Dodgers 2022 opening day payroll is $263.5 million

The Dodgers opened the 2022 season with the highest payroll in Major League Baseball, through a few different ways of looking at it. For our purposes, I have the LA payroll at just over $263.5 million in actual money paid this year.

That’s the third-highest figure in team history, trailing only slightly 2014 and 2015. It’s an 11-percent increase over last year’s opening day payroll.

The $222.1 million on the active roster is the highest the Dodgers have every had on opening day, and the $9.4 million on the injured list is the team’s lowest since 2010.

Ronald Blum at the Associated Press earlier this week had the Dodgers payroll at $285 million, with the Mets second at $266 million.

AP calculates opening day payroll using “salaries and prorated shares of signing bonuses and other guaranteed income. For some players, parts of deferred money are discounted to reflect current values.” This accounts for many of the differences in our totals.

For instance, Justin Turner’s two-year, $34 million contract included an $8 million signing bonus, paid $2 million in 2021 then $2 million in each of 2024, 2025, and 2026. His salaries were $8 million last year and $16 million this year. For our purposes, Turner’s payroll number is $16 million, since that’s what he’s getting paid in 2022. AP has his salary this year as $19,579,357, which is his $16 million salary plus half of his signing bonus ($4 million) discounted due to the deferred money.

For competitive balance tax purposes, Turner’s average annual value of $17 million is what’s important. It is likely discounted somewhat because of the $6 million deferred, but I have not seen that number just yet. On opening day, the Dodgers had a competitive balance tax payroll of roughly $299.9 million, with a few assumptions.

Note: if you are on a mobile device, this table will show up best in landscape mode.

You can click on names on the table above for more details on each contract. Roster Resource at FanGraphs does a wonderful job of tracking payrolls for all 30 MLB teams. Their Dodgers CBT number is $293 million.

The discrepancy in my numbers and FanGraphs is mostly due to Walker Buehler, whose average annual value of his two-year, $8 million contract is $4 million, but he added $3 million to his 2022 base salary by starting at least 28 games last season. Also, the assumption for player benefits, which is an equal amount for each team, is $16 million at FanGraphs but I have $18 million, the figure used by Associated Press.

It’s also important to note that the Dodgers’ CBT payroll includes $34 million for Trevor Bauer, which is the average of his three-year contract. But considering he is currently on administrative leave and could face suspension, that payroll figure might be reduced.

Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the first CBT threshold is $230 million, with three more tiers beginning at $250 million, $270 million, and $290 million. For the Dodgers, who paid $32.65 million in luxury tax in 2021, they would pay a 30-percent tax for the first $20 million over $230 million, 42 percent for the next $20 million, 75 percent for the next $20 million, and 90 percent for any amount over $290 million.