenta Maeda, though that includes the $13.4 million paid to the Hiroshima Carp in 2016 (the remaining $6.6 million of his release fee will be paid in 2017). Further details on any of these players can be found on our payroll worksheet.

Player 2016 Salary
Clayton Kershaw $32,000,000
Kenta Maeda $26,300,000
Adrian Gonzalez $21,000,000
Carl Crawford $20,750,000
Andre Ethier $18,000,000
Brett Anderson $15,800,000
Brandon McCarthy $11,000,000
Kenley Jansen $10,650,000
Scott Kazmir $8,000,000
Hyun-jin Ryu $7,000,000
Yaisel Sierra $7,000,000
Chase Utley $7,000,000
J.P. Howell $6,250,000
Yasiel Puig $5,500,000
Justin Turner $5,100,000
Alex Guerrero $5,000,000
Howie Kendrick $5,000,000
Joe Blanton $5,000,000
Jose Tabata $4,750,000
A.J. Ellis $3,565,574
Matt Kemp $3,500,000
Yasmani Grandal $2,800,000
Josh Reddick $2,227,596
Rich Hill $2,032,787
Casey Fien $1,852,322
Brandon Beachy $1,500,000
Luis Avilan $1,390,000
Scott Van Slyke $1,225,000
Chris Hatcher $1,065,000
Carlos Ruiz $765,027
Louis Coleman $725,000
Erisbel Arruebarrena $677,596
Alex Wood $530,000
Kiké Hernandez $520,000
Joc Pederson $520,000
Yimi Garcia $517,500
Dian Toscano $513,661
Trayce Thompson $512,500
Corey Seager $510,000
Pedro Baez $500,109
Adam Liberatore $484,044
Chin-hui Tsao $449,180
Ross Stripling $338,333
Will Venable $307,828
Josh Fields $304,918
Bud Norris $284,153
Julio Urias $280,096
Charlie Culberson $254,353
Josh Ravin $247,651
Mike Bolsinger $216,694
Jesse Chavez $205,191
Frankie Montas $195,082
Andrew Toles $191,352
Chris Taylor $188,552
Grant Dayton $171,939
Austin Barnes $170,834
Rob Segedin $158,074
Jose De Leon $80,423
Carlos Frias $76,353
Micah Johnson $44,809
Brock Stewart $27,732
Zach Walters $14,071
Zach Lee $8,361
Nick Tepesch $8,320
Shawn Zarraga $2,773
Mike Morse (from Marlins) ($2,562,842)
Total $250,697,946