Rank | Player | Team | 2011 Salary | B-R WAR | FG WAR | AVG WAR | $/WAR |
8 | Roy Halladay | Phillies | $20,000,000 | 6.4 | 7.2 | 6.8 | $2,941,176 |
21 | Matt Holliday | Cardinals | $16,317,774 | 4.4 | 5.1 | 4.75 | $3,435,321 |
19 | Josh Beckett | Red Sox | $17,000,000 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 4.6 | $3,695,652 |
8 | Miguel Cabrera | Tigers | $20,000,000 | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.95 | $4,040,404 |
3 | CC Sabathia | Yankees | $24,285,714 | 5.5 | 6.2 | 5.85 | $4,151,404 |
11 | Carlos Beltran | Mets | $19,325,436 | 3.1 | 3.6 | 3.35 | $5,768,787 |
22 | Michael Young | Rangers | $16,174,974 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 2.8 | $5,776,776 |
12 | Carlos Lee | Astros | $19,000,000 | 3.4 | 2.6 | 3 | $6,333,333 |
7 | Todd Helton | Rockies | $20,275,000 | 3 | 3 | 3 | $6,758,333 |
4 | Mark Teixeira | Yankees | $23,125,000 | 2.4 | 4 | 3.2 | $7,226,563 |
23 | Jake Peavy | White Sox | $16,000,000 | 0.9 | 2.6 | 1.75 | $9,142,857 |
1 | Alex Rodriguez | Yankees | $32,000,000 | 3 | 3.9 | 3.45 | $9,275,362 |
15 | Torii Hunter | Angels | $18,500,000 | 1.5 | 2.1 | 1.8 | $10,277,778 |
23 | Roy Oswalt | Phillies | $16,000,000 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.45 | $11,034,483 |
8 | Ryan Howard | Phillies | $20,000,000 | 2.2 | 1.3 | 1.75 | $11,428,571 |
5 | Joe Mauer | Twins | $23,000,000 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 1.3 | $17,692,308 |
12 | Alfonso Soriano | Cubs | $19,000,000 | 1 | 1.1 | 1.05 | $18,095,238 |
14 | Carlos Zambrano | Cubs | $18,875,000 | 0.8 | 1 | 0.9 | $20,972,222 |
20 | A.J. Burnett | Yankees | $16,500,000 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | $33,000,000 |
17 | Jason Bay | Mets | $18,125,000 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.25 | $72,500,000 |
6 | Johan Santana | Mets | $21,644,707 | 0 | 0 | 0 | NA |
25 | John Lackey | Red Sox | $15,950,000 | -1 | 1 | 0 | NA |
18 | Ichiro Suzuki | Mariners | $18,000,000 | -0.6 | -0.1 | -0.35 | ($51,428,571) |
15 | Barry Zito | Giants | $18,500,000 | -0.4 | -0.2 | -0.3 | ($61,666,667) |
2 | Vernon Wells | Angels | $26,187,500 | -0.5 | -0.1 | -0.3 | ($87,291,667) |
So there you have it, of the top 25 highest payed players in the majors, Roy Halladay is providing the best value for his team in 2011 - providing 6.8 wins above replacement on a salary of $20 million. That works out to be just under $3 million/WAR. Coming in second, somewhat surprisingly, is Matt Holliday. It's hard to say how his contract will pan out by the end of 2016 when he's 36, but the Cards have got their money's worth in the first two years.
Completely unsurprisingly, the player providing the worst value for his salary is none other than Vernon Wells. He's getting the second most money in baseball this year, and he's cost his team 0.3 of a win. Do I need to mention again how amazing that trade was for the Blue Jays?
For teams as a whole, here's how the ones who have more than one player on the list average out:
Phillies - $56 million for 3 players - Halladay, Oswalt and Howard - for 10 total WAR - $5.6 million/WAR
Red Sox - $33 million for 2 players - Beckett and Lackey - for 4.6 total WAR (all from Beckett) - $7.2 million/WAR
Yankees - $95 million for 4 players - A-Rod, Sabathia, Burnett and Teixeira - for 13 total WAR - $7.4 million/WAR
Mets - $59 million for 2 players - Beltran (I'm including all of Beltran's WAR for the Mets) and Santana (who's missed the whole year) - for a total of 3.6 WAR - $16.4 million/WAR
Cubs - $38 million for 2 players - Zambrano and Soriano - for 1.95 total WAR - $19.4 million/WAR
Angels - $45 million for 2 players - Wells and Hunter - for a total of 1.5 WAR - $29.8 million/WAR
Is it coincidence that the 3 highest ranked teams will make the playoffs this year, while the latter 3 will miss them? (I realize the Angels still have a chance to make it. I do not know how they are able to accomplish this while committing so much money to two horrible outfielders, but somehow they do.)
*http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/baseball/mlb/salaries/player/top-25