This World Baseball (WBC) has 185 players included in the 40-man roster in the major leagues. There are 8 MVPs and 67 All-Stars. Among all WBC players, the face of the player is evaluated as the most splendid.
As a large number of top-class major leaguers participate, attention is also focused on the size of the ransom of players from each country. We looked at the total annual salary in major countries based on data from ‘Spotrac’, which specializes in major league salaries, ‘baseball-reference’, which specializes in statistics, and data from Nikkan Sports, a Japanese sports media.
Players in their second year or younger in the major leagues who have not completed contract renewals this season, players who are still free agents, minor league players, and players in third-country leagues excluding MLB, NPB, and KBO are excluded.
The highest-paid country is undoubtedly the United States. The total annual salary of the U.S. national team, which recruited all players to the major leagues, is $377,902,500 (approximately 493 billion won). This figure excludes reliever David Bednar (Pittsburgh Pirates) and shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals), whose annual salary has not been set this year.
Outfielder Mike Trout (Angels) is paid $37,116,666, the highest salary not only in the United States but also among players participating in the tournament. However, Trout is only fifth in the overall major league salary rankings. Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Aaron Judge, and other top 4 players will not participate in this tournament.
Third baseman Nolan Arenado (St. Louis Cardinals) is second with $35 million, and shortstop Trey Turner (Philadelphia Phillies) third with $27,272,727. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt (St. Louis, $26 million) and outfielder Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers, $25 million) follow in 4th and 5th place. Including them, there are 15 people with more than 10 million dollars.
After the United States, the Dominican Republic boasts the second highest total ransom. The total annual salary of 24 players, excluding four players in their second year in the major leagues or less, one free agent, and pitcher Jose Leclerc, who recently decided not to attend, is $226.299 million (approximately 295.2 billion won).
Outfielder Juan Soto (San Diego Padres, $23 million), third baseman Manny Machado (San Diego, $23 million), and second baseman Robinson Cano (FA, $24 million) are the ‘Big 3’. In the case of Cano, the Mets took over the 10-year, $240 million contract with the Seattle Mariners in 2018 and released it last year, so he has to pay an annual salary of $23 million this year, the last season of the contract.
Starting one-two punch Sandy Alcantara (Miami Marlins) and Christian Javier (Houston Astros) are relatively small at $6.3 million and $3.4 million, respectively. Alcantara signed a long-term contract for 5 years and 56 million dollars in November 2021, just before receiving the Cy Young Award, and Javier recently signed a long-term contract for 5 years and 64 million dollars.
Third place in payroll is Venezuela. The total annual salary of 21 people, excluding 9 non-contractors, is $210,435,000 (approximately 274.5 billion won). It boasts a splendor comparable to that of the United States and the Dominican Republic. Living legend Miguel Cabrera (Detroit Tigers) is the highest with $32 million, second baseman Jose Altuve (Houston) is $29 million and catcher Salvador Perez (Kansas City) is second and third with $20 million. Among pitchers, Martin Perez, who played for the Texas Rangers ace last year, is the highest earner with $19.65 million.
Fourth place is Puerto Rico, which marks a total of 157.51 million dollars (approximately 205.5 billion won), even though there are 18 players with less seniority in the big leagues and minor league players and free agents, which account for more than half. Major league shortstop Francisco Lindor (New York Mets) receives an annual salary of $34.1 million. Another shortstop Javier Baez (Detroit) is second on the team with $22 million, ace Marcus Stroman (Chicago Cubs) receives $25 million, and second starter Jose Berrios (Toronto Blue Jays) receives $15.71 million.
Japan, which has mobilized all major league and NPB stars, is in fifth place. This means that the NPB salary level falls far short of the major leagues. The total annual salary of four major leaguers this season is $71.32 million (approximately 93 billion won), more than twice as much as the 4.641 billion yen (approximately 44.5 billion won) of 26 NPB players. The total annual salary of 30 people is 137.5 billion won in Korean currency.
The Japanese national team’s highest-paid player is Shohei Otani (LA Angels), who has emerged as a world-class star. This year’s annual salary is $30 million, but $500 million is being discussed as a free agency ransom. Ohtani has attracted the attention of baseball fans around the world just by participating in the WBC for the first time in his career. As if the process of flying to Japan and joining the Japanese national team was relayed in real time after the demonstration game on the 1st, related news poured out.
Yu Darvish (San Diego) is second with $25 million, and outfielder Masataka Yoshida (Boston Red Sox) is third with $15.6 million. Among NPB players, ace Yamamoto Yoshinobu (Orix Buffaloes) has the highest salary of 650 million yen, and home run king Munetaka Murakami (Yakult Swallows) is second with 600 million yen.
Excluding these top five teams, the rest of the teams have many low-age and minor league players, free agents, and include members of their own leagues, so it is difficult to calculate specific payrolls in many cases because the annual salary has not been set or is unclear. If only the disclosed annual salary is added, Mexico ranks 6th and 7th with $69.02 million (approximately 90 billion won) and Canada with 38.7 million dollars (approximately 50.5 billion won).
In the case of Korea, in a situation where the KBO has not yet officially compiled this year’s annual salary, an approximate amount will come out if calculated based on the announcements of each club. Major leaguers Kim Ha-seong and Tommy Edman are worth 7 million dollars and 4.2 million dollars, respectively, and the total annual salary of 28 KBO members is estimated to be 25.982 billion won. The total of 30 people is 40.5924 billion won, ranking 8th out of 20 participating countries. 토토사이트
On the other hand, the winning odds offered by the US sports betting company ‘FanDeul’ are the lowest in the Dominican Republic at 2:1, followed by the US at 2.8:1 and Japan at 3:1, second and third. The lower the odds, the higher the chance of winning. Korea and Venezuela tied for fourth place with a score of 10-1, followed by Mexico with a score of 18-1, Puerto Rico with a score of 21-1, and Cuba with a score of 40-1.
The winning odds of another sports betting company, Caesars Sportsbook, are also +200 in the Dominican Republic, which is the lowest among the 20 countries. The United States followed with +250, followed by Japan with +280, followed by Puerto Rico (+650), Venezuela (+1000), and Korea (+1200).