PAYING FOR PERFORMANCE:

A Study of Salary and Performance Statistics in the MLB

(During 2010)

Topic Questions

How does Team Salary correlate with performance in Major League Baseball?

Which Performance Statistics have the strongest correlation to Team Salary? (What are you

paying for?)

Statistics Examined

OFFENSE DEFENSE

PCT HR R AVG OPS

PCT SO BB Team ERA

Team Salary: Boxplot

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

Payro

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Team Salary in 2010

Team Salary: Descriptive Stats

N=30 Mean= 91,020,056 Median=

84,325,334 Standard

Deviation= 38,258,046

Minimum= 34,943,000 Pittsburgh Pirates

Maximum= 206,333,389 New York Yankees

Winning Percentage: Boxplot

0.60

0.55

0.50

0.45

0.40

0.35

Pct

Winning Percentage in 2010 Regular Season

Winning Percentage: Descriptive Stats

N=30 Mean=.501 Median=.500 Standard

Deviation=.0679Minimum=.3520 Pittsburgh

Pirates Maximum=.5990

Philadelphia Phillies

Offensive Stats: HR and AVG

260240220200180160140120100

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

HR

Payro

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S 37570500R-Sq 6.9%R-Sq(adj) 3.6%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = 44958298 + 299556 HR

0.280.270.260.250.240.23

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

AVG

Payro

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S 37181991R-Sq 8.8%R-Sq(adj) 5.5%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = - 1.90E+08 + 1.09E+09 AVG

Offensive Stats: R and OPS

0.8000.7750.7500.7250.7000.6750.650

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

OPS

Payro

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S 36465548R-Sq 12.3%R-Sq(adj) 9.2%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = - 1.79E+08 + 3.72E+08 OPS

900800700600500

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

R

Payro

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S 37765146R-Sq 5.9%R-Sq(adj) 2.6%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = 13037897 + 110686 R

Winning Percentage

0.600.550.500.450.400.35

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

WIN PERCENTAGE

Payro

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S 36509811R-Sq 12.1%R-Sq(adj) 8.9%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = - 6818520 + 1.96E+08 WIN PERCENTAGE

Defensive Stats: BB, SO and Team ERA

5.004.754.504.254.003.753.50

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

Team ERA

Payro

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S 38530672R-Sq 2.1%R-Sq(adj) 0.0%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = 1.44E+08 - 13121778 Team ERA

13501300125012001150110010501000950

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

SO

Payro

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S 38383982R-Sq 2.8%R-Sq(adj) 0.0%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = 16263988 + 65373 SO

600550500450400

$200,000,000.00

$150,000,000.00

$100,000,000.00

$50,000,000.00

BB

Payro

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S 38928623R-Sq 0.0%R-Sq(adj) 0.0%

Fitted Line PlotPayroll = 83337245 + 14608 BB

Rankings

Offense OPS=12.3% PCT=12.1% AVG=8.8% HR=6.9% R=5.9%

Defense PCT=12.1% SO=2.8% Team ERA=2.1% BB=0.0%

Conclusion

In 2010, Team Salary had a very weak correlation with PCT and most other performance statics

Overall, Team Salary had a stronger correlation with offensive stats than defensive stats

Things to Consider: How would this

study change over multiple years?

Could Team Salary better predict other performance stats?

If money isn’t helping them win, why do most baseball fans hate the Yankees?

Sources

mlb.com cbssports.com espn.go.com