“There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there’s 50 feet of crap. And then there’s us.”
That’s the famous line from Moneyball, spoken by Brad Pitt playing Billy Beane, illustrating the meager size of the Oakland A’s payroll two decades ago. It’s still as true now as it was then, but pretty soon we’ll need to include another layer above us, as an individual player on another club is getting close to earning more than the A’s entire roster.
When Oakland traded Sean Manaea to the Padres on Sunday, they also shed his nearly $10 million salary.